Council demands Nadine Dorries resigns ‘immediately’ as constituents ‘desperately need effective representation’
A local council in Nadine Dorries’s constituency is demanding she resigns as an MP “immediately”, saying “residents desperately need effective representation now”.
The former culture secretary announced on 9 June that she was standing down as an MP “with immediate effect”, just ahead of her close ally Boris Johnson’s own exit from parliament.
But she still hasn’t formally resigned and remains the representative for Mid-Bedfordshire.
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In a terse letter to Ms Dorries, Flitwick Town Council said the issue had been raised at a recent meeting, and councillors wanted her to “immediately vacate” her seat to allow a by-election.
“Rather than representing constituents, the council is concerned that your focus appears to have been firmly on your television show, upcoming book and political manoeuvres to embarrass the government for not appointing you to the House of Lords,” wrote the council’s town clerk, Stephanie Stanley.
“With an estimated population of 13,800 people, Flitwick represents the largest concentration of voters in the Mid-Bedfordshire constituency.
“Our residents desperately need effective representation now, and Flitwick Town Council calls on you to immediately vacate your seat to allow a by-election.”
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Nadine Dorries spoke to Sky News after her resignation announcement in June
The town mayor, Councillor Andy Snape, said demands had been growing across the community for Ms Dorries to “do the right thing rather than continue to hold the people of Mid-Bedfordshire to ransom while she plays political games for personal gain”.
He claimed the MP had not held a surgery in the town since March 2020 and had not maintained a constituency office “for a considerable time”.
Councillor Snape also said her “absence and lack of interest/contribution” had held back local projects, as he hit out at her living in the Cotswolds rather than in her constituency.
In a statement on social media, he added: “It’s the job of our MP to represent the views of Mid-Bedfordshire constituents in parliament and hold the government accountable, pushing for positive changes to policy and legislation.
“In my personal opinion, Dorries hasn’t done this.
“Her focus appears to be firmly on her TalkTV show, her new Daily Mail column, and, more recently, her upcoming tell-all book and exerting as much pressure as possible to embarrass the government into giving her a peerage.
“Regardless of your political viewpoint, Mid-Bedfordshire residents desperately need representation at Westminster. It’s time for Dorries to put Mid-Bedfordshire first and let someone else have a go.”
Nadine Dorries is a close ally of former prime minister Boris Johnson
Ms Dorries announced her resignation last month, just hours before Mr Johnson quit in protest against the Privileges Committee findings – ruling he deliberately misled parliament over lockdown breaking parties in Downing Street.
At the time, she said a “new life is opening up” in front of her, so it was the right time to step down.
However, rumours swelled that she had been in line for a peerage and was cut from Mr Johnson’s resignation honours list at the last minute to ensure it got the sign off from the current incumbent in Number 10.
In the following days, Ms Dorries said she would not formally resign until after she got answers from Downing Street about why she did not get her peerage.
“It is absolutely my intention to resign,” she tweeted. “But given what I know to be true and the number of varying and conflicting statements issued by Number 10 since the weekend, this process is now sadly necessary.”
The delay to her exit has drawn criticism from all over the House, with the Tory chair of the public administration and constitutional affairs committee referring to her as the “lingering member for Mid-Bedfordshire”.
Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Olney said the letter showed people were “fed up with being taken for granted”, adding: “While families across Bedfordshire are struggling to see a GP and facing soaring mortgage costs, Nadine Dorries continues to hold on to a job she has no interest is doing.
“Dorries needs to step aside now to give people the chance to elect a proper local champion, one that will stand up for them and champion their voices in parliament.”
Sky New has contacted Ms Dorries for a response to the town council’s letter.
The Mid Bedfordshire Conservative Association had no comment on the row, telling Sky News: “This letter was addressed to Nadine, and therefore a matter for her.”
Taiwanese lawmaker Ko Ju-Chun has called on the government to consider adding Bitcoin to its national reserves, suggesting it could serve as a hedge against global economic uncertainty.
Ko, a legislator at-large in Taiwan’s legislative body, the Legislative Yuan, took to X on Friday to report that he had advocated Bitcoin (BTC) investment by the Taiwanese government at the National Conference on May 9.
In his remarks, Ko cited Bitcoin’s potential to become a hedge amid global economic risks and urged Taiwan to recognize the cryptocurrency alongside gold and foreign exchange reserves to boost its financial resilience.
Ko’s announcement came shortly after the legislator held talks with Samson Mow, who advocates for Bitcoin adoption by states like El Salvador at his BTC tech firm Jan3.
