Dorries to step down as culture secretary as Truss appointed prime minister

Nadine Dorries is to step down as Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport and return to the back-benches as Liz Truss becomes the new prime minister today (6th September).  

Truss is understood to have offered Dories the opportunity to remain in the role, in a story first reported by Mail Plus. However, it is expected Dorries will receive a peerage from outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson instead, which will trigger a by-election in the Mid Bedfordshire constituency she has held since 2005.

Dorries was appointed culture secretary in September last year, having previously served as health minister. It is not yet known who will succeed her. 

During her tenure, she challenged publishers to do more to support libraries and open up access to the industry for those from underprivileged backgrounds.  

Dorries is also an author, published by Head of Zeus. Her first novel, The Four Streets, was published in 2014, and she has gone on to write a string of historical books either set in Liverpool, where she grew up and trained as a nurse, or the west coast of Ireland, where one of her grandmothers came from. 

Dorries also became well known outside Westminster for her 2012 appearance on ITV’s "I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!"