Nadine Dorries spent £75 of taxpayers’ money on a print cartridge simply days earlier than resigning as an MP.
The former minister, who has entertained Westminster with lurid tales of plots and schemes by shadowy figures to overthrow her outdated boss, Boris Johnson, introduced she would give up as an MP “with immediate effect” on June 9 final 12 months (2023).
But it took till 23 August for her to really put in her letter and vacate her Mid-Beds seat. On 7 August – lengthy after she introduced she was planning to resign – Ms Dorries submitted an bills declare for £75.90 for a printer cartridge.
It’s not clear if she used the cartridge to print her resignation letter, which was given solely to the Mail on Sunday. Ms Dorries correctly submitted the receipts, and the declare was throughout the guidelines.
But she was accused of being “offensive” to voters when she left Parliament, for failing to declare any money she pocketed from her second job as a TV presenter. The ex-Tory MP didn’t declare a single penny in earnings from practically a 12 months of presenting a excessive profile TV present – whereas largely absent from her day job as an MP.
She kicked off her broadcasting profession in October 2023, filling in for Piers Morgan whereas he was on vacation from his present on Talk TV. She was later handed her personal Friday night time present on the channel.
But regardless of a number of MPs correctly declaring hundreds of kilos value of charges after showing as friends on the channel to Commons authorities – she by no means registered any earnings from the possibly profitable job. MPs are required to publicly declare most exterior earnings – together with charges from TV appearances.
Fellow Tory Jake Berry declared a payment of £600 for filling in for Jeremy Kyle on one event on the identical channel – and varied charges between £120 and £365 for showing as a visitor on a number of programmes. The Mirror revealed final week that Ms Dorries Friday night time present had been axed after lower than a 12 months on the air.