Dorries suspended from Tory party

By Ian Dunt

Outspoken Tory MP Nadine Dorries was suspended from the Conservative party today, after she flew to Australia to take part in I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here.

The suspension came as her local Conservative Association held an emergency meeting to discuss her decision to appear in the show, which they said had taken them by surprise.

"It is shameless that a Conservative MP thinks it is right to spend time boosting her own profile on a reality TV show in Australia instead of fighting for jobs and growth in Britain," Labour MP Steve McCabe said.

"David Cameron is so weak he cannot even stop his backbenchers appearing on TV when they should be standing up for their constituents. He should get a grip."

Concerns had been raised about Dorries' decision after it was reported she had failed to tell Tory whip George Young she was going on the programme.

The programme will leave her constituents without representation for a month.

Her decision also means she will miss critical Commons votes, including one on the EU budget and another on George Osborne's autumn statement on December 5th.

Dorries will be paid no more than £40,000 for her jaunt on reality TV, boosting her £65,738 salary.

The Mid-Bedfordshire MP will join the usual range of washed-up celebrity personalities for ritual humiliations in the Australian jungle when the show starts on ITV1 on Sunday.

Dorries has attracted the ire of Twitter - most notably former MP Louise Mensch, who had been attacked by Dorries for being "void of principle" in the summer.

Mensch tweeted: "Just imagining the scene in the whips' office if I said I wanted to skip Parliament for weeks to go on a celebrity TV show. #notpretty"

Others criticised her for seeking fame on the show, watched by 16 million viewers.

"While she is being a Z-list celebrity, her constituents will be without an MP," the TaxPayers' Alliance told the Sun.

One constituent, Nicola Neal, tweeted: "My MP Nadine Dorries Just arrived in Oz for I'm a celeb! No wonder she hasnt replied to email about my poorly boy. Busy eating bugs! Thanks!"

Sarah Wollaston, a fellow Conservative backbencher, tweeted: "We need more women in Parliament but it doesn't help if they make themselves ridiculous by swanning off to the jungle."

Dorries' disillusionment with the "cynicism" of her parliamentary colleagues may have helped push her away from Westminster and search for a break.

"I think [my faith] takes such a beating in parliament," she told politics.co.uk in an interview last month.

"It's such a cynical world. It's very hard to be a practising Christian in parliament. I think it's almost impossible, actually."

Dorries is not the first politician to appear on the show. Former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik appeared in the 2010 edition of the show after losing his Welsh seat.

He lasted two weeks, a period chiefly marked by a memorable incident in which he was bitten by a snake.

Dorries is not a complete stranger to reality TV. She featured in the 2010 Channel 4 programme Tower Block Of Commons, in which she stayed with two out-of-work sisters in west London.

The experience did not go well for anyone concerned. Dorries was accused of cheating after producing £50 she had concealed in her bra and was subsequently labelled a "lying two-faced b***" by one of her hosts.

Bookmaker William Hill is offering 20/1 on the Mid Bedfordshire MP winning I'm A Celebrity... - and just 3/1 that she will be first to be booted off.