Nadine Dorries’ book on Boris Johnson’s downfall
delayed due to legal issues
Ex-MP claims her account will lay bare ‘a corruption
of democracy deep at the heart of the Conservative party and in Downing Street’
Nadeem
Badshah
Thu 31 Aug
2023 22.12 BST
Nadine
Dorries’ book on the downfall of Boris Johnson will be delayed until November
because of “the required legal process”, the publisher has said.
The former
culture secretary, who resigned as an MP last weekend, has been writing a book
on her staunch ally, which had been scheduled for release on 28 September, just
before the Conservative party conference in Manchester. It will now be released
on 9 November, HarperCollins said.
The
publisher said a “small delay is necessary to allow for the huge volume of
material the author has consulted, the number of high-level sources spoken to
and the required legal process needed to share her story”.
HarperCollins
has described Dorries’ book as a “seismic, fly-on-the-wall account of how the
saviour of the Conservative party became a pariah” and will feature
“unparalleled access, from multiple inside sources talking with astonishing
candour”.
The former
MP for Mid Bedfordshire – who received £20,500 as a partial advance from
HarperCollins for The Plot: the Political Assassination of Boris Johnson –
said: “What began as an investigation into how Boris Johnson was removed from
office ultimately revealed a corruption of democracy deep at the heart of the
Conservative party and in Downing Street.
“Secrecy,
fear and the cloak of anonymity have protected those who wield power in the
shadows, until now. It makes The House of Cards appear tame, but this is no
made-up tale, it’s for real and, for the first time, their political dark arts
are about to be revealed.”
Dorries
resigned last Saturday, two and a half months after first announcing her
intention to step down as an MP in protest at not receiving a peerage in
Johnson’s resignation honours list.
The Tories
are suffering from Dorries syndrome: paranoia steeped in denial
She has
previously accused Rishi Sunak of “duplicitously and cruelly” blocking her from
getting a peerage.
Her
announcement last Saturday came with a scathing attack on Sunak, in which she
claimed the prime minister presided over a “zombie parliament”.
She also
accused the Tory leader of abandoning “the fundamental principles of
Conservatism”, telling him: “History will not judge you kindly.”
Dorries,
who was elected as an MP in May 2005, added: “What exactly has been done or
have you [Sunak] achieved? You hold the office of prime minister unelected,
without a single vote, not even from your own MPs.
“You have
no mandate from the people, and the government is adrift. You have squandered
the goodwill of the nation, for what?”
Her
resignation paves the way for another potentially awkward byelection for the
Conservatives in what should be an ultra-safe Tory seat. In 2019, Dorries won
the seat with a 24,664 majority over Labour.
However,
Sunak’s party is still reeling from the loss to Labour of Selby and Ainsty in
North Yorkshire in a byelection in July. In that contest, Labour overturned a
Tory majority of just over 20,000, suggesting that even the safest seats are
now vulnerable.
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