Nadine Dorries has said she will not formally resign until after she gets answers from Downing Street about why she did not get her peerage.

In a Twitter thread, the former culture secretary responded to the “speculation” as to why she is yet to formally quit the Commons, after announcing her intention to do so on Friday.

She insisted it is “absolutely my intention to resign” following suggestions she is dragging out the process to cause political pain for Rishi Sunak.

However, she said she is “awaiting responses” to information she has requested from the House of Lords Appointments Committee (HOLAC), the Cabinet Secretary Simon Case and the Cabinet Office.

She said: “I have requested copies of WhatsApp’s, text messages, all emails and minutes of meetings both formal and informal with names of senior figures unredacted.

“It is absolutely my intention to resign, but given what I know to be true and the number of varying and conflicting statements issued by No10 since the weekend, this process is now sadly necessary.”

Ms Dorries has suggested “sinister forces” were behind the decision not to include her on Boris Johnson’s controversial resignation honours list.

She had been chosen by the former prime minister for a peerage, along with Tory MP Nigel Adams and former COP26 president Sir Alok Sharma.

But when the list was finally revealed, the three names were absent – prompting a bitter war of words between Mr Johnson and his successor.

Downing Street has said it is “entirely untrue” to say that Mr Sunak or members of his Number 10 team blocked the peerages from happening – an accusation levied by the Johnson camp.

Ms Dorries has claimed Number 10 officials failed “to pass on vital information” from the Lords’ vetting body that she needed to agree to stand down from the Commons and join the upper chamber within six months, or face being left off.

In a combative column for the Daily Mail on Tuesday, she wrote: “I’m not going to lie. I believe sinister forces conspired against me and have left me heartbroken – but that emotion gives me all the strength I need to keep on fighting.”

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Following the perceived snub, Ms Dorries announced she would stand down as an MP with “immediate effect”, triggering a by-election in her constituency of Mid Bedfordshire.

She was followed out the door by Mr Johnson and Mr Adams, who both formally resigned on Monday.

This allowed Conservative Chief Whip Simon Hart to move a motion known as a “writ” for by-elections in Mr Johnson’s Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency and Mr Adams’s Selby and Ainsty seat.

Under the process there are between 21 and 27 working days for the votes to be held, with possible dates being 13 or 20 July as they are always held on Thursdays.

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However, the contest in Ms Dorries’s seat of Mid Bedfordshire will likely happen later in the year because she has not formally resigned.

The move could prolong the pain for Mr Sunak as he faces a battle to defend three Conservative seats at a time of dire polling as he publicly scraps with Mr Johnson.

Earlier on Wednesday, Tory MP Aaron Bell suggested Ms Dorries should get on with it, claiming she has been more focused on her work on GB News.

“I don’t know what Nadine’s doing, to be honest,” he told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme.

“I think it would be good for her constituency in Mid Bedfordshire… if they could have proper representation, because Nadine’s barely been seen in parliament these last six months while she’s been earning money on telly.”

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Asked if there is frustration over the delay, Mr Sunak’s press secretary said: “It’s obviously unusual to have an MP say they will resign with immediate effect and for that not to take place.

“The prime minister believes the people of Mid Bedfordshire deserve proper representation in this house and he looks forward to campaigning for the Conservative candidate in the by-election.”

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