Nadine Dorries is under increasing pressure to step down as an MP after a second council in her constituency called for her immediate departure. The former culture secretary said she would resign from representing her Mid Bedfordshire constituency with immediate effect in early June when Boris Johnson stood down as an MP and she failed to secure a peerage. More than two months later, Dorries has not tendered her resignation. She continues to draw an MP’s salary. Explaining her actions, Dorries said she was waiting for an explanation as to why her nomination for a peerage by Johnson was blocked. Shefford town council has joined Flitwick town council in expressing frustration over what they see as a “continuing lack of representation”. It follows Rishi Sunak’s rare attack, labelling Dorries an absentee MP who is not properly representing her constituents. In a letter published on Twitter, now known as X, on Thursday, Shefford council raised concerns about her “scant interest” in the constituency, which has left the town “abandoned” by their MP.
Ken Pollard, the mayor of the council said: “I have been asked to write to you formally on behalf of the residents of Shefford to raise the town’s concerns and frustration at the continuing lack of representation for the people of Mid Bedfordshire at Westminster. “In your role as the acting member of parliament of Mid Bedfordshire, residents of Shefford feel that, due to your scant interest in your constituency, your aversion to attending local events or services and your lack of a maintained constituency office, the local area has been ‘abandoned’ by yourself. “Your last spoken contribution in the House of Commons was on June 7, 2022, and your last written question was asked on the December 20, 2017. In addition, your behaviour and actions reported in the press are in direct violation of ‘the seven principles of public life’ (also known as the Nolan principles, published on May 31 1995), which apply to anyone who works as a public officeholder and all those who are elected or appointed to public office.” The letter added: “Our residents desperately need effective representation now, and Shefford town council calls on you to honour your commitment and tender your resignation immediately.” The Liberal Democrats’ deputy leader, Daisy Cooper, said Dorries’s actions were a “gross insult to the people of Mid Bedfordshire”. “Why on earth should their taxpayers’ money fund an MP who hasn’t worked in months? It is disgraceful that she continues to have the Conservative party whip. Clearly, Rishi Sunak thinks Nadine Dorries’s actions are still worthy of being a Conservative MP,” Cooper said. Downing Street previously acknowledged that it was unusual that Dorries had not resigned despite saying she would do so. Asked if there was frustration over the delay, the prime minister’s press secretary said in June: “It’s obviously unusual to have an MP say they will resign with immediate effect and for that not to take place.” Dorries continues to host a weekly chatshow on TalkTV. She has also written a book, The Plot: The Political Assassination of Boris Johnson, slated for publication in September, shortly before the Conservative party conference. Mid Bedfordshire has been held by Dorries since 2005 and by the Conservatives since 1931.