The Rt Hon Nadine Dorries
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Nadine Dorries is a British politician, author and former nurse who served as the Member of Parliament for Mid Bedfordshire from 2005 until 2023.
She began her career in nursing after training at Warrington General Hospital, later moving into business and becoming a director at Bupa before entering politics. Dorries was elected to Parliament as a Conservative in the 2005 general election and built a reputation as an outspoken figure on the party's back benches.
She entered government in 2019 as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Care and was promoted to Minister of State in 2020. In September 2021 she was appointed Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, serving in the Cabinet until September 2022.
Dorries also became one of the most recognisable MPs outside Westminster through television appearances. In 2012, while still serving as MP for Mid Bedfordshire, she took part in ITV's I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, becoming the first serving politician to appear on the programme. Her decision to travel to Australia for the series attracted considerable political controversy and led to the Conservative whip being temporarily suspended. She was the first contestant voted out of the jungle after just over a fortnight.
Alongside politics, Dorries has written a number of novels and has worked as a broadcaster and commentator. She stood down from Parliament in 2023 after a lengthy dispute surrounding her expected elevation to the House of Lords and the circumstances of her proposed resignation.
In 2026, Dorries joined Reform UK, becoming one of the party's higher-profile former Conservative recruits and continuing to contribute to political debate through media appearances and party events.
Senior Reform UK figures have publicly divided over Zia Yusuf's comments about Somali-born Camden Council leader Sagal Abdi-Wali, with Nadine Dorries calling his post 'nasty' while Robert Jenrick defended him against accusations of racism.
West Midlands Police has appealed for a female protester to come forward after footage from Reform UK’s Birmingham conference appeared to show audience members pulling her hair and grabbing her head as she was removed.