Nadine Dorries suspended from Tory party

Tory sources have confirmed that Nadine Dorries has had the whip withdrawn until she returns to Westminster to explain to the chief whip why she has gone on ‘I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!’

Her constituency association was shocked by the revelation, which appeared in this morning’s papers, and a number of Conservative MPs have been suggesting she should resign as an MP. Dorries’ justification is that the programme reaches a far wider audience than Parliament usually does, but this is the latest in a long string of what teachers might call ‘challenging behaviour’ from the Tory MP. David Cameron and colleagues will not be well-disposed to her after she called the Conservative leadership ‘arrogant’, describing the Prime Minister and the Chancellor as ‘two arrogant posh boys who don’t know the price of milk’.

But Dorries is taking leave from Parliament when it is in full session. There is a very short recess next week, but unless she plans an early exit in a blaze of glory from the show, the MP will not only miss the constituency work that recess is intended for (and MPs do take every opportunity to remind anyone listening that recess is not holiday, it’s for constituency work), but she will also not be present in Parliament to represent her constituents.