<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">A key ally of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson formally resigned Saturday, delivering a blistering attack on his successor in her resignation letter.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Former culture minister Nadine Dorries announced her intention to resign 11 weeks ago but had remained as member of parliament while she investigated why she was not given a seat in the upper house of parliament.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In her resignation letter, Dorries accused Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of abandoning "the fundamental principles of Conservatism" and said "history will not judge you kindly".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dorries was unexpectedly not awarded a seat in the upper chamber of parliament, the House of Lords, in Johnson's resignation honours list. He rewarded fellow Brexit die-hards and even those implicated in the "Partygate" scandal that contributed to his downfall last year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The omission prompted accusations from Johnson's camp of meddling from Sunak and Downing Street.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In her letter, which she released on social media, Dorries accused Sunak of leading attacks on her resulting in "the police having to visit my home and contact me on a number of occasions due to threats to my person.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The clearly orchestrated and almost daily personal attacks demonstrates the pitifully low level your government has descended to," she wrote.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">She also attacked his record in Government.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Since you took office a year ago, the country is run by a zombie parliament where nothing meaningful has happened," she wrote.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"You have no mandate from the people and the Government is adrift."</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Resignation honours lists, in which key political allies of outgoing prime ministers are rewarded, are normally waved through by their successor.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Political revenge -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sunak's spokesman told reporters earlier it was "entirely untrue" that the prime minister or officials removed names from Johnson's list before it was sent to a House of Lords vetting committee.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The row in June over the honours prompted the resignation as MPs of both Nigel Adams, who was also omitted from the list, as well as Johnson himself.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At the same time Dorries announced her intention to resign.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Political observers have interpreted the resignations as Johnson's revenge on Sunak for forcing him out of office last July after "Partygate" and a string of other scandals.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Johnson resigned as an MP claiming a stitch-up by political opponents on a cross-party inquiry probing whether he lied to parliament over the Covid lockdown-breaking parties at Downing Street.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The resignations meant Sunak's Tories had to face by-elections at a time when they were trailing in the polls to the main opposition Labour party and ahead of a general election next year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Conservatives lost Adams' seat but held on to Johnson's constituency, aided by Labour mayor Sadiq Khan's contentious expansion of a vehicle pollution tax to outer London.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The government now faces the prospect of another by-election, possibly within weeks, although Dorries' 24,000 majority in her constituency might prove more difficult for the Labour opposition party to overturn than Adams' 20,000 majority. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>