Rishi Sunak should ‘have guts’ to sack Mid-Bedfordshire MP, who has yet to step down despite announcing she would quit
Nadine Dorries said she and her team of caseworkers were ‘working daily with constituents’ CREDIT: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Nadine Dorries has been forced to deny that she is a “dosser” over her failure to step down 10 weeks after announcing her resignation.
Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, said Rishi Sunak should “have the guts” to sack Ms Dorries, the MP for Mid-Bedfordshire since 2005, accusing him of a “deafening” silence on the issue.
The Liberal Democrat leader visited Ms Dorries’ constituency, where he said people were “fed up with being so badly let down by an absentee MP”.
The party published a press release about his visit entitled: “Ed Davey: Time for Sunak to sack dosser Dorries”, after Sir Ed visited Flitwick, where signs saying “Dosser Dorries Out” have been put up.
He said: “Every day Sunak fails to take action just confirms that this Conservative government is totally out of touch and taking people for granted.”
Ms Dorries hit back, saying she and her team of caseworkers were “working daily with constituents”. In a statement to the News Agents podcast, she said: “I understand that political opponents, such as Labour-run Flitwick Town Council, are choosing the summer and news-hungry outlets in the summer recess to be noticed. However, we are just getting on with the work.”
Sir Ed is the latest party leader to call on Mr Sunak to act after Sir Keir Starmer said on Tuesday that the Prime Minister should “get a grip”, adding: “This is one of your MPs – do something about it, force the issue and get on with it.”
In June Ms Dorries, a close ally of Boris Johnson, said she would leave her parliamentary seat with “immediate effect” after she did not get a peerage in his resignation honours list.
However, she later said she was delaying leaving the Commons as she sought answers.
Caroline Nokes, chairman of the Women and Equalities Committee, joined calls from fellow Tory MPs for Ms Dorries to go, telling Times Radio: “She shouldn’t have the Tory whip if she’s made it plain that she no longer wishes to be a Conservative MP but can’t take that final step towards resignation. I think she needs to crack on and do that.”
Earlier this month, Mr Sunak said that “at the moment people aren’t being properly represented” when asked whether Ms Dorries was failing her constituents. However, Ms Dorries has not yet been stripped of the whip and remains in the Conservative Party.