I’m being persecuted like a suffragette, says Dorries over expenses inquiry

Nadine Dorries accused the MPs expenses watchdog of sexism (PA)

Nadine Dorries accused the MPs’ expenses watchdog of sexism today as she likened her plight to the persecution of the suffragettes. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) announced last week that it was investigating the MP for Mid-Bedfordshire over alleged irregularities in her travel and accommodation expenses.

In a blog post today, Ms Dorries, hinted that the investigation was part of a politically motivated smear campaign following her recent appearance on I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!

She also claimed that her complex living arrangements were a result of her being a “single mum and lone carer of a family and a dog”, and cited the ordeal of Emily Davison, the suffragette who threw herself in front of the King’s horse during the 1913 Derby.

“Because a woman died under the hooves of a horse in the quest of female emancipation and because IPSA impact upon every single parent who is or wants to be an MP and because I refuse to allow a money hungry quango to compromise my right to work, be a mother and a pet owner, I am not allowing IPSA to get away with this,” she wrote.

Explaining why she spent so few nights at her Westminster studio flat, for which she claims expenses, Ms Dorries published a photograph of her Labrador, adding: “She has now reached the ripe old age of thirteen. I would stay in London, except she isn’t allowed in the studio with me.”