{"id":1029,"date":"2023-08-27T12:07:25","date_gmt":"2023-08-27T12:07:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/nadine-dorries-resigns-labour-and-lib-dems-gear-up-for-by-election-battle\/"},"modified":"2023-08-27T12:07:25","modified_gmt":"2023-08-27T12:07:25","slug":"nadine-dorries-resigns-labour-and-lib-dems-gear-up-for-by-election-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/nadine-dorries-resigns-labour-and-lib-dems-gear-up-for-by-election-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"Nadine Dorries resigns: Labour and Lib Dems gear up for by-election battle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nadine Dorries resigns: Labour and Lib Dems gear up for by-election battle<\/p>\n

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\"Nadine<\/picture><\/span>PA Media<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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By Thomas Mackintosh<\/div>\n
BBC News<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Labour and the Liberal Democrats are vying to snap up Nadine Dorries’ seat in a by-election this autumn, triggered after she quit on Saturday.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The two parties ruled out any election pact as they look to contest the vacated Mid Bedfordshire seat.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In her blistering resignation letter, Ms Dorries accused Rishi Sunak of running a “zombie Parliament”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Government minister Johnny Mercer dismissed her scathing criticism, but said she was “entitled to that view”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I think people are tired of raking over the coals of the Boris Johnson government,” said Mr Mercer, who is the government’s veteran affairs minister. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He told reporters on Sunday that he looked forward to the by-election campaign, but the Conservative Party would have to “work hard to get” constituents’ votes, adding: “We’ve got work to do but we’ve got a good candidate.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Ms Dorries – who was a Johnson loyalist – announced she would stand down on Saturday evening, 11 weeks after originally pledging to quit “with immediate effect” on 9 June.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Labour’s Anneliese Dodds said Ms Dorries’ resignation was “a real relief for the people of Mid Bedfordshire” and that Labour was in “pole position” for the seat, despite not winning there before.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I think it really is all to play for for Labour with this by-election,” she told BBC Breakfast. “They desperately need an MP who will be focused on them full-time.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She added that “Labour won’t be cooking up any deals”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said he was “increasingly confident we have a really good chance” of overturning Ms Dorries’ huge 25,000 majority in the constituency, following the party’s victory in Somerton and Frome last month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He said the Lib Dems had already been campaigning there, adding: “It’s clear that the people of Mid Bedfordshire feel the Conservative Party is out of trust and they see the Liberal Democrats as the main challenger.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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‘Resignation psychodrama’<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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Ms Dorries, whose salary as an MP is \u00a386,584, had come under increasing pressure to act on her promise to resign, as she had not spoken in the Commons since June 2022.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She submitted her resignation letter to the prime minister and published the eviscerating text on Mail Online.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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