Having won back the Tory whip, Mid Bedfordshire’s MP (yes,
it’s her again) Nadine Dorries is
now excelling in wiping the party’s face in the nasty brown sticky stuff.
First came her endorsement of London’s occasional Mayor and specialist blower
of other people’s money Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, and now has come the suggestion
that she is prepared to pile off and leave her constituency once more.
The fragrant Nadine had the whip removed after going off to
Oz to take part in I’m A Celebrity Get Me
Out Of Here. So it’s not as if she doesn’t know what something similar
would mean for her. But this has not stopped her from declaring
that she would rather like to be considered as a future contestant on Strictly Come Dancing, treading in the
footsteps of Ann Widdecombe and Edwina Currie.
Except, of course, that Widders had retired from politics –
after 23 years in the Commons – before subjecting herself to the rigours of
training with Anton du Beke and the weekly scrutiny of judges and viewers. So
that leaves the prospect of one of two scenarios being played out, neither of
which would have Ms Dorries as an MP of any stripe after the next General
Election.
If she gets her Strictly wish before the election, and goes
off to do the show – which would inevitably mean taking time off from her
Parliamentary duties – then the Tories are back where they were before George
Young gave in to all the special pleading and she got the whip back. A second
offence would mean permanent expulsion from the Tory Party, with pressure to
resign her seat following in short order.
This, of course, would be a nightmare scenario for former
local chairman Andy Rayment, who, along with his wife, holds the deeds for the
house that Ms Dorries and her daughters live in. The prospect of a sitting
tenant with zero utility to the constituency association, and perhaps an
irregular income stream, is not one he will be relishing. So it will be
interesting to see how he reacts to such a move.
The other scenario is that Ms Dorries has made her mind up
to leave the Commons in a more or less orderly manner in 2015, which for local
Tories is preferable, although they would rather have an MP in whom they can
have some confidence that her mind is applied rather more to continuity and
loyalty, rather than giving her electorate the impression that it’s all about
Herself Personally Now.
And all of this is before considering the IPSA investigation
into her travel costs and London flat – and the complaint made recently about
her fee from I’m A Celebrity somehow not yet having been disclosed. As I’ve said
recently, the Tory Party does not need to allow Nadine Dorries to be a
problem for them. The longer they leave it – perhaps partly at Rayment’s request
– the worse for them the dénouement
will be.
So, Tory people, you need to ask yourselves a question. Do you feel lucky?
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