With Nadine Dorries quitting as Mid Bedfordshire MP, who will win in the by-election?

So how safe is the Tories’ seat now Nadine Dorries has resigned?

The former culture secretary has already said she wouldn’t be standing at the next general election; but on Friday, she was the first of three Tory MPs – including disgraced former PM Boris Johnson – to quit with immediate effect.

The rural seat of Mid Beds has always been a safe one for the Conservatives – having been in their hands since 1931– and there were even rumours at one point that Johnson might run for it himself.

But Labour’s Shabana Mahmood was quick to start canvassing in Flitwick on Saturday (June 10), hoping to capitalise no doubt on the expected Labour landslide for Sir Keir Starmer.

She said: “After 13 years of failed Tory government, it’s time for a change. The departure of Nadine Dorries shows Rishi Sunak is too weak to lead a Tory Party that has lost interest in the people of Mid Bedfordshire. It doesn’t need to be this way. Labour will be campaigning to win in this by-election by listening to the voters the Tories are ignoring.”

And the new chairman of Central Bedfordshire Council – Independent Flitwick councillor Gareth Mackey – has also announced he will stand as an Independent candidate in the Mid Bedfordshire by-election.

Dorries – who won the seat with a majority of 24,664 in 2019 – received criticism earlier this year for launching a television talk show, Friday Night with Nadine, on Talk TV.