he House of Commons standards committee chair is rallying for an old parliamentary rule to be reinstated to force “absentee MP” Nadine Dorries to follow through on her resignation.
Labour MP Sir Chris Bryant wants to see a parliamentary rule from 1801 reintroduced that allows no MP to “go out of town without leave of this House” in a bid to force Ms Norries to attend parliamant or face a by-election, the Financial Times reports.
The MP for Mid Bedfordshire and former culture secretary has sparked criticism for remaining in post despite announcing on June 9 that she would step down “with immediate effect” in protest at not being given a peerage in former prime minister Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list.
She has not spoken in the Commons for more than 12 months.
Ms Dorries claims she is delaying her exit from the Commons because she has sought more information about her peerage nomination, which she believes was blocked by Rishi Sunak’s team “to punish Boris”.
But Mr Bryant said it would be “perfectly legitimate” to table a motion when MPs returns in September saying Ms Dorries, or anyone else who failed to show in the Commons for six months, must attend a date or be suspended for 10 sitting days or more.
The proposal is outlined in his new book, Code of Conduct: Why We Ned to Fix Parliament – and How to Do It.
He writes in the book: “If the House nominated you, you had to attend. Thus when William Smith O’Brien refused to serve on a railway committee in 1846, the House had him detained overnight in the Clock Tower cell.”A 10-day Commons suspension would trigger a recall petition, giving Dorries’ local constituents the chance to vote for a by-election.”
Asked this week if Ms Dorries was failing her constituents, the prime minister told LBC: “I think people deserve to have an MP that represents them, wherever they are.”
Mr Sunak added: “At the moment people aren’t being properly represented.”
Meanwhile, Ms Dorries is hosting a weekly chat show on Talk TV and has written a book titled The Plot: The Political Assassination Of Boris Johnson, to be published days before the Conservative Party conference in September.
The Mid Bedfordshire has been held by Ms Dorries since 2005 and the Conservative Party generally since 1931, but the Tories are wary of any electoral challenge as they lag far behind Labour in the polls.
Mr Sunak declined to say when he will trigger a general election, with the deadline being the end of January 2025, but he hinted he could draw out the wait until later in 2024.
Peter Kyle, the MP leading Labour’s campaign in Mid Bedfordshire, said: “If Rishi Sunak is so concerned that people in Mid Beds aren’t being properly represented, he should show some leadership and tell Nadine Dorries to step aside.
“He is once again showing that he’s too weak to lead a Conservative Party which is too divided to govern the country.”
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper also repeated demands for Ms Dorries to stand down.
Last month, Flitwick Town Council in Mid Bedfordshire called on Ms Dorries “to immediately vacate your seat” amid “concerns and frustration” about her focus on her TV work and “political manoeuvres to embarrass the Government”.
In a strongly worded letter, the councillors said: “The last time you spoke in the Commons was 7 June 2022.
“You have not maintained a constituency office for a considerable time, and it’s widely understood that you have not held a surgery in Flitwick since March 2020.
“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.
“Councillors noted that your behaviour widely reported in the press is not in line with the Seven Principles of Public Life set out by Lord Nolan in 1995.”
Nadine Dorries has been approached for comment.
