‘Theatre of absurd’: Sunak allies fire back at Nadine Dorries after attack on PM

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Rishi Sunak allies have fired back at “bitter” Nadine Dorries after she accused the PM of putting her personal safety at risk by whipping up “a public frenzy” against her.

The Boris Johnson loyalist launched a scathing attack on Mr Sunak as she finally formally resigned her seat 11 weeks after promising to go – telling him: “History will not judge you kindly”.

But senior Tory Bob Neill – a loyal Sunak supporter – accused Ms Dorries of presiding over a “theatre of the absurd” with her recent refusal to go unless documents about her denied peerage were released.

“She had become an embarrassment,” Mr Neill told Times Radio. “She was a pretty useless culture secretary and she finally created her own theatre of the absurd. It is so obviously motivated by personal bitterness and bile and has got no credibility at all.

“To accuse the prime minister, who is doing his best to get back to sound economic policy … of abandoning fundamental principles, really takes the biscuit, of all the political absurdity I’ve heard.”

Mr Neill, chair of justice select committee, also suggested that MPs could consider changing Commons rules to punish “deliberate non-attendance” to stop the saga surrounding Ms Dorries – who had not spoken in parliament for a year – from happening again.

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Ms Dorries accused Mr Sunak in her resignation letter of betraying Conservative principles, running a “zombie” government and putting her personal safety at risk by whipping up “a public frenzy” against her.

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.”

Tory peer Gavin Barwell, former No 10 chief of staff under Theresa May, said her claim that Mr Sunak “whipped up a storm” against her was “absurd” – insisting that it had come from the constituency.

On her attack on Mr Sunak’s record, Lord Barwell told Times Radio: “It takes a certain degree of brass neck to attack the economic record of this government, when Nadine served in the Liz Truss government.”

One senior Tory MP told The Independent that Ms Dorries was “off her rocker” and was “making a show of herself”.

The Treasury confirmed it has been notified of Ms Dorries’ intention to step down, and she is expected to be removed from the Commons by being appointed to the historical position of Steward and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern.

That will pave the way for a by-election to be held in her Mid Bedfordshire constituency within weeks, causing a headache for Mr Sunak as his party languishes in the polls.

In her blistering statement published in The Mail on Sunday, Ms Dorries said Mr Sunak had abandoned “the fundamental principles of Conservatism” and said “history will not judge you kindly”.

“Since you took office a year ago, the country is run by a zombie parliament where nothing meaningful has happened,” she wrote. “You have no mandate from the people and the government is adrift. You have squandered the goodwill of the nation, for what?”

Veterans minister Johnny Mercer suggested on Sunday the party had become bored of Ms Dorries’ attacks on the government. “She’s obviously made a quite personal attack on the prime minister, that’s for her. I just don’t think people are interested in hearing this anymore … we need to move forward,” he told Times Radio.

Asked about Ms Dorries’ letter criticising the Sunak government’s record, Mr Mercer said that there was “stuff in there that’s clearly not true” – referring to her attack on defence spending. “She’s entitled to her view,” he added.

The Cabinet Office minister added: “It’s far better to be seen to fail while striving greatly rather than just sort of chucking rocks on the side.”

Mr Sunak previously said Ms Dorries’ voters were not “being properly represented”, but did not move to expel her. Labour, the Lib Dems and two councils in her constituency – Shefford and Flitwick – had urged her to go. Constituents complained that she was “making a mockery” of them.

In her letter, Ms Dorries claimed she had first informed cabinet secretary Simon Case of her intention to resign in July last year, but that close allies of the PM “have continued to this day to implore me to wait until the next general election rather than inflict yet another damaging by-election on the party”.

Despite her letters, a by-election writ cannot be formally moved until parliament gets back to business in early September – so a byelection cannot be held until October at the earliest.

Labour is hopeful of overturning Ms Dorries’ 24,000 majority in the by-election in Mid Bedfordshire, which the Conservative Party has held since 1931, having come second in 2019.

But the Liberal Democrats also believe they have the chance of springing another by-election shock after overturning a 19,000 blue majority in Somerton and Frome.

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey told BBC Breakfast he is “increasingly confident we have a really good chance”. But Labour’s Peter Kyle told Sky News: “We are actually in a great position to win this seat in what would be an historic by-election victory.”

The campaign group Compass, which advocates tactical voting, have urged Labour and Lib Dems to get together and decide which party has the better chance of winning in Mid-Bedfordshire in a “non-aggression pact”.

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Compass director Neal Lawson told The Independent: “The ghost of last month’s by-election in Uxbridge should loom large over Mid Bedfordshire. There, the progressive vote outnumbered the Conservative vote, but the Tories retained the seat because support for progressive parties was divided.

He added: “This must not happen in Mid Bedfordshire. Progressives can’t only do deals and work together when it’s easy – they must also do so when it’s hard.”

Lord Barwell said the Tory party’s chances in Mid-Bedfordshire were “not good” – but they could take heart from the prospect of Labour and Lib Dems splitting the vote “evenly”.

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