Nadine Dorries says Liz Truss must call election if she scraps Boris Johnson’s agenda

Ex-Cabinet minister Nadine Dorries has said Liz Truss should call an election if she wants to abandon key parts of Boris Johnson’s agenda.

In an outspoken attack, the staunch Johnson loyalist said there was “widespread dismay” at the Prime Minister’s approach, including decisions to review ideas such as privatising Channel 4 and scrapping the BBC licence fee.

Ms Dorries, who backed Liz Truss in the leadership race, seized on comments reported by the Mirror from a Conservative conference fringe event, where the author of the 2019 manifesto said the Government had no mandate.

Rachel Wolf, on of the manifesto co-authors, said the Tories were unlikely to win the next election and warned that Liz Truss’s Government had no “democratic or parliamentary mandate”.

Ms Wolf, a founder of consultancy firm Public First, argued that Ms Truss won the Tory leadership race in “significant part by not having betrayed Boris” but her Government has now junked everything he stood for.

Seizing on these comments, Ms Dorries tweeted: “Widespread dismay at the fact that three years of work has effectively been put on hold.

“No one asked for this. C4 (Channel 4) sale, online safety, BBC licence fee review, all signed off by Cabinet all ready to go, all stopped.

“If Liz wants a whole new mandate, she must take to the country.”

Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg disagreed with his former Cabinet colleague, who he said he usually agreed with on “almost everything”.

He told a Telegraph conference event: “I don’t think there’s going to be an immediate election and I don’t think there’s a requirement for one.”

Ex-Cabinet Minister Michael Gove was also asked about the call, but dodged answering it.

He said: “I am sure it will be the case that Liz will be carrying forward lots of the very good work that Nadine did at DCMS.”

Ms Dorries was asked by Ms Truss to stay on as Culture Secretary but she chose to return to the backbenches when Mr Johnson left No10.

The outspoken MP accused Ms Truss on Sunday of throwing Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng “under a bus” by blaming him for the 45p income tax rate row.