A British Conservative lawmaker has officially resigned after a scathing attack on Prime Minister Sunak

LONDON, Aug 27 (Reuters) – British MP Nadine Dorries has launched a scathing attack on Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak in her official resignation letter, accusing the prime minister of running a “zombie parliament” and lacking any political vision.

Doris, a close ally of former leader Boris Johnson, announced in June that she was quitting and has faced mounting criticism for not actually doing so, preventing the election to replace her and three other local elections last month.

Dorris formally resigned late on Saturday with a lengthy resignation letter that angered Sunak. A by-election to replace it is likely to take place in the autumn, which will give the Conservatives another test of their popularity when they trail the opposition Labor Party in opinion polls.

“Since you took office a year ago, the country has been run by a dead parliament and nothing meaningful has happened. What exactly has been accomplished or achieved?” Doris said.

“You serve as an unelected prime minister, without a single vote, not even from your deputies. You have no mandate from the people and the government is lost. You have squandered the good will of the nation, for what?”

A Sunak spokesman declined to comment.

Sunak, a former finance minister and investment banker, became prime minister in October last year after being the only candidate nominated in the party’s leadership contest. It came on the heels of a series of scandals that forced Johnson to step down as prime minister, and economic turmoil that prompted his successor, Liz Truss, to resign after just six weeks.

Sunak has tried to use his technocratic leadership to restore his party’s credibility. But with soaring inflation, economic stagnation, industrial unrest and long waiting times to benefit from state-run health services, his Conservatives are well behind Labor in opinion polls ahead of an election expected next year.

By-election votes are one of the few remaining opportunities to gauge public support ahead of that election. In July, Sunak’s Conservative Party lost two strategically important parliamentary seats, but unexpectedly retained Johnson’s old constituency in a setback for Labour.

“In your impatience to become prime minister, you put your personal ambition above the stability of the country and our economy,” Dorris said.

“We search in vain for the grand political vision to which the people of this great country should hold, and which would make all this subsequent turmoil and stagnation worthwhile, and find nothing at all.”

Our standards: Principles of Trust for Thomson Reuters.