Nadine Dorries
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Nadine Vanessa Dorries (born 21 May 1957) is a British politician. She is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Mid Bedfordshire.
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[edit] Early life
Born Nadine Vanessa Bargery in Liverpool, she was educated at Halewood Grange Comprehensive School (when Alan Bleasdale taught there, and now known as Halewood College) on Higher Road (A562) in Halewood. She entered nursing in 1975 as a trainee at Warrington General Hospital, and from 1978 practised as a nurse in both London and Liverpool, until 1981. In 1982, she became a medical representative to Ethicla Ltd for a year, before spending a year in Zambia as the head of a community school, where her husband ran a copper mine. In 1987, she became the managing director of Kids Company Ltd (which was sold to BUPA), before becoming a director of BUPA in 1998 for a year.
[edit] Parliamentary career
She unsuccessfully contested the constituency of Hazel Grove as Nadine Bargery (even though married) at the 2001 general election, and was defeated by the sitting Liberal Democrat MP Andrew Stunell by 8,435 votes.
She was elected to the House of Commons at the 2005 general election for the safe seat of Mid Bedfordshire on the retirement through (alleged) ill health of Jonathan Sayeed. Nadine Dorries has a majority of 11,355, and made her maiden speech on May 25, 2005. [1]. From 2005-2006, she was a member of the Education & Skills Select Committee.
She is socially conservative, a member of the right-wing Cornerstone Group [2] (February 9 2007 entry), and on 31 October 2006 introduced a Private Member's Bill, which would reduce the time limit for abortion from 24 to 21 weeks, provide a 'cooling-off' period for women wishing to have an abortion, and would ensure, following the conclusion of the cooling off period, speedy access to abortion; MPs voted by 187 to 108 to reject the bill.[3]
In May 2007, she criticised David Cameron for ignoring the recommendations of the Conservative public policy working group in favour of grammar schools.[1]
In May 2008, she tabled an amendment to the proposed Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill seeking to reduce the upper limit for abortions to 20 weeks from the current 24 weeks of pregnancy. Her amendment was defeated heavily by by 332 votes to 190, with a separate 22 week limit opposed by 304 votes to 233 - with MPs continuing to heavily support the 24 week limit[2]
[edit] Personal life
Nadine Dorries is a devout Anglican who regularly attends church. She was married to former mining engineer Paul Dorries, separating from him at Christmas 2006, and has three daughters.[3] She spent most of her life living on a council estate in Liverpool, until taking advantage of the Right to Buy Scheme championed by Margaret Thatcher. Although her grandfather was one of the founders of Everton Football Club, she is a keen Liverpool Football Club supporter.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official site
- Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Nadine Dorries MP
- TheyWorkForYou.com - Nadine Dorries MP
- Mid Bedfordshire Conservatives
- BBC Politics page
- BBC Meet the MP in 2005
- Daily Mail Article on Daniel Ward
[edit] Audio clips
- Discussing abortion on Radio 4's Woman's Hour in October 2006
- Talking to Mark Darcy of Radio 4's Westminster Hour about abortion in 2006
[edit] News items
- Attempting to lower abortion time limit in 2006
- Telegraph article: The World according to Nadine Dorries - November 2007
- Telegraph article - Bridget Jones MP - November 2007
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jonathan Sayeed |
Member of Parliament for Mid Bedfordshire 2005 – present |
Incumbent |
