Nadine Dorries standing down as MP with ‘immediate effect’ triggering by-election
Former Conservative minister Nadine Dorries has announced she is standing down as an MP “with immediate effect”.
The ex-culture secretary and close ally of Boris Johnson said it had been “an honour” to serve in Mid Bedfordshire “but it is now time for another to take the reins”.
The move means there will be a by-election in her constituency, where the Tories have a comfortable 24,000 majority.
Ms Dorries had previously announced plans to stand down at the next election, and hours before her resignation, told her TalkTV channel that “the last thing I would want to do would be to cause a by-election” in her seat.
In a cryptic interview with the broadcaster later on Friday, she admitted “something significant did happen that changed my mind” but refused to be drawn on what that was.
Asked about reports the government had cut her from Mr Johnson’s honours list she said: “A prime minister doesn’t have the ability to change the list of a former prime minister.”
Ms Dorries added that a “new life is opening up” in front of her, including a new granddaughter, and so now is the time to “do the right thing”.
She said she felt a “a sense of relief” having resigned because she is unhappy with what has happened in the Tory party over the last year – namely the defenestration of Mr Johnson as PM and Rishi Sunak’s appointment.
Ms Dorries has served as MP for Mid Bedfordshire since 2005 and is also a best-selling novelist.
She was promoted to culture secretary during Mr Johnson’s premiership, when she lead the now-ditched plans to privatise Channel 4.
Nadine Dorries said it was ‘time for another’ to take the reigns
Ms Dorries, a vocal critic of Rishi Sunak’s government, had been expected to be nominated for a peerage by Mr Johnson.
But she was not included on the list, which was published moments after her announcement.
According to The Times, she was scrapped from the honours list alongside former Cop26 president Alok Sharma due to fears of the damaging impact two by-elections could have on the Tories, who are flailing behind Labour in the polls.
Both MPs would have had to stand down in order to accept the peerage.
The prospects of such an electoral test would be more challenging in Sir Alok’s marginal Reading West constituency, where he has a 4,000-vote majority over Labour.
The prime minister’s press secretary said Mr Johnson’s peerage list had been handed to the HOLAC (House of Lords Appointments Commission) unaltered “as is convention”, and HOLAC then passed back its approved list.
Earlier on Friday, Ms Dorries told her TalkTV show that she did not expect to be entering the Lords “any time soon” adding: “There is a process and the last thing I would want to do would be to cause a by-election in my constituency.”
Asked after resigning if she thought she should be in the House of Lords, Ms Dorries said it was “very rare” for someone from her background who was born into poverty to get a peerage.
She added that she was “slightly disappointed” but “I don’t think it was to be”.
Both Labour and the Lib Dems said they would be fighting to win Ms Dorries’ seat.
Shabana Mahmood MP, Labour’s National Campaign Coordinator, said the departure of the former cabinet minister “shows Rishi Sunak is too weak to lead a Tory Party that has lost interest in the people of Mid Bedfordshire”.
“It doesn’t need to be this way. Labour will be campaigning to win in this by-election by listening to the voters the Tories are ignoring.”
A spokesperson for the Lib Dems said: “This is a rural seat in the heart of the blue wall, we are in it to win it.”
Shortly after Ms Dorries’ announcement, health minister Will Quince also revealed he won’t be fighting his seat at the next election.
He said: “My decision is driven by my desire to put my family and daughters first as they grow up. I am incredibly proud of what my team and I have achieved and delivered for Colchester.”
He is the 58th current MP to declare they will not contest the next election – 37 of which are serving Conservatives.
The crash involving a cargo ship and oil tanker off the East Yorkshire coast is bad news for the sea, fish and air in the area. What we don’t know yet is quite how bad it will be.
That depends on a few things – but the speed of the collision, clouds of filthy black smoke from the fires and the leaked fuel are certainly worrying.
Firstly, it matters what was on board those two massive vessels.
Follow live: Jet fuel spilling into sea after tanker collision
Analytics firm Vortexa estimates the 183m-long tanker was carrying about 130,000 barrels of jet fuel (kerosene), which is now leaking into the sea.
Jet fuel is not as sticky or viscous as heavier types of oil, thankfully, so it’s less likely to clog the feathers and fur of birds and seals. It can also be broken down by natural bacteria.
But it can still poison fish and kill animals and plants on the shoreline if it makes its way into the soil there.
The Marine Conservation Society has pointed out the site in the Humber estuary is close to some protected areas and is important for seabirds and harbour porpoises.
And both ships will have been powered by a dirtier, heavier kind of oil – likely marine gas oil or heavy fuel oil, though we don’t know the details yet.
Heavy fuel oil is nasty stuff.
Pic: Bartek Smialek/PA
Cheap, thick and tar-like, it can smother animals and is very dangerous if they consume it, and is extremely difficult to clean up. Let’s hope this isn’t creeping around the North Sea already.
We don’t know how much of either the jet fuel or the oil powering the ships has leaked, or how much will be burned off in the violent fires – which themselves are ploughing black smoke and filthy air pollution into the surrounding atmosphere.
And we don’t know for sure what was on the Solong cargo ship and if, or what, will go into the sea.
Cargo ship ‘had sodium cyanide on board’
It was carrying 15 containers of sodium cyanide among other cargo, according to a report from maritime data provider Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
The container vessel was also transporting an unknown quantity of alcohol, said the casualty report – an assessment of incidents at sea – citing a message from the local coastguard.
Plastic takes hundreds of years to break down, and potentially can choke or trap animals.
Many of us have seen that uncomfortable viral video of a turtle having a straw yanked out of its nose. Previous accidents on cargo ships have seen plastic Lego pieces wash up in Cornwall 25 years later.
Read more:
How UK North Sea platforms dump gas
Secondly, the impact depends on the sea and weather conditions around it.
Things like the wind and currents affect how an oil spill spreads in the sea. Scientists can draw up computer models to simulate how the oil could behave.
Thirdly, it matters how quickly this is all tackled and then cleaned up, if necessary, and if it can be.
Usually the slower the response, the worse the impact.
The coastguard has said the incident “remains ongoing” and it has started assessing the “likely counter pollution response” that will be required.
Such a response might need the help of numerous public bodies: the government environment department, the transport department, the Environment Agency and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
So for now the best we can hope for – aside from the welfare of the people involved – is that not all the oil is spilled or burnt, that conditions are calm and that rescuers and those cleaning up can work swiftly.
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