Mid Bedfordshire MP resigns with a scathing attack on Rishi Sunak

Mid Bedfordshire MP, Nadine Dorries, has resigned her parliamentary seat with a scathing attack on Rishi Sunak, accusing him of “demeaning his office by opening the gates to whip up a public frenzy” against her.

The Tory former minister had announced in June that she would quit the Commons with “immediate effect” in protest at not getting a peerage in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list, but failed to follow through until now.

Her exit triggers a challenging by-election for the Prime Minister in her Mid Bedfordshire constituency this autumn.

Ms Dorries on Saturday said she had submitted her resignation letter to Mr Sunak, publishing the blistering text in The Daily Mail.

In it, she accused Mr Sunak of leading attacks on her resulting in “the police having to visit my home and contact me on a number of occasions due to threats to my person”.

“The clearly orchestrated and almost daily personal attacks demonstrates the pitifully low level your Government has descended to,” the former culture secretary wrote.

She also heavily criticised his record in Government, saying: “Since you took office a year ago, the country is run by a zombie Parliament where nothing meaningful has happened.

“You have no mandate from the people and the Government is adrift. You have squandered the goodwill of the nation, for what?”

Ms Dorries accused Mr Sunak of abandoning “the fundamental principles of Conservatism” and said “history will not judge you kindly”.

The staunch ally of former premier Mr Johnson has angered voters, Opposition MPs and some in her own party by remaining in post since announcing her intention to resign more than 10 weeks ago.

She said she was delaying her exit while she investigated why she was refused a seat in the Lords.

Ms Dorries told Mr Sunak in her letter that Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer “does not have the winning X factor qualities of a Thatcher, a Blair, or a Boris Johnson, and sadly, Prime Minister, neither do you.

“Your actions have left some 200 or more of my MP colleagues to face an electoral tsunami and the loss of their livelihoods, because in your impatience to become Prime Minister you put your personal ambition above the stability of the country and our economy.

“Bewildered, we look in vain for the grand political vision for the people of this great country to hold on to, that would make all this disruption and subsequent inertia worthwhile, and we find absolutely nothing.”

What's the Government saying?

Downing Street has declined to comment.

Mr Sunak previously said Ms Dorries’ voters were not “being properly represented”, but did not move to expel her.

What is Labour saying?

Labour’s Mid Bedfordshire campaign lead Peter Kyle said he is “relieved” for Nadine Dorries’ constituents after her resignation.

The shadow Northern Ireland secretary told Sky News: “They are furious with the fact that there is a governing party that is facing each other and railing with each other whilst they are facing daily crises in their lives and in their communities – with public services, with the economy, with the cost-of-living challenges.

“And whereas they want to move forward, they’ve been held back by all of this civil war in the Conservative Party. And the fact that they’ve had an MP that is absent, that has not been working and has not been allowing the by-election to take place.

“So now we have this opportunity. The finish line is in sight or the start line for a new future for Mid Bedfordshire, and we’re chomping at the bit for that.”

What are the Lib Dem's saying?

Responding to the news that Nadine Dorries has sent her resignation letter to the Prime Minister, Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey said: “The people of Mid Bedfordshire deserve better than this circus act that has followed the Conservatives the past few months.

“That is why we have put forward a strong local champion, Emma Holland-Lindsay, who will fight for every vote and bring constituents right to the heart of Parliament.

“The Liberal Democrats are the bookies’ favourite in Mid Bedfordshire. In by-election after by-election across the Blue Wall, we have proven we are the only challengers to the failing Conservative Party.”

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