Rishi Sunak has criticised Conservative MP Nadine Dorries for “failing her constituents” as he hinted that a general election will not come until late next year.
The Prime Minister said the former culture secretary’s voters “aren’t being properly represented” because she has not spoken in the Commons for more than 12 months.
Ms Dorries announced in June that she was resigning with “immediate effect” after she failed to receive a peerage in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list.
But she is yet to stand down formally and has clung on to her role as MP for Mid Bedfordshire despite being urged by a town council in the area to go.
Mr Sunak told an LBC call-in: “I think people deserve to have an MP that represents them, wherever they are.
“It’s just making sure your MP is engaging with you, representing you, whether that’s speaking in Parliament or being present in their constituencies doing surgeries, answering your letters.
“That’s the job of an MP and all MPs should be held to that standard.”
Asked if that means Ms Dorries is failing her constituents, Mr Sunak said: “Well, at the moment people aren’t being properly represented.”
After announcing her departure, the arch-ally of Mr Johnson then said she would stay on while investigating why she was denied a seat in the House of Lords.
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.
Asked on LBC whether he could go to the polls in the early half of next year, the Prime Minister said: “I wouldn’t like to speculate but, look, I’ve got a lot to get on with.”
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