Minister quits over threat to use his power as MP in row
A SENIOR minister sensationally quit yesterday after an inquiry found he tried to intimidate a company boss locked in a row over cash with his father by saying he could raise the issue in Parliament.
Conor Burns used Commons headed paper to write to a member of the public in dispute with his father over the repayment of a loan in February last year.
The MP suggested paying back the cash could avoid him using parliamentary privilege to talk about the issue.
He resigned as a trade minister, after a watchdog found the incident fuelled the belief that MPs used their standing to benefit their own interests.
The Commons standards body recommended suspending him from Parliament for seven days. Soon after the finding was announced, Mr Burns revealed he was stepping down.
In the controversial letter he wrote: “I am acutely aware that my role in the public eye could well attract interest, especially if I were to use parliamentary privilege to raise the case.”
Sued
Parliamentary privilege would have protected the MP from being sued for defamation.
Kathryn Stone, the parliamentary standards commissioner, said the complainant “understood the reference to it to be a threat of the consequences, if he did not do as Mr Burns wished”.
She concluded: “Mr Burns’s conduct in this matter does not reflect well on him personally. However, I think his conduct has a wider impact.
“It gives fuel to the belief that members are able and willing to use the privileges accorded them, by their membership of the House, to benefit their own personal interests.”
In a letter to the commissioner, the MP for Bournemouth West said he was acting as a “caring son”.
He wrote: “My letter was one written by a son, which is very concerned at the stress and distress, that the complainant’s repeated refusal to engage of the subject has caused to a man in his late 70s. If the charge is being a caring son, I would accept it.”
Downing Street announced his resignation and said a replacement will be found “in due course”. It came as another minister at the Department for International Trade, Greg Hands, was ordered to apologise for misusing parliamentary stationery to send a letter to thousands of constituents.
The standards committee accepted that the breach was “not at the serious end of the spectrum” but criticised Mr Hands for dragging the process out until after the election. In October 2019, Chelsea and Fulham MP Mr Hands had told the commissioner that he was willing to publicly acknowledge he had breached the rules, apologise and reimburse the £4,865 costs.
But with the election looming, Mr Hands changed his mind.