Britain’s Health Minister Nadine Dorries has become the first British MP to test positive for the Covid-19 coronavirus.
Despite a 15-year career as the Tory MP for Mid-Bedfordshire, Ms Dorries is arguably best known by some for her appearance on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here in 2012.
Ms Dorries was born in 1957 in Liverpool and grew up on a council estate.
She started her working life as a nurse before pursuing a career in business, opening a child day-care business called Company Kids Ltd.
In 1998, Ms Dorries sold her company and joined Bupa, eventually becoming a director.
Before being elected to the British Parliament in 2005, she worked for three years as an adviser to Britain’s former shadow home secretary and shadow chancellor of the exchequer, Oliver Letwin.
During her time on the backbench, Ms Dorries introduced a number of unsuccessful Private Member’s Bills, including attempts to reduce the time limit for abortions in the UK.
She was also a staunch advocate for teenage girls being taught the benefits of sexual abstinence at school.
Ms Dorries was thrust into the limelight in 2012 when she was suspended from the Conservative Party for taking part in that year’s season of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here without informing the Chief Whip of her appearance.
However she was re-admitted to the party in May 2013.
Ms Dorries has been embroiled in a string of controversies throughout her tenure as an MP.
In 2009, when MPs’ expenses claims were revealed by the Daily Telegraph, she admitted she had got taxpayers to foot the bill for a lost £2,190 deposit on a rented flat.
And in 2010, she was rebuked by parliamentary standards commissioner John Lyon in October 2010 for misleading her constituents on her blog about how much time she spent in Mid-Bedfordshire, admitting that it was “70% fiction”.
Away from Parliament Ms Dorries is also a published author, with her 2013 novel The Four Streets selling more than 100,000 copies.
On Tuesday, Ms Dorries revealed that she was self-isolating at home after testing positive for Covid-19.
