Rishi Sunak and Nadine Dorries: Here's when their famous feud first started

Rishi Sunak has publicly accused Nadine Dorris of neglecting her duties as Mid Bedfordshire MP. This is just the latest in a back and forth feud that has been going on for years.

Let’s rewind to 2021: Sunak was the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Dorrieswas the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport. Towards the end of 2021, reports surfaced suggesting that the two were not seeing eye to eye when it came to government spending.

Rumours of feud between Rishi Sunak and Nadine Dorries intensify

The following year, these rumours intensified as Sunakpushed for prudence in public spending while Dorries announced plans for a notable increase in government support for the creative industries.

In August 2022, both figures publicly downplayed any rumours of a feud between them. However, we now find ourselves in 2023 and things have heated up.

In June, Dorries discovered that Boris Johnson’s resignation honours would not make her a baroness. She blamed ‘the class ceiling’ and accused her old enemy, now Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, of standing in the way of Johnson’s attempt to give her a peerage. She called him a ‘privileged posh boy’, accused him of acting ‘cruelly’, and said she would resign in protest ‘with immediate effect’.

That was two months ago, and she is yet to formally resign.

Rishi Sunak, before heading off for his Californian summer holiday, spoke about the situation on LBC Radio:

I think people deserve to have an MP that represents them, wherever they are…That's the job of an MP and all MPs should be held to that standard.

When asked if that meant his colleague was failing her constituents, the PM replied: ‘Well, at the moment people aren’t being properly represented.’

Dorris, whose salary as an MP is £86,584, has not spoken in the Commons since June 2022. In a move that seems dangerously close to ransom, she explained that her formal resignation from her Mid Bedfordshire seat will depend on the government releasing documents surrounding her denied peerage.

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Town councils in Nadine Dorries' constituency are not happy

Flitwick's town clerk, Stephanie Stanley, wrote to Dorries:

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.

Fellow Conservative MP Aaron Bell shares Stanley’s opinion: he has accused Dorries of being more focused on ‘making money on telly’ than getting on with her job. While speaking on BBC Radio 4’s World at One, he expressed his frustration:

I don’t know what Nadine’s doing, to be honest.

Read more: Rishi Sunak's salary: This is how much he earns from being Prime Minister

Sources used:

Sky News:Council demands Nadine Dorries resigns 'immediately' as constituents 'desperately need effective representation'

Financial Times: Nadine Dorries: ‘I’m actually smarter than these guys in No 10’

The Independent: Nadine Dorries vows to hold Rishi Sunak to ransom over resignation

The Guardian: Nadine Dorries urged to quit as MP by council in her constituency

BBC News: Nadine Dorries not doing MP's job properly, says Rishi Sunak