Nadine Dorries: Mid Bedfordshire voters want 'absent' Tory to resign, saying 'it’s an illusion we have an MP'

It’s been almost two months since the Conservative MP said she would stand down from her Mid Bedfordshire seat “with immediate effect”, after not being given a peerage. Since then, three by-elections have taken place yet still the former Cabinet minister draws her tax-payer funded MP's salary.

Dorries has not spoken in the House of Commons for more than a year, she has only mentioned her constituency name once in the chamber since the 2019 election, and no longer has a constituency office, according to her own Parliamentary website.

Even the Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has criticised her, saying: “At the moment people aren’t being properly represented.” 

Meanwhile, the former I’m A Celebrity star is busy hosting a weekly chat show on Talk TV, and has written a book titled The Plot: The Political Assassination Of Boris Johnson. The question is, will she resign?

‘She’s definitely absent’

Mid Bedfordshire, the constituency Dorries has held since 2005, encompasses a lot of the small towns and rural areas between Bedford and Luton. The seat has returned a Conservative MP to the House of Commons every election since 1931, and although overall its residents are wealthier than the UK average there are some pockets that are in the most deprived 10% in the country. It also has an exceptionally high home ownership rate.

On my way to speak to voters in one of the main towns in the constituency, Flitwick, about Dorries and a potential by-election, I’m slightly nervous. You’re never sure how people will engage with you, when you approach them in the street to talk about politics. I needn’t have worried, as almost everyone I spoke to had a lot to say - in particular about their “absent” MP.

David Walsh, 66, told me that in his 22 years living in Flitwick he’d never seen Dorries. “I’ve had Labour and Lib Dem people knock at my door, but never heard anything from the Conservatives,” he said. Mr Walsh said he wants there to be a by-election as soon as possible.

One woman, who didn’t want to be named, said: “It’s an illusion we have an MP. She doesn’t exist, as far as we can tell - she’s never here.” While another remarked: “I think she’s a waste of space - mind you they all are.”

Lorraine Rumbelow, who’s run Flitwick Flowers for 14 years, also said she hadn’t seen Dorries in the constituency since the MP moved to the area in 2005. “MPs should help their local community, but I can’t name you anything she’s done,” she told NationalWorld.

Roger Kennedy, 75, said he voted for Dorries at the last election, but he would not be voting Conservative again. “She is definitely absent,” he told NationalWorld. “I’m very disappointed with the fact she’s not come back into the local community and acted for the local community.”

He added: “She’s done a lot of things in the past which I’ve not agreed with. Although I voted for her, I have now changed my allegiance - I will not be voting in that way again. It would be nice to have personal representation, a lot more to do with the community.”

Numerous people told NationalWorld that the only time they were aware that Dorries had visited Flitwick was in March 2020, at the social club. Four separate residents said that she had inadvertently brought Covid into the community, which they claimed caused several outbreaks. Dorries did not respond to requests for comment from NationalWorld.

Not spoken in House of Commons for more than a year

While almost everyone I spoke to in Flitwick accused Dorries of being absent from the constituency, cold-hard evidence backs this up. Dorries reportedly used to have a constituency office in the town of Shefford, however this is no longer listed on her Parliamentary website. Instead the only contact details are given as the House of Commons.

In fact, Dorries last spoke in Parliament on 7 July 2022, according to Hansard, which was more than a year ago. She’s only mentioned the name of her constituency - Mid Bedfordshire - once in Parliament since the 2019 election. 

She’s only voted 10 times in the House of Commons in the last year - and five of those instances were on amendments to the Illegal Migration Bill, which were all in the same sitting. Compare this to another former Cabinet member, Andrea Leadsom, who has voted 31 times in July alone. 

Residents told NationalWorld that they understood Dorries to have an address in the Cotswolds, as well as in Mid Bedfordshire. In 2022, she appeared on the BBC live from Gloucestershire. She previously said she chose to rent in the constituency and not buy.

Indeed, Flitwick Town Council has also accused Dorries of not having run a surgery in the town since 2020. It wrote to Dorries to urge her to resign on 26 July, saying it wanted to “formally raise the council’s concerns and frustration at the continuing lack of representation for the people of Mid-Bedfordshire at Westminster”.

The letter continued: “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.

“Flitwick Town Council has a long history of operating on a non-political basis, with a strong ethos that our council must represent the views and needs of residents regardless of party politics.

“Our residents desperately need effective representation now, and Flitwick Town Council calls on you to immediately vacate your seat to allow a by-election.”

Dorries is paid £86,584 a year to be an MP for Mid Bedfordshire, and since 2013 has employed her daughter Jennifer as her senior parliamentary assistant, according to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. IPSA’s latest figures, which cover from 2021-22, state Jennifer Dorries was paid between £45,000 and £49,999 a year.

As part of our Part-Time Parliament investigation, NationalWorld previously reported that between January 2020 and November 2021 - during which she was Culture, Media and Sport Secretary - Dorries earned more than £150,000 through book royalties and advance payments. She would spent 12 hours a week writing, according to the register of members’ financial interests.

‘We need a by-election’

Even though Dorries is yet to officially resign, the race for any potential by-election has already started. Festus Akinbusoye, Bedfordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner - a role which has an oath of impartiality - has been selected as the Conservative candidate. His office said: “While Mr Akinbusoye will undoubtedly now be campaigning for the upcoming by-election after being selected as the Conservative Party candidate for the Mid Bedfordshire constituency, he will continue to carry out his PCC duties.”

Alistair Strathern, a maths teacher who also worked for the Bank of England, is Labour’s candidate. Strathern is currently a councillor in Waltham Forest, north-east London, but has moved back to Mid Bedfordshire, which is where he grew up. 

He told NationalWorld: “When we’re out on the doors, pretty much universally, residents are desperate to see someone who’s going to be taking the job seriously on a full-time basis. We’re struggling to find any supporters of the incumbent MP, and we’re finding plenty of people who are both let down by her, and the Conservative government.”

Emma Holland-Lindsay, a councillor from neighbouring Leighton Buzzard, has been selected as the Lib Dem candidate. She said: “I am determined to be a strong local champion for communities across Bedfordshire.”

And currently polling third, slightly behind Labour and the Tories but ahead of the Lib Dems, is Flitwick independent councillor Gareth Mackey. And he believes Dorries’ behaviour gives him a great chance of defying the odds whenever the election is called.

“People have got the perception that she doesn’t really care about the constituency,” Mackey told NationalWorld. “She doesn’t even live here, we barely see her. 

“She’s too busy with her media career, and before that her government career, and she can’t really be the kind of constituency MP people want.” He thinks that being separate from party political infighting and being present and listening is exactly the kind of MP the constituents want.

“I used to have a lot more to do with her years ago, but I haven’t met her personally since the day Boris Johnson became Prime Minister,” Mackey explained. 

“We need a by-election or a general election, I’m not fussed, the position she is in is really untenable now, especially when you’ve got the Prime Minister telling her that she’s not adequately representing her constituents.”

NationalWorld asked Dorries’ Parliamentary office:

• Why have you not stood down yet?
• When will you stand down?
• Is your primary residence in the Cotswolds?
• Why do you not have a constituency office, and why haven’t you held a surgery in Flitwick since 2020?

We did not receive a response.