Conor Burns dismisses suggestion he would give up seat for PM

The claim was made after the latest YouGov MPR polling showed the voters in Mr Johnson’s Uxbridge seat would unseat him, according to a report by The New European.

The report said there was talk of asking an “ultra-loyalist” to make the “ultimate sacrifice” for the Prime Minister, with it naming Northern Ireland minister Mr Burns as one such option.

When contacted by the Daily Echo for comment on the article, Mr Burns said: “That sounds to me like a journalist hitting the jubilee sherry a little early.

“I have already been selected to represent Bournemouth West at the next election.”

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Mr Burns, who has recently been in the United States in his role as the Prime Minister’s representative to the United States on the Northern Ireland Protocol, said he is looking forward to the next election.

He said believes both he and Mr Johnson will be re-elected to their existing constituencies and the Prime Minister will return to Number 10 Downing Street leading a Conservative government when residents go to the polls.

There is no fixed date for the next general election after the Fixed-term Parliaments Act was repealed by the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022.

The later states that the it must be held no later than January 24, 2025, but Mr Johnson could call a snap general election as he did in 2019.