Conor Burns

Liz Truss fired Burns over a complaint about his behavior at Tory party conference.

[resigned](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-52531078) as a trade minister after parliament's standards watchdog said he used his position to intimidate a member of the public. 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. LONDON — Trade Minister Conor Burns has been fired from the U.K.

MP asked by Liz Truss to step down as trade minister and has party whip removed.

The MP has not had the whip withdrawn in this case. He insisted he had “enormous amounts of defence, but unfortunately the way things work means that doesn’t come out first”. Johnson’s own demise as prime minister was partly triggered by his initial refusal to withdraw the whip from Pincher after accusations of groping, which the MP denied. In a statement on Friday night, he accused the party of a “rush to judgment”. I hope the party will be as quick to conduct their inquiry as they were to rush to judgment.” He said on Twitter: “Earlier I received a call from the Chief Whip Wendy Morton.

The MP for Bournemouth West has reportedly said he will co-operate fully with the probe and 'looks forward to clearing his name'.

The Prime Minister has been clear that the highest standards in public life must be upheld.” “The Prime Minister took direct action on being informed of this allegation and is clear that all ministers should maintain the high standards of behaviour – as the public rightly expects.” He was previously a minister in the Northern Ireland Office, and had been a staunch ally of former prime minister Boris Johnson.

Conor Burns has been fired as trade minister and had the whip suspended after an allegation of serious misconduct.

[ resigned from his post](https://news.sky.com/story/tory-mp-chris-pincher-suspended-by-party-over-drunken-groping-claims-12643558) after he was accused of groping two men in a private members' club - with the fallout ultimately leading to [Boris Johnson's downfall. "We take all such allegations extremely seriously. [watching pornography in the House of Commons](https://news.sky.com/story/neil-parish-mp-resigns-as-he-admits-watching-porn-in-the-commons-12602430) "in a moment of madness". A No 10 spokesman said: "Following a complaint of serious misconduct, the prime minister has asked Conor Burns MP to leave the government with immediate effect. Liz Truss has sacked trade minister Conor Burns from her government "with immediate effect" following an allegation of serious misconduct. Conor Burns has been fired as trade minister and had the whip suspended after an allegation of serious misconduct.

The former trade minister is the latest in a long line of Tory MPs to bring scandal to the party.

He is suspended for 12 weeks by the Conservatives but [allowed to rejoin](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/oct/30/tory-mp-rob-roberts-allowed-to-rejoin-party-after-sexually-harassing-staffer) the party in October 2021. It is the second time Pincher has resigned from the whips’ office, having previously stood down in 2017 after he was reported to have made an unwanted pass at a Tory activist. [found](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/may/25/tory-mp-rob-roberts-faces-commons-suspension-for-sexual-harassment-breach) by parliament’s independent expert panel to have made “significant” repeated unwanted sexual advances towards a former member of staff, as well as inappropriate comments of a sexual nature. Griffiths, who denied the allegations, had stepped down as an MP in November 2019 after it emerged that he had sent up to 2,000 sexually explicit text message to two much younger women. [found guilty](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jul/30/ex-mp-charlie-elphicke-convicted-of-sexual-assault) of three counts of sexual assault against two women, less than a year after resigning as the Conservative MP for Dover. Elphicke had denied the three charges, two of which related to a parliamentary worker.