Nadine Dorries to stand down as MP at next election

Former culture secretary Nadine Dorries has said she will not be standing as an MP at the next general election.

Ms Dorries, who has been Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire since 2005, said it had been "such an honour" to serve her constituents.

Speaking on her own TalkTV show, Ms Dorries hit out at "MPs who drank the Kool-Aid and got rid of Boris Johnson".

Ms Dorries said: "Despite it being a job that I've loved for every year that I've done it, I'm now off."

She has been a critic of Rishi Sunak's government since he entered Number 10 and is writing a book about the political downfall of Mr Johnson

She described "the lack of cohesion, the infighting and occasionally the sheer stupidity from those who think we could remove a sitting prime minister".

She added: "That they could do that and the public would let us get away with it. I'm afraid it's this behaviour that I now just have to remove myself from."

Parliament's anti-corruption watchdog found Ms Dorries broke the ministerial code by not consulting it before she took the TV job.

Born Nadine Bargery in Liverpool in 1957 to a Protestant mother and an Irish immigrant Catholic father, Ms Dorries had an unconventional path to Parliament.

After school, Ms Dorries trained as a nurse training at Warrington Hospital in the 1970s.

She came late to active politics, and until 1997 had considered joining Labour.

But By 2001 Ms Dorries had joined the Conservatives, unsuccessfully standing as the party's candidate for Hazel Grove in the 2001 general election.

She was then hired by Sir Oliver Letwin, then the shadow chancellor, to run his communications before successfully standing for Parliament in 2005.

Once in Parliament, Ms Dorries was a vocal critic of Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne, once describing them as "a pair of posh boys who don't know the price of a pint of milk". Neither Mr Cameron nor successor Theresa May made her a minister.

While one the backbenches Ms Dorries became a successful author of romantic historical novels drawing heavily on own life and childhood.

She hit the headlines in 2012 when she joined ITV reality show I'm a Celebrity, only to be suspended by her parliamentary party for six months.

Ms Dorries, a strong supporter of Leave in the Brexit referendum, became a close ally of Mr Johnson, supporting his 2019 leadership bid.

When Mr Johnson entered Downing Street he made her a health minister before appointing her culture secretary in September 2021.

She was elected with a majority of more than 24,000 at the 2019 election.

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