LONDON (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Conor Burns, the trade minister, has been fired from Liz Truss’ ministry “with immediate effect” in response to a serious misconduct allegation.
While the issue is being looked into, the whip has also been suspended for the Bournemouth West Tory MP.A
A spokesperson for No. 10 said Conor Burns MP has been asked to resign from the cabinet immediately after the prime minister received an accusation of serious misconduct.
After learning about the allegation, the prime minister took immediate action and it was obvious that all ministers must maintain the high standards of behaviour – as the public rightly expected.
The whip had been suspended, an investigation pending into claims of inappropriate behaviour earlier this week, spokesman for whips office said.Â
All such accusations were taken very seriously. In public life, the highest standards must be maintained and the PM had been clear about it, they said.
This happened after the annual Conservative Party conference was held in Birmingham from Sunday through Wednesday.
The Sun reports 50 years old Mr. Burns had stated that he would completely cooperate with the investigation and looked forward to clearing his name.
Since becoming an MP in 2010, he has served in a number of ministerial roles with Boris Johnson, to whom he has shown unwavering loyalty.
He made the infamous assertion that the former prime minister was “ambushed with cake” earlier this year in defence of allegations of a lockdown party at Downing Street.
Following a series of scandals, the accusations against him are the most recent to shake the Conservative Party.
Former deputy chief whip Chris Pincher had resigned from his position in July after accusations of groping two men at a private members’ club. The fallout from this finally resulted in Boris Johnson’s resignation.
After that in May, former Tory MP Neil Parish resigned after admitting to “in a moment of madness” watching porn in the House of Commons.
A Conservative MP who shall remain nameless was detained shortly after that on suspicion of rape and sexual assault offences over seven years.
Despite assurances that the matter was being treated extremely seriously, government minister Victoria Prentis said they were clearly concerning.
“I think all I can say is that the Prime Minister has taken decisive action, and we’ll make sure that this is properly investigated,” she told Times Radio.
