Trade minister sacked over misconduct allegations Conor Burns has been sacked as trade minister after a complaint was made against him, Downing Street has said. A No 10 spokesperson said: Following a complaint of serious misconduct, the prime minister has asked Conor Burns MP to leave the government with immediate effect. 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. It comes amid reports the Tories have also suspended him from the party after allegations about his behaviour at its conference this week. Whips have since confirmed the suspension (see 16:23). Burns told the Sun he would “fully cooperate with the [party’s] investigation and looks forward to clearing his name”. Evening summary Kevin Rawlinson That’s all from me for today. Thanks for reading. Here’s a summary of the day’s main events: Conor Burns was sacked as trade minister after a complaint of serious misconduct was made against him, Downing Street said. Tory whips confirmed Burns was also suspended from the party pending an investigation. Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, described as “absurd” the fact that she has not heard from Liz Truss since she became prime minister. “I don’t know whether that is arrogance, lack of respect, or insecurity or whatever it is. It’s not the right way to do government in a grown-up way.” Ireland is looking for a ‘nil-all draw’ in negotiations between the UK and the EU, its foreign affairs minister said. “What we’re after here is a nil-all draw, where everybody can walk away feeling that they haven’t won or lost, but they can live with the outcome,” Simon Coveney said. The UK and Ireland agreed to do “everything possible” to restore power-sharing in Northern Ireland. Following a meeting of the British-Irish intergovernmental conference in London, a joint communique set out that both countries “noted the ongoing discussions to address issues around the Northern Ireland protocol and to find an agreed way forward”. Public feuding between senior Tories continued. The former culture secretary Nadine Dorries should “settle down a little while”, the climate minister Graham Stuart said, amid an increasingly bitter row among Conservative MPs. The UK government’s representative on the morning media round repeatedly refused to rule out energy rationing. Graham Stuart said: “Events move on … We’ve seen all sorts of threats to our energy security.” Responding to the ICO’s reprimand, a Home Office spokesperson has said: The UK has one of the most robust and transparent oversight regimes for the protection of personal data and privacy anywhere in the world. We note the decision published by the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) today, and will take its implications into consideration. We continue to ensure that robust controls and independent oversight are in place to ensure we are fully compliant with requirements on processing of personal data. Burns says he will "fully cooperate" with inquiry The now former trade minister Conor Burns has responded to today’s events in a series of tweets: The ICO found the Home Office had failed to ensure an appropriate level of security of personal data, including where documents were classified as “official sensitive”. The Home Office was also found to have no specific sign-out process for the removal of documents from the premises. The incident was not reported to the ICO within the 72-hour time limit, the ICO said. It said the Home Office had since taken steps to avoid similar breaches occurring in the future. The ICO said it had set out further actions for the Home Office to take as part of its reprimand. This includes a review of the handling instructions around “official sensitive” information, consideration of a sign-out process when documents leave the office and a review of training provided to staff around the handling of records containing personal data. The information commissioner, John Edwards, said: Government officials are expected to work with sensitive documents in order to run the country. There is an expectation, both in law and from the people the government serves, that this information will be treated respectfully and securely. In this instance that did not happen, and I expect the department to take steps to avoid similar mistakes in the future. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a formal reprimand to the home secretary, Suella Braverman, after sensitive documents were found at a London venue last year. The ICO said the documents were handed to police by venue staff in September 2021. Among the documents were two extremism analysis unit Home Office reports, a counter-terrorism policing report and personal data, including that of Metropolitan police staff, the ICO said. It comes after a government investigation concluded the Home Office was the most likely source of the documents, according to the ICO. Here’s the full statement on Burns’s suspension from the Tory whips’ office: 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. Burns was an extremely close ally of Boris Johnson, as one of his inner circle who helped him through the various scandals that beset his premiership. He was formerly a Northern Ireland minister before Liz Truss made him trade minister in September. Burns 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. He 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. Tory whips confirm Burns suspended from party Tory whips have now confirmed that Burns has indeed had the party whip suspended pending an investigation into allegations of “inappropriate behaviour”. Trade minister sacked over misconduct allegations Conor Burns has been sacked as trade minister after a complaint was made against him, Downing Street has said. A No 10 spokesperson said: Following a complaint of serious misconduct, the prime minister has asked Conor Burns MP to leave the government with immediate effect. 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. It comes amid reports the Tories have also suspended him from the party after allegations about his behaviour at its conference this week. Whips have since confirmed the suspension (see 16:23). Burns told the Sun he would “fully cooperate with the [party’s] investigation and looks forward to clearing his name”. Nicola Sturgeon says she has not heard from Liz Truss since she became prime minister Nicola Sturgeon has said it is “absurd” she has not heard from Liz Truss since she became prime minister. Speaking to the BBC before the SNP conference, the Scottish first minister said she has not had a call or meeting with Truss since she entered No 10 last month. Sturgeon said: I don’t know whether that is arrogance, lack of respect, or insecurity or whatever it is. It’s not the right way to do government in a grown-up way. I hope we will see a change. I’ll do my best to work with Liz Truss as constructively as possible, or whoever comes after because we can’t take anything for granted in UK politics these days. I spoke to (the PM) David Cameron when I became first minister within hours. I spoke to Theresa May and Boris Johnson shortly after they became prime minister. For reasons best known to herself, Liz Truss hasn’t engaged with the devolved administrations. I’ll meet with her, I’ll speak to her, but let’s just underline how absurd it is that a UK prime minister doesn’t seem to want to work with – other than in rhetoric – the devolved administrations in the rest of the UK. Truss recently said at a hustings event that Sturgeon was an “attention seeker” who should be ignored. A spokesperson for the UK government said: The prime minister has made clear the UK government’s priority is to deliver economic growth across the union and to work together on shared issues including energy security. UK government ministers, including the minister for intergovernmental relations, along with officials, are continuing to engage regularly with their devolved counterparts. The train drivers’ union Aslef has described the government’s decision to award a short-term contract extension to the rail operator Avanti as “a slap in the face to passengers and staff”. PA Media reports: The union added that industrial relations with Avanti were at an “all-time low” and the company should not have been allowed to continue to run its franchise, which includes the London to Glasgow rail route. The Aslef organiser Kevin Lindsay said: Amongst the train-operating companies, Avanti are amongst the worst, failing their employees and the public alike. To reward their consistent failure by extending their contract for the London to Glasgow service is nothing more than a slap in the face to passengers and staff. This was an opportunity to return a vital transport service to public hands and to be run in the public interest. The decision to award this extension must be called in and reversed urgently. Avanti’s extension is as baffling as their claims about recruitment. They have repeatedly misled passengers and politicians with claims of 100 new drivers when in fact the number is around half that. Industrial relations with Avanti are at an all-time low, their bully-boy management style has led to the present pay dispute but Aslef has a number of industrial issues with the company. Heaton-Harris also talked up the prospect of reaching a deal over the controversial post-Brexit arrangements in the region. I want to be very positive about the chances of getting a negotiated solution. I believe we’re all working in good spirit, with good cooperation to deliver on the changes that are required for the protocol to be fixed or the issues within the protocol to be fixed. And we need to show some progress on that. He also played down the significance of the Northern Ireland protocol bill, which would tear up the agreement reached between the UK and the EU, as a backdrop to negotiations. He suggested that he hoped it would be a “redundant piece of legislation” if a deal is reached.