Mr. Burns was fired as trade minister in October after allegations that he touched a man’s thigh in a hotel bar during the Conservative Party conference. The Bournemouth West MP has consistently denied any wrongdoing. According to a Conservative Party spokesperson, the party reviewed “all of the evidence available” and concluded there was “no basis to investigate further.” “The matter is now closed, and Mr Burns’ membership will be reinstated as soon as possible,” said the spokesperson. Mr Burns, a former minister of state for Northern Ireland, described the experience as a “living nightmare” He I felt like I’d been “thrown to the wolves” and that his dismissal was related to his support for International Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch, who ran for the party leadership in the summer against Liz Truss, who was prime minister at the time of his dismissal. “It felt and smelled like a stitch-up, and that’s exactly what it was,” she says. “I knew I was innocent and that the truth would come out, and it did,” he said.
