Boris Johnson loyalist Nadine Dorries blasts Tory ‘infighting’ as she says she’s standing down as MP
Boris Johnson loyalist Nadine Dorries blasts the ‘infighting and occasional sheer stupidity’ of her Tory colleagues as she says she is standing down as an MP at the next election
- The MP served in Mr Johnson’s cabinet and is among biggest cheerleaders
- She has also been vocal in her views on Rishi Sunak since he became PM
Nadine Dorries has announced she will step down as an MP at the next general election – as she slams Tory ‘infighting’ and ridicules the ‘sheer stupidity’ of removing Boris Johnson as Prime Minister.
The former Culture Secretary, 65, served in Mr Johnson’s cabinet and has been one of his biggest cheerleaders on the Tory benches – often urging him to make a comeback.
She has also been vocal in her views on Rishi Sunak since he became PM in October, writing in the Mail on Sunday that ‘we are heading into the long, cold and brutal wasteland of thankless opposition’.
Ms Dorries announced the decision to step down on her new TalkTV programme.
She said: ‘Those MPs who drank the Kool-Aid and got rid of Boris Johnson are already asking themselves the question: who next?
Nadine Dorries (pictured) has announced she will step down as an MP at the next general election
Boris Johnson appeared as the first ever guest on Friday Night With Nadine Dorries, her new show on TalkTV
‘And I’m afraid that the lack of cohesion, the infighting and occasionally the sheer stupidity from those who think we could remove a sitting prime minister, who secured a higher percentage of the vote share than Tony Blair did in 1997, just three short years ago…
‘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.
‘And so, despite it being a job that I’ve loved for every year that I’ve done it, I’m now off. Oh gosh, I’ve just said it out loud, there’s no going back now.’
Writing in the Mail On Sunday last month, Ms Dorries called for the Conservative Party to reinstate Mr Johnson as leader.
She described him as ‘the most impactful, charismatic, progressive and productive leader the Conservative Party has known since the days of Margaret Thatcher’.
The MP added: ‘It is an undeniable fact that with Boris at the helm, more would return to Westminster following a General Election than with any other individual leading the party.
‘He is still our political rock star out on the streets. The Prime Minister who got every single big decision right, from personally driving the vaccine programme to arming the people of Ukraine and standing up to Vladimir Putin.’
‘With Rishi in No 10, we are heading into the long, cold and brutal wasteland of thankless opposition.
‘For the Conservatives, it’s bring back Boris or die because the first task of any Labour government would be to ensure that there’ll never be a majority Conservative government ever again.