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| Trade minister Conor Burns resigns over 'veiled threats' in letter | Trade minister Conor Burns resigns over 'veiled threats' in letter |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Conor Burns has resigned as a trade minister after a report found he used his position as an MP to intimidate a member of the public. | Conor Burns has resigned as a trade minister after a report found he used his position as an MP to intimidate a member of the public. |
| The Committee on Standards said he had broken Commons rules after suggesting he could use Parliamentary privilege over a debt dispute involving his father. | The Committee on Standards said he had broken Commons rules after suggesting he could use Parliamentary privilege over a debt dispute involving his father. |
| It had recommended he be suspended from Parliament for seven days. | It had recommended he be suspended from Parliament for seven days. |
| No 10 said he would be replaced "in due course". | No 10 said he would be replaced "in due course". |
| Parliamentary privilege protects MPs from being sued for defamation for speeches made in Parliament. | |
| The committee's report found he had made "veiled threats" to use privilege to "further his family's interests" during the financial dispute involving his father. | The committee's report found he had made "veiled threats" to use privilege to "further his family's interests" during the financial dispute involving his father. |
| Apologising to the committee in March, Mr Burns said he should not have written to the member of the public "in the terms I did," which he did using official Commons stationery. | Apologising to the committee in March, Mr Burns said he should not have written to the member of the public "in the terms I did," which he did using official Commons stationery. |
| He said he had been motivated by a desire to resolve the "long-running" dispute, which he said had a "significant" impact on his father's health. | He said he had been motivated by a desire to resolve the "long-running" dispute, which he said had a "significant" impact on his father's health. |
| In February, Mr Burns had written to a member of the public connected to a company with whom his father was in dispute over the repayment of a loan. | |
| He wrote: "I am acutely aware that my role in the public eye could well attract interest especially if I were to use parliamentary privilege to raise the case". | |
| The committee concluded Mr Burns had tried to intimidate the member of the public, and it was an abuse of his position as an MP which required a "sanction more severe than apology". | |
| It added that the dispute related purely to "private family interests" and had "no connection" with Mr Burns's duties as a member of Parliament. |