Nadine Dorries blames ‘posh boy’ Rishi Sunak over House of Lords snub

Nadine Dorries has spoken about being passed over for a peerage in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours, blaming "posh boy" Rishi Sunak after being denied a seat in the House of Lords.

Dorries recently resigned her seat with immediate effect and triggered a by-election contest after the snub.

Now, the 66-year-old has spoken about her working-class childhood and claimed “posh boys” Sunak and his adviser James Forsyth were responsible.

Dorries was reportedly dropped to avoid exactly a Commons by-election when she was moved to the House of Lords, but the Conservatives now face exactly that after Dorries resigned.

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She appeared on Piers Morgan’s TalkTV show on Monday night (June 12) and drew from her working-class upbringing, claiming “posh boys” blocked her from taking a peerage.

Dorries said she was “broken-hearted” about the news, saying: “This story is about a girl from Breck Road in Liverpool who worked every day of her life since she was 14 years old, had something offered to her [that] people from that background don’t get offered.”

The former MP went on to say it was “removed by two privileged posh boys who went to Winchester and Oxford, and taken away duplicitously and cruelly because they have known for months that it wasn’t the case".

She added: “And yet they let me and they let Boris Johnson continue to believe that was the case.”

Dorries went on to say: “It was upsetting and it’s upsetting for everybody who thinks that one day they could be that person because you know what if you come up against someone like Rishi Sunak and James Forsyth, from privileged backgrounds, who have it all very easily, given to them on a plate... you’re in trouble.”

Dorries claimed that comparing Johnson’s background to Sunak’s was unfair because he had “no money” and attended Eton on a scholarship.

She also denied “knifing the party” by triggering a by-election, telling Morgan: “I think you come to a point in life when you have to stop, when you can’t just be pushed around, when you can’t allow people to bully you, as I’ve just been bullied by No 10. You can’t allow that to happen, you have to stand up for yourself, and that’s what I did.”

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