46 Facts About Conor Burns

Conor Burns was born on 24 September 1972 and is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament for Bournemouth West since 2010.

Conor Burns worked in finance and communications before being elected for Bournemouth West at the 2010 general election.

Conor Burns served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Owen Paterson from 2010 to 2012, when he resigned due to his opposition to the House of Lords Reform Bill 2012.

Conor Burns served as PPS to Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, before resigning from the post in 2018 because he wanted to speak more openly on other areas of policy.

Conor Burns resigned from the post in 2020, after a Commons Select Committee on Standards inquiry found that he had threatened to use parliamentary privilege to intimidate a member of the public for his family's gain during a financial dispute involving his father.

Conor Burns returned as Minister of State for Trade Policy after Liz Truss became Prime Minister in September 2022.

Conor Burns was later cleared of misconduct and the whip was restored on 3 December 2022.

Conor Burns was born on 24 September 1972 in Belfast and moved with his family to Hertfordshire in 1980.

Conor Burns was educated at the independent St Columba's College, St Albans, and read Modern History and Politics at the University of Southampton.

Conor Burns held a number of jobs in the communications and finance sectors, including as director of the Policy Research Centre for Business Ltd, company secretary for DeHavilland Global Knowledge Distribution plc, manager for Zurich Advice Network and associate director of the public affairs company PLMR.

Conor Burns stood unsuccessfully as the Conservative candidate in the Peartree ward of Southampton City Council in 1994 and the Woolston ward in 1995.

Conor Burns subsequently faced a students union disciplinary hearing as the vice-president of the Southampton Conservative Association.

Conor Burns again stood unsuccessfully for the Conservatives in the Peartree ward in 1996, before being elected in the St Luke's ward in 1999.

However, in May 2002, the whole council was up for re-election and Conor Burns came off the council after being defeated in Bassett ward.

Conor Burns stood unsuccessfully as the Conservative Party candidate for Eastleigh at the 2001 general election.

Conor Burns was an unsuccessful candidate at the Hedge End Town Council elections in Eastleigh in 2005.

Conor Burns stood again as the Conservative Party candidate for the Eastleigh constituency at the 2005 general election, but was again defeated.

Conor Burns was the vice-president of the Young Britons' Foundation, an Anglo-American conservative training and education organisation, before the 2010 general election.

Conor Burns went on to be awarded the Young Britons' Foundation Golden Dolphin award "for his stoic support for the Young Britons' Foundation since its creation in 2003".

Conor Burns was a member of the A-List of candidates and was selected in September 2008 as the Conservative Party candidate for Bournemouth West.

Conor Burns was elected for the seat at the 2010 general election.

Conor Burns was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Hugo Swire, the Minister of State for Northern Ireland, in 2010, before which he briefly sat on the Education Select Committee.

Conor Burns has served in Parliament as a member of the Administration Committee and the Culture, Media and Sport Committee.

In 2014, Conor Burns referred the charity Oxfam to the Charity Commission, stating that a tweet from the charity was "overtly political".

Conor Burns later criticised a letter from Church of England bishops urging Christians to engage with the 2015 election as "naive" and "factually wrong".

Conor Burns has chaired the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Bahrain; he has written articles defending the Kingdom's human rights record.

Conor Burns accepted all-expenses paid trips to Bahrain while it was facing mass pro-democracy protests which were later repressed.

Conor Burns resigned as PPS to Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on 9 July 2018 because he wanted to speak more openly on other areas of policy.

In October 2018, Conor Burns was investigated by his party over allegations of racist remarks about travellers in a letter to his local newspaper, following the arrival of a traveller encampment in the centre of Bournemouth.

Conor Burns was appointed as Minister of State for Trade Policy following the appointment of Johnson as Prime Minister.

Conor Burns resigned from this position on 4 May 2020 after a Commons Select Committee on Standards investigation led by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards found he had intimidated a member of the public.

Conor Burns had written a letter on House of Commons notepaper in February 2019 in which he threatened to use parliamentary privilege to reveal the name of the director of a company which owed his father money as part of a long-running financial dispute and who had previously held a senior position in local government.

On 25 January 2022, during the Westminster lockdown parties controversy, in an interview with Channel 4 News, Conor Burns defended Johnson over an alleged surprise birthday get-together on 19 June 2020.

Conor Burns said that, rather than being a pre-planned party, Johnson was "ambushed with a cake".

Conor Burns' comments were ridiculed online in a series of memes.

Conor Burns was dismissed from the position on 7 October, when he had the whip suspended following an allegation of misconduct at the 2022 Conservative Party Conference.

Conor Burns was suspended as a patron of LGBT+ Conservatives.

Conor Burns was unable to vote in the October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election.

Conor Burns commented he felt he had been targeted due to showing approval for Kemi Badenoch, a Conservative leadership rival to Liz Truss who was prime minister when Conor Burns was dismissed.

In March 2023, Conor Burns was called to testify at the inquiry into Partygate, a party held during the Covid-19 Lockdowns in London.

Ahead of the inquiry, Conor Burns made comments stating that the inquiry is not going to be fair from the outset.

Conor Burns' comments stated that the chair of the committee, Labour MP Harriet Harman, already stated that she already believes that Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak are guilty and should admit their guilt via Twitter.

Conor Burns was outspoken in calling on former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to grant asylum to young gay Iranian student Mehdi Kazemi.

Conor Burns voted in favour of the bill at its second reading, but did not vote at its third and final reading.

Conor Burns was a friend of Margaret Thatcher in the later years of her life and spoke in the House of Commons debate on 10 April 2013 following her death.

Conor Burns is a keen snooker fan, and was previously chair of the All-Party Parliamentary snooker group.