Dorries 'confident' Tories will welcome her back

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Nadine Dorries said she was "confident" her suspension from the Tory party would be lifted today, after she met with the chief whip.

The Mid Bedfordshire MP met with George Young around 10:00 GMT this morning for a short meeting.

The chief whip's spokesman said she would have the whip restored  if she proved she could win back the trust of her constituents, her local association and her parliamentary colleagues. 

Dorries became the first sitting parliamentarian to go on I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here last month but she has returned to the UK after being voted out by the public.

She insists she had a verbal agreement with former chief whip Andrew Mitchell, but the two are in disagreement about precisely what it consisted of.

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Dorries has spent much of her time since coming out the jungle highlighting other trips taken by MPs and insisting she only missed a handful of days in which parliament actually sat.

But the decision to accept her back may rest on a slip of paper called an "application for authorised absence". If she has the paper, she should survive.

Tory sources are divided on the best way to deal with the Dorries situation. Her outspoken attacks on David Cameron and George Osborne make her a difficult backbencher, but some feel she is less damaging inside the tent, particularly if she receives overtures from Ukip.

 

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