Nadine Dorries: What happens next in Mid Bedfordshire seat?

The parties are already campaigning and people in the constituency are telling us they just want the limbo to be over, but still we wait for Conservative MP Nadine Dorries to formally stand down from her safe seat in Mid Bedfordshire.

She made the move at a similar time to two other Tory MPs stepping down - former Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Uxbridge & South Ruislip in west London, and Nigel Adams in Selby & Ainsty in North Yorkshire.

While those two have formally gone, we're still waiting for her to make it official.

Why is she waiting and what do we know so far about the prospective by-election?

On 9 June, Ms Dorries announced she was standing down, with "immediate effect" in a constituency where she had a majority of 24,664 at the 2019 general election.

She had been expected to be nominated for a place in the House of Lords in Boris Johnson's resignation honours list, but she was not included in the end.

As a result, she is now saying that although it's "absolutely her intention to resign", she wants to get more information on why she was denied a peerage first.

We expect by-elections for Mr Johnson's and Mr Adams' seats to happen between 13 July and 21 July, but if Ms Dorries does not formally quit by the middle of this week, her by-election could happen as late as September because MPs are due to go on their summer recess after 21 July.

The chief whip of the party whose MP holds the seat starts the process of a by-election and MPs have to agree to it. The Speaker of the House of Commons then issues a warrant to the clerk of the crown, who then sends the writ to the returning officer in the constituency.

A by-election would then be triggered in the rural constituency, which includes the small towns of Ampthill, Flitwick, Shefford and Woburn.

Mid Beds has been a Conservative seat since 1931, with Ms Dorries doubling her majority in the four elections she has fought and won since first being elected in 2005.

Campaigning has already started, even though at this point it could be regarded as a phoney war, with some of the big guns from the main three parties already visiting.

The Conservatives have sent Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden to Flitwick, and party co-chairman Greg Hands was in Mid Beds the day after her announcement.

Despite the lack of formal resignation from the sitting MP, the party has named its new candidate as Festus Akinbusoye, who has been the Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner since his election in 2021.

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats (the only party to have held the seat previously, albeit back in 1929 when they were the Liberal Party) are claiming they are the favourites to win, with leader Sir Ed Davey and Deputy Leader and St Albans MP Daisy Cooper already visiting.

They have named Emma Holland-Lindsay as their candidate - a local councillor who recently won a seat from the Conservatives on Central Bedfordshire Council.

Labour have already despatched shadow cabinet members Lisa Nandy and Wes Streeting to Bedfordshire, with Ms Nandy pointing to the party already having three Bedfordshire MPs (Bedford, Luton North, Luton South) and an increased presence on Central Beds Council as a reason why they could win.

They have named Alistair Strathern, who works at the Bank of England and is a cabinet member at Waltham Forest Council, as their parliamentary candidate.

Partly because of Ms Dorries' presence, this seat has often attracted some weird and wonderful candidates, with the Monster Raving Loony Party standing in the previous three contests.

No word from them yet, but we already know of candidates from three other parties, plus an independent.

Gareth Mackey, who is an independent councillor on Central Beds Council, is confirmed as standing, while the Greens have put forward Cade Sibley.

Dave Holland will stand for Reform UK, while Alan Victor will represent the True and Fair Party.

So it is seven candidates already - but for now, we wait for Nadine.

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