Dorries was born as Nadine Vanessa Bargery in Liverpool. Her father was a bus driver who became a lift operator having suffered from Raynaud's disease, which had necessitated the amputation of his toes. Her father was a Roman Catholic of Irish descent, while her mother was an English Protestant. Dorries was raised as a Protestant.

Dorries was elected to the House of Commons at the 2005 general election for the safe seat of Mid-Bedfordshire on the retirement through ill health after a series of scandals of Jonathan Sayeed, with a majority of 11,355, and made her maiden speech on 25 May 2005. She was re-elected in 2010, with an increased majority and a swing of 2.3% from the Lib Dems. Dorries, described as "a right-wing, working-class Conservative", is a member of the socially conservative Cornerstone Group. A Christian, she has said in an interview for a Salvation Army newspaper: "I am not an MP for any reason other than because God wants me to be. There is nothing I did that got me here; it is what God did. There is nothing amazing or special about me, I am just a conduit for God to use." Dorries initially supported the attempt of David Davis to become Conservative leader in 2005 but later withdrew her endorsement. David Cameron, the successful candidate, though "represent[s] everything that through my life . . . [I have] been suspicious of." In May 2007, she criticised Cameron for ignoring the recommendations of the Conservative public policy working group in favour of grammar schools. However, she did defend the selection of Elizabeth Truss in 2009, whose Conservative candidature was called into question after an extra-marital affair was revealed. Dorries served as a member of the Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee. In the year to November 2008, she attended only 2% of sessions. The committee then reformed as the Science and Technology Select Committee; she did not attend a single session. In 2010, she was elected to the Health Select Committee.

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