UK trade minister sacked after 'serious misconduct' complaint

British Prime Minister Liz Truss has sacked her trade minister, Conor Burns, with immediate effect after a complaint of "serious misconduct" made against him.

In a case reminiscent of a similar complaint against a senior aide in Boris Johnson's team that ultimately ended in his resignation as Prime Minister, Downing Street said the Conservative Party MP for Bournemouth West has also had the party whip suspended on Friday while the complaint is investigated. This means Burns is now an independent member of Parliament until the investigation is completed. "Following a complaint of serious misconduct, the prime minister has asked Conor Burns MP to leave the government with immediate effect, a Downing Street 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 50-year-old MP said he will cooperate fully with the probe and "looks forward to clearing his name". In a statement on Twitter, he said he was not given any details about the complaint or asked to provide any information.

"I hope the party will be as quick to conduct their enquiry as they were to rush to judgement," he said. Burns has been an MP since 2010 and held a number of ministerial positions under Johnson.

A spokesperson for the Tory whips office, in charge of party discipline, 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."

The allegations come at the end of the Tory party's annual conference in Birmingham this week. The development is the latest in a series of scandals to rock the governing Conservative Party. In July, former deputy chief whip Chris Pincher resigned after he was accused of groping two men in a private members' club. The row ultimately ended Boris Johnson's term as Prime Minister after conflicting statements emerged over the controversy. Earlier in the year, former Tory MP Neil Parish resigned after confessing to watching pornography in the House of Commons in what he termed as a moment of madness".

The Opposition Labour Party dubbed it as the latest in a long line of serious misconduct allegations and called for the speedy appointment of an independent ethics adviser, a role currently lying vacant. "After just a month as prime Minister, Liz Truss's government is already beset by scandal, said Labour's Deputy Leader Angela Rayner.