Conor Burns was elected as the Conservative MP for Bournemouth West in 2010, being re-elected in 2019 with a majority of 10,150.
The constituency of Bournemouth West spreads out from the town centre of Bournemouth and the beaches around West Cliff to include the areas around Kinson and Talbot Woods and the community of Branksome on the edge of Poole. Bournemouth University is found in this constituency. With the economy dominated by financial services and tourism, this has been a safe Conservative seat ever since 1950.
Conor Burns was appointed Minister of State in the Department for International Trade in September 2022. However he was dismissed from the government in October 2022 and lost the Conservative whip following false allegations of misconduct made at that month’s Conservative Party conference in Birmingham. The fast action in relation to his dismissal occured as a then embattled Liz Truss sought to differentiate herself from the approach of Boris Johnson. They also followed comments by Mr Burns at a conservative party leadership fringe meeting that week in which he had praised Kemi Badenoch MP as the future of the Conservative party, comments which potentially upset the then party leadership.
Mr Burns always strenuously denied the misconduct claims and was indeed fully cleared by a subsequent party investigation in December 2022. He subsequently immediately had the party whip restored.
Burns had previously held the same trade role, working under Liz Truss when she was Secretary of State of the department, between 2019 and 2020.
He was Minister of State for Northern Ireland between September 2021 and September 2022.
A close ally of the former prime minister, Boris Johnson, Conor Burns once served as PPS to Prime Minister Boris Johnson during Johnson’s time at the Foreign Office. Burns was heavily involved in Boris Johnson’s successful 2019 Conservative leadership campaign.
Burns was born in Belfast in 1972 and his family moved to Hertfordshire in 1980. After secondary school in St Albans, Conor attended Southampton University where he studied Modern History and Politics.
He was Company Secretary and Head of Business Development for DeHavilland Information Services, and later worked in sales management for Zurich insurance.
A gifted orator, Burns is personally close with the Prime Minister. He was also a close personal friend in the years before her death, of Margaret Thatcher. Burns voted Leave in the 2016 EU referendum and is on the right of the party. He is Chairman of Conservative Way Forward.
Burns was formerly a councillor on Southampton City Council in 1999, where he was briefly Group Leader of the Conservative Opposition. He was selected to fight Eastleigh in 1999 and contested the seat in 2001 and 2005 general elections. He lost very narrowly on each occasion.
Burns is a Catholic, and openly gay. He has fallen out with his local Bishop over the issue of same sex marriage, which Burns has supported.
Conor Burns is Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights; Chile; and Education Technology.
Burns is a big snooker fan and regularly attends tournaments. He can often be seen on the final day of a major tournament sitting in the front row.
Email: conor.burns.mp@parliament.uk
Personal Website: http://www.conorburns.com/
Twitter: @Conor_BurnsMP
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/conorburns
