Image caption Nadine Dorries has had several run-ins with the Conservative Party leadership

Nadine Dorries has been reinstated as a Conservative MP, having been suspended by the party following her appearance on the TV reality show I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here.

The Mid-Bedfordshire MP has been sitting as an independent since the Tory whip was withdrawn last autumn.

This followed a row over whether she had been granted permission to fly to Australia to appear on the programme.

The Tories said she had apologised and would regain the whip straight away.

Ms Dorries, who has been linked to a possible move to the UK Independence Party, said of her reinstatement: "I am delighted. It is long overdue."

The former nurse, who has been in Parliament since 2005, angered many in her party in April last year by saying it was run by "arrogant posh boys".

She was suspended in November after she flew to Australia to appear on the ITV show I'm a Celebrity.

'Assurances'

Ms Dorries insisted she had been given permission to take a holiday by the former Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell, although Mr Mitchell said he had not been told what she was planning to do with her time off.

Mr Mitchell's successor, Sir George Young, has made the decision to allow her to return to the government benches in the Commons.

A Conservative spokesman said: "The chief whip has restored the whip to Nadine Dorries with immediate effect for the start of the new parliamentary session.

"Nadine has apologised to the chief whip for absenting herself from her parliamentary duties without permission and has given assurances to the whips office that she will follow the same procedure as other Conservative Members of Parliament before going away when the House is sitting."

The BBC understands that the offer to return to the party was made unconditionally and Ms Dorries immediately accepted.

After the suspension, Prime Minister David Cameron said the MP needed to regain the affection of her colleagues before she could return.