Nadine Dorries has stepped down as a Tory MP and announced her resignation just before she was denied a peerage from Boris Johnson’s honor roll.
The former culture secretary shocked Westminster by revealing she is stepping down from her Mid-Bedfordshire seat with immediate effect.
It came after the Prime Minister kicked her nomination back to the Lords’ vetting committee, a move that would have prevented a tricky by-election.
Mr Johnson’s roll of honors was published Friday afternoon, with seven of his friends and close political allies being elevated to the rank of Lords.
Just over an hour before it was released, Ms Dorries announced on Twitter that she would be leaving the Commons after 18 years as an MP.
“I have informed the chief whip today that I am stepping down as MP for Mid Bedfordshire with immediate effect,” she said.
“It has been an honor to be an MP for such a wonderful constituency, but it is now time for someone else to take over the reins.”
Her former seat, where she had a majority of 24,664, will now be contested in a by-election that the Liberal Democrats hope to win.
Ms Dorries was expected to be on the roll of honor alongside Alok Sharma, the former COP26 chairman. Both served in Mr. Johnson’s cabinet.
Instead, the list included seven names, including Ross Kempsell, who served as the media adviser to the former Prime Minister on Downing Street.
Five of the ennobled people served Mr Johnson, either in No. 10 or when he was Lord Mayor of London.
They also include Dan Rosenfield, his former chief of staff, Ben Gascoigne, his former political secretary, Charlotte Owen, a former adviser, and Kulveer Ranger, who was Director of Transport for London.
Ben Houchen, the Tory mayor of the Tees Valley, and Shaun Bailey, a Tory member of the London Assembly, have also been granted peerages.
