Nadine Dorries has returned to the UK today, with a meeting between the first evictee of I’m a Celebrity: Get me Out of Here! and the chief whip due soon. Will she remain suspended from the Tory party? Dorries has already rehearsed some of the arguments she presumably plans to present to Sir George Young on her Twitter feed and in an interview with Fraser at the weekend, arguing that she only missed three days when Parliament was actually sitting, and listing other MPs who have taken more time away. She expects to have the Conservative whip restored to her now she has returned.
The whips face a huge challenge in ensuring that their response to Dorries’ absence is proportionate and cannot be misinterpreted. They need to show that stepping out of line is not without consequence, as MPs are like schoolchildren in their need for clear boundaries and examples of where those boundaries lie.
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