Sacked Minister set to be cleared over conference ‘grope’
‘Victim’ never lodged a complaint – now Tory HQ accused of massive overreaction
A TORY MP who was sacked as a Minister last month for ‘touching a young man’s thigh’ is set to be exonerated after an investigation concluded that the party had ‘overreacted’ to the case.
Conor Burns lost his job as a Trade Minister and was suspended as a Tory MP by Wendy Morton, who was then Chief Whip, after a witness reported the alleged incident in the Hyatt Regency hotel bar in Birmingham during the party’s annual conference.
But The Mail on Sunday understands that former party chairman Jake Berry concluded there was no case for Mr Burns to answer, as the ‘victim’ had not complained.
The case is likely to fuel concerns that party managers have become too trigger-happy in cases of alleged sexual impropriety, leading to the public naming and shaming of supposed culprits before their guilt has been established. At the time of Mr Burns’ suspension, Liz Truss’s Government was struggling to impose discipline on the party.
Last night, a senior source at Conservative Campaign Headquarters in Westminster said: ‘The investigation has been concluded and it’s clear there is no case to answer.
‘No complaint was made by the individual who was with Conor Burns. The decision to withdraw the whip and remove him from the Government was a massive overreaction from Wendy Morton.’
The source added: ‘She completely lost her nerve.’
Jacob Young, a Tory whip who acted as one of Ms Morton’s ‘spotters’ in the Birmingham bars, included the incident in a general report of the evening, but has told Conservative officials he didn’t believe it was sufficiently serious to warrant formal action or suspension.
Bournemouth West MP Mr Burns has told friends that he believes he was on Ms Morton’s ‘hit list’ after praising Kemi Badenoch as a future leader at a conference fringe event.
He added that the ‘flirting’ with the young man had been consensual.
At the time, one of Mr Burns’ allies said: ‘He feels imprisoned without any of the process of the police or a trial,’ while another ally suggested that it showed that the ‘morality police’ could now act in judgment on the behaviour of others, irrespective of what those involved made of it.
It was also claimed at the time that concerns had been raised about ‘inappropriate comments’ made by Mr Burns on that night, although the allies said the MP had injured his ribs the weekend before the party conference and was on heavy medication to manage the pain, which had made the effect of the alcohol worse.