Conor Burns

Conor Burns (born 1972) is a Conservative politician. He was elected as MP for Bournemouth West at the 2010 general election. He was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2010 to 2012, but resigned from this post in opposition to the Lords Reform Bill.

Conor Burns was born in Northern Ireland and lived in Belfast before moving with his family to Hertfordshire in 1980. He studied at the University of Southampton, and later served as the leader of the Conservative group on Southampton City Council.

He is openly gay, but as a Roman Cathoic was hesitant about supporting equal marriage, calling for "cast iron guarantees" that religious organisations woould not be forced into conducting same-sex weddings. . He later said that he had been subject to "unpleasant lobbying" by opponents of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill, but had decided to vote for it on second reading and then confirmed via Twitter that he had done so.