London (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Conor Burns is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bournemouth West. Since 2010, he is a member of the Conservative Party. Moreover, he served as Minister of State for Trade Policy from 2019 to 2020. He has become the Minister of State for Northern Ireland from 2021 to 2022. If you are interested to know more about Conor Burns, let’s discuss his lifestyle, net worth, and bio.
Bio & Early Life
Conor Burns was born on the 24th, of September 1972 in Belfast. He moved to Hertfordshire at the age of eight with his family. His parents were from a middle-class family. Since his childhood, he was a bright student and completed his schooling at St Columba’s College, St Albans. He studied modern history and Politics at the University of Southampton. While studying at the university he was the chairman of the Southampton University Conservative Association. From 1993 to 1994, he became the chairman of Wessex Area Conservatives.
As he was not financially well-off he did several jobs in both communications and finance sectors. It included working as the director of the Policy Research Centre for Business Ltd. Moreover, he worked as the company secretary for DeHavilland Global Knowledge Distribution plc. He worked as the manager for Zurich Advice Network and associate director of the public affairs company PLMR.
Early Political Career
Before getting elected to the Bournemouth West at the general election in 2010, he worked in finance and communication. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Owen Paterson. After working in this position from 2010 to 2013 he resigned.
Many people were against him in the House of Lords Reform Bill 2012. He started serving as PPS to Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. However, he resigned from this post in 2018. As he wanted to speak openly on many other areas of the policy, he couldn’t bear these restrictions.
When Johnson became the Prime Minister he served as the Minister of State for Trade Policy. Once again he resigned from the post in 2010. A Commons Select Committee on Standards inquiry found him guilty of threatening to use the privilege of members of the public. As his family wanted to gain an upper hand in the financial dispute he was found guilty of threatening party members.
Parliamentary Career
Conor Burns became a member of the A-list candidates. He was selected as the Conservative Party candidate for Bournemouth West. Due to his popularity, he got a seat in the 2010 general elections. Soon after he was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Hugo Swire. The Minister of State for Northern Ireland favored him in many ways. In 2010 he briefly took up the position of the Education Select Committee.
On 10th July 2012 he resigned as PPS to Secretary of State. While Owen Paterson took his position who was already against him due to many reasons. Some members voted against the Coalition’s House of Lords Reform Bill. However, Conor himself was against all these things. If this isn’t enough he served as a member of the Administration Committee and the Culture, Media, and Sport Committee. During his political career, he got one of the biggest positions and maintained them for quite a while.
Serving For Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson
In 2017, Conor revealed that his Twitter account is hacked. The reason was obvious as he exchanged a few aggressive posts with Michel Barnier’s account. He kept demanding whether the UK’s Brexit bill was legally calculated or not. Due to such factors, he decided to resign as the PPS to Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
In 2018, he was investigated heavily for putting up racist remarks about travelers in a local newspaper. He stated: “These people think the normal rules of civilized society do not apply to them” and stated those involved in the encampment had turned the town into “a no-go area for residents and visitors.”
Later on, Conor was appointed as the Minister of State for Trade Policy. It happened following the appointment of Johnson as the Prime Minister. He resigned from this position on 4 May 2020. As a result of a Commons Select Committee on Standards investigation that was working against him. This was led by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. They found him guilty of intimidating a member of the public.
Political Views
In 2008, Connor revealed that the international community plans to prepare a contingency plan. It was for the governance of Zimbabwe right after Robert Mugabe departed from his office. He was quite open in calling Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and favoring him to get asylum. The young gay Iranian student Mehdi Kazemi was supported by him all this while.
A few people died in Afghanistan, and Conor was criticized for not helping them with troops and other resources. A friend of Captain James Philippson revealed: If Conor was more active his friend “would be alive today had they had the most basic of equipment”. Conor worked hard to vote for the marriage of same-sex couples in the Act 2013. According to him, no one should be forced when it comes to marriage.
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Personal Life & Net Worth
Conor surprised many by openly accepting he is gay. He strongly believed that people should vote for same-sex marriage. Moreover, he went against the practicing Roman Catholic due to his beliefs. He wanted churches to be open about letting people marry whoever they want. Conor is a good friend of Margaret Thatcher in the later years of her life.
When it comes to his personal life, Conor is a big fan of snooker. He was a part of the All-Party Parliamentary snooker group for some time now. Conor Burns is a prominent politician and it is his major source of income. His total net worth is estimated to be $5 million. As we can see he has liberal political views and accepts them openly.