Nadine Dorries, who backed Truss for leader, now wants a general election

Nadine Dorries has taken the unexpected step of calling for a general election after taking issue with the leadership of Liz Truss.

The Tory MP, who backed Truss for Prime Minister just weeks ago, criticised Truss’ government for leaving the work of Johnson’s regime behind.

Dorries, a fierce Johnson ally, shared her “widespread dismay at the fact that three years of work has effectively been put on hold”.

Truss has already ruled out the idea of an early election, and the most recent polls suggest that Labour is “very clearly” the favourite to win the next general election and is heading for a landslide majority of more than 100.

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However, Dorries still wants to see an election called after her plans to review the BBC licence fee and privatise Channel 4 were “all stopped”.

“Widespread dismay at the fact that 3 years of work has effectively been put on hold. No one asked for this,” she wrote.

“C4 sale, online safety, BBC licence feee review - all signed off by cabinet all ready to go, all stopped. If Liz wants a whole new mandate, she must take to the country.”

It’s not the first time Dorries has criticised Truss. Over the weekend, she accused the PM of throwing Kwasi Kwarteng "under a bus", by saying the decision to cut the income tax paid by the richest had been made by the chancellor and not the cabinet.

She tweeted that "one of" Johnson’s faults had been that “he could sometimes be too loyal".

"However, there is a balance and throwing your Chancellor under a bus on the first day of conference really isn’t it," Dorries said.

Fingers crossed, she said, "things improve and settle down from now".

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