Dorrell was born in Worcester and educated at Uppingham School, Rutland, and Brasenose College, Oxford, where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree.

[2] Aged only 22, he contested the safe Labour seat of Kingston upon Hull East at the October 1974 general election, but was heavily defeated by the sitting MP (and later Deputy Prime Minister), John Prescott, who was returned with a majority of 25,793 votes.

Dorrell, then 27, was elected to the House of Commons for the marginal seat of Loughborough, ousting the veteran Labour MP John Cronin by 5,199 votes.

Dorrell was promoted to the Major Cabinet as the Secretary of State for National Heritage in 1994, and on appointment became a Member of the Privy Council.

In June 2011, following concerns over the unpopularity of Andrew Lansley's NHS reforms, Dorrell was tipped as a possible successor but stated that he wanted to continue as the committee chairman for the full parliament.

[9] In November 2012 Dorrell was reported to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) after arranging to sell his London flat to “friends” who owned a chain of nursing homes, subsequently renting it back at £1,400 a month, funded by the taxpayer.

[10] In November 2014, he surprised local party members and staff by announcing his future retirement from the House to take a job with consultancy KPMG in "a senior role supporting their health and public service practice...".

Fellow Leicestershire Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen also expressed surprise, but said that the prestige of Parliament had fallen since the expenses scandal, and a number of experienced MPs were leaving.

She denied claims she would stand in Dorrell's Charnwood seat (rather than Loughborough) at the 2015 general election, saying that these were "rumour-mongering" by members of the Labour Party.

Pointing out that Dorrell had previously admitted the two roles were incompatible, Dr Clive Peedell, co-leader of the National Health Action Party, called for him to resign from one of the posts.

[15] Dorrell was criticised for his actions when, in 2009, his family-owned firm went into a prepack administration, a "controversial" but legal procedure which the Government's Insolvency Service said was "mocking rules".

[16] David Blake, Director of the Cass Business School in London, believes the method is used to dump pension fund liabilities.

[16] His stake was in clothing company, Faithful, a family business established in the 19th century which made blue collar workwear in Worcester.

[19] The deal was completed in a day, Dorrell receiving a director salary (increased to £200,000 in September 2009) plus 15% share ownership in the new company.

[18][20] As company contributions had ceased, the workers were put into the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), which caps (often reducing) personal payouts and tends to erode with inflation.

[16] The prepack was criticised as "completely immoral", and inappropriate for listed companies, by a South African creditor, LA group.

He also became the chair of healthcare consultancy LaingBuisson,[22] where he is now a Non Executive Director [23] in addition to being a Director of NHS change consultancy Four Eyes Insight,[24] global policy institute Public Policy Projects [25] and its holding company Dorson Transform,[26] and affiliate Dorson Inform [27] He became a supporter of Change UK in 2019.

[29] Dorrell stood unsuccessfully in the 2019 general election as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Buckingham to succeed former Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow, having joined the Lib Dems in August from Change UK.