A Farewell To Narnia?

As those who follow the activities of Tory MP for Mid Bedfordshire (yes, it’s her again) Nadine Dorries will know, she usually enjoys the wholehearted support of local rags such as Bedfordshire On Sunday, whose editor Chris Gill has been called out by the serially tenacious Tim Ireland of Bloggerheads fame for what gives every appearance of being highly partisan behaviour.

But times change, and with the conclusion of the Boundary Commission review recently came the news that Mid Bedfordshire would no longer exist after the next General Election, if proposals to reduce the number of Parliamentary constituencies were to go ahead. None of the Tory MPs who sit for neighbouring seats is likely to be retiring any time soon, so Ms Dorries could be on her way.

It was at this point that La Dorries gave an interview to the otherwise detested and highly subversive Guardian, where she talked up prospects for reform of the abortion laws (despite her amendment being trounced in the Commons recently), suggested that she is still not happy with Young Dave after his “extremely frustrated” remark, and was otherwise in self-justifying mode.

And then she confessed that her recent fling with John Butler was over, and there was much talk of her being lonely, divorced and having three adult daughters, all of which reinforces the picture of a woman alone in the world. “I’m quite resigned, as a result of my job, to being alone for the rest of my life. That’s just how it’s going to be, and I accept it” she told the interviewer.

All of which seems to have been heard by the folks at Bedfordshire On Sunday, but perhaps was not taken in the spirit that the noble Nadine intended. Giving readers the benefit of his wisdom just before Christmas, Steve Lowe mentioned her as he considered the ideal gifts for party leaders and his local MPs: “Nadine Dorries could be sent to a Trappist monastery,” he began.

Really? Yes, really: Lowe continued “where they only speak when necessary, and idle talk is strongly discouraged”. Perhaps the staff at Bedfordshire On Sunday have finally tired of their favourite MP and are using Lowe’s blog to send her a none too subtle hint. And that hint appears to be that there will be little point in her hanging around looking for another seat in Bedfordshire.

There’s not much demand for Tory MPs in her native Liverpool, either. So that could be that.