Nadine Dorries says sinister forces stopped her peerage

Former cabinet minister Nadine Dorries has said "sinister forces" denied her a seat in the House of Lords.

The former culture secretary was one of Boris Johnson's close allies who didn't appear on the former PM's resignation honours list.

In an article for the Daily Mail, Ms Dorries accuses Rishi Sunak's political team in Downing Street of removing her name from the list.

Ms Dorries is one of three MPs who resigned, after the list was published.

The fallout from Mr Johnson's resignation honours is at the heart of a continuing rift within the Conservative Party - including a war of words between Mr Sunak and Mr Johnson.

It comes against a backdrop of the imminent publication of the report from the Privileges Committee, who have been investigating whether Mr Johnson misled MPs over events in Downing Street over the pandemic.

Mr Johnson has lashed out at what he sees as the "kangaroo court" of the Privileges Committee.

The committee's report - due on Wednesday - is sufficiently devastating to the former prime minister's reputation that he walked away from Parliament before, he anticipated, MPs and voters might force him to, the BBC's political editor Chris Mason says.

On Monday, Mr Sunak accused his former boss of asking him to "overrule" the vetting advice on his House of Lords nominations. In response, Mr Johnson accused Mr Sunak of "talking rubbish".

The resignation honours list is a tradition that gives outgoing prime ministers the opportunity to nominate people for honours.

The House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC) said it rejected eight of Mr Johnson's nominations. However, there has been no confirmation of who the nominees were and why they were not included on the list.

A Cabinet Office spokesperson said HOLAC did not support the peerage nominations of the MPs put forward by Mr Johnson.

The spokesperson added: "It is unprecedented for a sitting prime minister to invite HOLAC to reconsider the vetting of individual nominees on a former Prime Minister's resignation list."

But Ms Dorries said Mr Sunak's team "had made sure that certain names would not be on" the list sent to HOLAC. Ms Dorries added she understands this "to be true despite denials from those concerned".

Ms Dorries used her article to argue for her place in the House of Lords, writing: "I was born into poverty and clawed my way out of it to build a new life for me and my family, and then carved out a role in public service.

"A seat in the Lords was recognition of that — and a means of continuing to give back to society."

Ms Dorries said Mr Johnson had told her in autumn last year she had been put on his resignation honours list.

The former culture secretary said she had been vetted for the peerage, but because six months had passed, her checks had expired.

She also said Mr Sunak and Mr Johnson had a meeting last week to discuss his honours list.

Ms Dorries accused the prime minister of using "weasel words" at that meeting to give Mr Johnson the impression Mr Sunak would ask HOLAC to restart the vetting process.

According to Ms Dorries, these "duplicitous machinations" were to avoid a by-election caused when an MP steps down to take a seat in the House of Lords.

Instead, Downing Street is now facing a hat-trick of by-elections after Mr Johnson, and Nigel Adams, Conservative MP for Selby and Ainsty, also resigned in quick succession.

Ms Dorries has not yet formally stood down from the House of Commons.

The by-elections have the potential to create major problems for Mr Sunak at a time when the Conservatives are trailing Labour by an average of 15 points in national polls.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called the by-elections "political tantrums".

Speaking at London Tech Week, Sir Keir said political uncertainty is leading to "many investors" holding back from putting money into the UK.