Sarah Wollaston, the next ticking Tory timebomb

MPs are having a party next week to celebrate the return of Nadine Dorries to the Tory fold. But as they pop champagne corks for the Prodigal Daughter, they might be wondering whether a similar drama could unfold with another of their number. Dr Sarah Wollaston appears to be growing increasingly angry with her party’s leadership, and isn’t afraid to say it in the press. She may be a very different Conservative to Dorries, but there’s a risk that she moves into the same open stand-off territory that led to her colleague flying to the jungle.

Many observers wrongly assume that the trouble began when Dorries told Giles Dilnot that David Cameron were ‘two arrogant posh boys who show no remorse, no contrition and no passion to understand the lives of others and that’s the crime’. But this was the steam escaping after months of building frustration. Remember the way Cameron humiliated Dorries when she raised a question about abortion in the House of Commons? She wanted to know why Nick Clegg was blocking her demand for independent counselling for women seeking a termination.