Taiwan is an export-oriented economy
Ko highlighted that Taiwan is an export-driven economy that has experienced significant fluctuations in its national currency, the New Taiwan dollar, amid global inflation and intensifying geopolitical risks.
“We currently have a gold reserve of 423 metric tons, and our foreign exchange reserves amount to $577 billion, including investments in US Treasury bonds,” the lawmaker stated.
In a scenario of more intense currency volatility or potential regional conflicts, Taiwan may “very likely be unable to ensure the security and liquidity,” Ko continued, adding that Bitcoin could be a great addition to Taiwan’s reserves for several reasons.
“Bitcoin has been operating for over 15 years. It has a fixed total supply, is decentralized, and is resistant to censorship. Many countries are focusing on its hedging attributes. At the same time, in intense situations, it may not face the risk of embargo,” he said.
Bitcoin is not the only solution
Referring to many global initiatives considering Bitcoin adoption as a reserve asset, Ko stressed that he’s not advocating for Bitcoin as the “only solution” to rising economic challenges.
Instead, the legislator suggested adding a “small proportion of Bitcoin” into the diversified assets as tools for sovereign asset allocation and risk hedging, and backup capacity of Taiwan’s financial system.
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He previously suggested that Taiwan could allocate a maximum of 5% of its $50 billion reserve to Bitcoin in an X post on May 6.
“When exchange rate risk and regional uncertainty increase, it is time to introduce new tools to construct a more flexible financial strategy framework,” Ko said, adding:
“As former Dean Chen Chong said, Bitcoin is the gun of the digital era. It may also be the gold of the digital era, the silver of the digital era. Or it could be gunpowder. A wise nation will not let weapons be in others’ hands.”
The news comes as Taiwan is emerging as a crypto-friendly jurisdiction, with the Financial Supervisory Commission pushing institutional trials of crypto custody services in late 2024.
Mainland China continues to maintain its hostile stance on cryptocurrency after imposing a ban on multiple crypto activities, including mining, in 2021.
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German law enforcement seized 34 million euros ($38 million) in cryptocurrency from eXch, a cryptocurrency platform allegedly used to launder funds stolen after Bybit’s record-breaking $1.4 billion hack.
The seizure, announced on May 9 by Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and Frankfurt’s main prosecutor’s office, involved multiple crypto assets, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Dash (DASH). The move marks the third-largest crypto confiscation in the BKA’s history.
The authorities also seized eXch’s German server infrastructure with over eight terabytes of data and shut down the platform, the announcement added.
eXch exchanged crypto without AML
In the statement, the BKA described eXch as a “swapping” service that allowed users to exchange various crypto assets without implementing Anti-Money Laundering (AML) measures.
The platform had operated since 2014 and reportedly facilitated about $1.9 billion in crypto transfers, some of which were believed to be of “criminal origin,” including assets laundered during the Bybit hack.
“Among other things, a portion of the $1.5 billion stolen from the Bybit crypto exchange, which was hacked on Feb. 21, 2025, is said to have been exchanged via eXch,” the authorities wrote.
Multisig, FixedFloat among laundering cases
According to a post by crypto sleuth ZachXBT, eXch was also involved in laundering millions of funds from other crypto thefts and exploits, including Multisig, FixedFloat and the $243 million Genesis creditor theft.
Those were in addition to “countless phishing drainer services over the past few years with refusal to block addresses and freeze orders,” ZachXBT said.
ZachXBT was among the first security analysts to report on eXch’s links to laundering $35 million of crypto assets stolen from Bybit soon after the hack was confirmed.
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“Lazarus Group transferred 5K ETH from the Bybit Hack to a new address and began laundering funds via eXch (a centralized mixer) and bridging funds to Bitcoin via Chainflip,” ZachXBT wrote in a Telegram post on Feb. 22.
eXch announced termination of services by May 1
After initially denying involvement in laundering funds from the Bybit hack, eXch eventually announced it would cease operations by May 1 in a Bitcoin Talk post published in mid-April.
“Even though we have been able to operate despite some failed attempts to shut down our infrastructure […], we don’t see any point in operating in a hostile environment where we are the target of SIGINT [Signals Intelligence] simply because some people misinterpret our goals,” it wrote.
Addressing the seizure, senior public prosecutor Benjamin Krause stressed the importance of action against “quick and anonymous opportunities for money laundering for any amount.”
“Crypto swapping is an essential component of the underground economy, used to conceal incriminated funds from illegal activities such as hacking or trading in stolen payment card data, thus making them available to perpetrators,” he said.
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