A solution to the Dorries non-resignation saga?
The veteran Labour MP Chris Bryant thinks he has found a way that could force Dorries to do what she announced on June 9th when she said she was resigning with immediate effect.
He is calling for the restoration of an obscure parliamentary rule from 1801 stating that “no member do presume to go out of town without leave of this House”.
Nadine of course announced her resignation in the expectation that she would be elevated to the House of Lords in Boris Johnson’s resignation Honours List. That didn’t happen and Nadine has remained MP for Mid Bedfordshire although she rarely attends Parliament.
Will this move work? We don’t know but it might. In the meantime, the campaigning for the by-election that might or might not take place continues. In the betting, the LDs are odds on favourites to win the by-election if it happens.