Call an election if you want to change course, Nadine Dorries tells Liz Truss

Liz Truss should call a general election if she wants to ditch Conservative policies from the Boris Johnson era, Nadine Dorries has said.

Ms Dorries stood down as culture secretary when Ms Truss – who she backed in the Tory leadership contest – succeeded Mr Johnson as prime minister.

In a tweet, she claimed Ms Truss had halted policies she had championed.

Fellow Johnson loyalist Jacob Rees-Mogg said he disagreed with Ms Dorries’ call for a general election.

In her tweet, Ms Dorries highlighted areas that had been her responsibility which had now been paused – including the sale of Channel 4 and the Online Safety Bill.

“Widespread dismay at the fact that three years of work has effectively been put on hold,” she wrote.

“No one asked for this. C4 [Channel 4] sale, online safety, BBC licence fee review, all signed off by Cabinet all ready to go, all stopped.

“If Liz wants a whole new mandate, she must take to the country.”

Ms Dorries was asked by Ms Truss to stay on as culture secretary but chose instead to return to the backbenches when the new prime minister took over.

She has been critical of Ms Truss, and on Sunday accused her of throwing Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng “under a bus” by appearing to blame him for the 45p income tax rate debacle.

Mr Rees-Mogg said he and “wonderful” Ms Dorries used to get on “like a house on fire” around the cabinet table and agreed on “almost everything”.

But he added: “I don’t think there’s going to be an immediate election and I don’t think there’s a requirement for one.”

Speaking at a Telegraph fringe meeting at the Tory conference in Birmingham, he said the current deadline for holding an election is January 2025.

“There’s nothing like a good winter election is there,” he joked.