A senior Conservative minister, Conor Burns, has been sacked from the government following an allegation of “serious misconduct” relating to his behaviour at this week’s party conference.
Truss asked him to step down from his role as a minister of state in the trade department and he had the Conservative whip withdrawn pending an investigation.
“Following a complaint of serious misconduct, the prime minister has asked Conor Burns MP to leave the government with immediate effect,” a No 10 spokesperson said.
“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.”
The allegation relates to Burns’ behaviour at the party conference in Birmingham earlier this week, and is understood to have allegedly taken place in a hotel bar.
Burns was a close ally of Boris Johnson as one of his inner circle who helped him through the various scandals that beset his premiership.
His sacking comes after a series of scandals relating to the behaviour of Conservative MPs, including Chris Pincher, the former deputy chief whip. 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.
Other Tory MPs who have got into trouble in recent months include Neil Parish, who resigned as an MP after admitting watching porn in the House of Commons, and an unnamed Conservative MP who was asked to stay away from parliament after being arrested on suspicion of serious sexual offences, including rape.
Imran Ahmad Khan, the former Tory MP for Wakefield, was convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy; while the former Conservative cabinet minister Owen Paterson resigned over paid lobbying, leading to a shock Lib Dem byelection win.
Another Conservative MP, David Warburton, who represents Somerton and Frome, had the whip suspended while under investigation for sexual harassment by the House of Commons’ independent complaints and grievance scheme.
Burns was a Northern Ireland minister before Liz Truss made him trade minister in September.
He previously had to resign as a trade minister in 2020 after being found to have used his position to try to intimidate a member of the public.
The senior Tory was found by the standards committee to have made a series of veiled threats while attempting to intervene in his father’s dispute over a loan.
A whip’s office spokesperson said: “We have suspended the whip pending investigation into allegations of inappropriate behaviour earlier this week.
“We take all such allegations extremely seriously. The prime minister has been clear that the highest standards in public life must be upheld.”
