Boris Johnson honours row: Nadine Dorries delays resignation as MP

Former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has delayed her formal resignation as an MP - as a row about Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list continues.

She expected to receive a peerage and is now demanding an explanation from the government for why she didn’t. Downing Street insists all correct processes have been followed.

Why was Nadine Dorries not on the list?

One of Johnson’s closest friends and biggest supporters in Parliament, it was widely expected Dorries would receive a peerage in his resignation honours. He’d made her his Culture Secretary while in office - in a tenure marked by frequent attacks on the BBC and a since-abandoned plan to privatise Channel 4.

But last Friday (9 June) Johnson’s honours list was published - and Dorries was missing from it. She announced she would step down as an MP, and subsequently accused Rishi Sunak of blocking her appointment to the House of Lords.

A special Lords committee advises on peerages and whether they’re appropriate. In an interview with TalkTV, Dorries said this committee told Downing Street that in order for her to get a seat in the Lords, she’d need to announce her departure as an MP within six months of vetting. She claims this information wasn’t passed on.

Dorries told Piers Morgan: “Boris found out about this and had a meeting with Rishi. Six months had elapsed since the vetting had been done. Why Downing Street waited six months, I have no idea”.

“Boris left that meeting with the impression that James Forsyth, who’s Sunak’s political secretary, was going to ask for the re-vetting for the list and then Rishi would sign it off”.

Dories accused Sunak of using “weasel words” because he “knew a situation had been engineered” where her name wouldn’t be on that list.

What’s happened now?

In a series of tweets on Wednesday night (14 June), Dorries said it was still her intention to resign as MP for Mid Bedfordshire - but that she first needed to see all the correspondence linked to the decision not to grant her a peerage.

She added that this process was “now sadly necessary” given “the number of varying and conflicting statements issued by Number 10 since the weekend”.

What has the government said?

Downing Street said it would have been inappropriate for Number 10 to contact anyone going through vetting for peerages - because the process is handled entirely by the House of Lords Appointments Commission.

It described Dorries’ decision not to formally resign - several days after she said she would - as “unusual”, adding that Sunak would welcome “certainty”.

Two other by-elections have already been triggered in recent days following the resignations of Boris Johnson himself and Nigel Adams - one of his allies who was also missed off the honours list.