LONDON — Trade Minister Conor Burns has been fired from the U.K. government following a complaint of “serious misconduct” at the country’s ruling Conservative Party’s annual conference this week.
The MP has also been suspended from the party grouping in parliament, pending an investigation into the allegation against him.
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Liz Truss said: “Following a complaint of serious misconduct, the prime minister has asked Conor Burns MP to leave the government with immediate effect. The prime minister took direct action on being informed of this allegation and is clear that all ministers should maintain … high standards of behaviour — as the public rightly expects.”
Burns, 50, told The Sun newspaper — which first broke the story — that he would “fully cooperate with the investigation and looks forward to clearing his name.”
The Conservative Party conference took place in Birmingham from Sunday to Wednesday this week.
In 2020, Burns resigned as a trade minister after parliament’s standards watchdog said he used his position to intimidate a member of the public. A close ally of former prime minister Boris Johnson, Burns was appointed a minister in the Northern Ireland office in September last year, and returned to the trade department by Truss a month ago.
