Nadine Dorries can’t confirm she will vote Conservative at next general election as by-election campaigning kicks off
Nadine Dorries has refused to say whether she will vote Conservative at the next general election after finally resigning as an MP.
Labour and the Liberal Democrats hit the campaign trail in Mid Bedfordshire hours after the former Tory culture secretary stood down on Saturday, triggering another headache for Prime Minister in the form of a by-election.
In a fiery resignation letter, Ms Dorries accused the prime minister of “demeaning his office by opening the gates to whip up a public frenzy” against her.
Read more: Nadine Dorries’ resignation letter in full
The former minister has now refused to say she will vote for the Conservative Party at the next general election, while insisting the Tories can’t win under Mr Sunak’s leadership.
She told TalkTV it is “very, very unlikely” the Conservatives will win a majority with Mr Sunak.
And asked if she will vote Tory, the outgoing MP said: “You’re asking me a question I don’t want to answer.”
Ms Dorries described the Conservative Party as “a mess” and “broken”.
Labour and the Liberal Democrats have wasted no time in stepping up their campaigns in Mid Bedfordshire, with both parties already out in the constituency just hours after Ms Dorries stepped down.
Veterans minister Johnny Mercer today said it is “good news” for the people of Mid Bedfordshire that a by-election can now take place.
Nadine Dorries is reported to have been removed from Boris Johnson’s honours list.
However, he said he “doesn’t agree” with the former minister that the country is run by a “zombie parliament”.
Ms Dorries, a key ally of Mr Johnson, said she was resigning with “immediate effect” on 9 June after she failed to get a peerage in Mr Johnson’s resignation honours list.
But having not formally vacated her seat, a by-election has not yet been able to take place.
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The Tory MP said she was delaying her exit to investigate why she was refused a seat in the House of Lords.
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said he is “increasingly confident we have a really good chance” of overturning Ms Dorries’ 25,000 majority in the constituency.
He is hoping his party can pull off another unexpected victory after flipping a 19,000 Tory majority in Somerton and Frome in July.
A sign calling for Nadine Dorries to quit hung outside a local train station station. Photo by Jez Darr
Sir Ed told the BBC: “It’s clear that the people of Mid Bedfordshire feel the Conservative Party is out of trust and they see the Liberal Democrats as the main challenger.”
The Lib Dems came third in Mid Bedfordshire at the 2019 general election, with 8,000 votes.
Labour, which came second with 14,000 votes, believes it is best placed to seize the traditionally safe Tory seat.
The party’s Mid Bedfordshire campaign lead 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.”
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Nadine Dorries launches attack on PM after handing in resignation letter
Labour chairwoman Anneliese Dodds described a “morning of relief” for people in Mid Bedfordshire after the resignation of the the former minister. She said her party could be in “pole position” to take the seat.
What happens now she has resigned?
Ms Dorries is expected to leave her seat on Tuesday after notifying the chancellor of her intention to do so on Saturday.
Jeremy Hunt is expected to facilitate her exit from the House of Commons by appointing her to be Steward and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern on the first working day after the bank holiday.
This will enable a motion called a “writ” to be moved when parliament returns on 4 September.
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Politics
Heidi Alexander says ‘fairness’ will be government’s ‘guiding principle’ when it comes to taxes at next budget
Another hint that tax rises are coming in this autumn’s budget has been given by a senior minister.
Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander was asked if Sir Keir Starmer and the rest of the cabinet had discussed hiking taxes in the wake of the government’s failed welfare reforms, which were shot down by their own MPs.
Trevor Phillips asked specifically if tax rises were discussed among the cabinet last week – including on an away day on Friday.
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Tax increases were not discussed “directly”, Ms Alexander said, but ministers were “cognisant” of the challenges facing them.
Asked what this means, Ms Alexander added: “I think your viewers would be surprised if we didn’t recognise that at the budget, the chancellor will need to look at the OBR forecast that is given to her and will make decisions in line with the fiscal rules that she has set out.
“We made a commitment in our manifesto not to be putting up taxes on people on modest incomes, working people. We have stuck to that.”
Ms Alexander said she wouldn’t comment directly on taxes and the budget at this point, adding: “So, the chancellor will set her budget. I’m not going to sit in a TV studio today and speculate on what the contents of that budget might be.
“When it comes to taxation, fairness is going to be our guiding principle.”
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Afterwards, shadow home secretary Chris Philp told Phillips: “That sounds to me like a barely disguised reference to tax rises coming in the autumn.”
He then went on to repeat the Conservative attack lines that Labour are “crashing the economy”.
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Chris Philp also criticsed the government’s migration deal with France
Mr Philp then attacked the prime minister as “weak” for being unable to get his welfare reforms through the Commons.
Discussions about potential tax rises have come to the fore after the government had to gut its welfare reforms.
Sir Keir had wanted to change Personal Independence Payments (PIP), but a large Labour rebellion forced him to axe the changes.
With the savings from these proposed changes – around £5bn – already worked into the government’s sums, they will now need to find the money somewhere else.
The general belief is that this will take the form of tax rises, rather than spending cuts, with more money needed for military spending commitments, as well as other areas of priority for the government, such as the NHS.
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