‘Total bollocks’ that I’m defecting to UKIP, says Tory MP Conor Burns

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Conservative MP Conor Burns says suggestions of him defecting to UKIP are “total bollocks”.

Mr Burns, MP for Bournemouth West, last week tweeted of having a “good chat” with Nigel Farage.

The UKIP leader was in Parliament to see Douglas Carswell take up his seat on the green opposition benches.

After his “good chat”, Mr Burns was quick to quash speculation of a fresh Tory defection.

Today, the gay MP has taken a swipe at The Week for naming him as a potential Tory who could be the next to defect.

Douglas Carswell earlier this month became UKIP’s first elected MP, following the Clacton by-election.

Mr Carswell voted against same-sex marriage last year, describing the law as “arrogant”.

Mark Reckless, the second Tory MP to defect to UKIP, voted in favour of same-sex marriage.

He is contesting his Kent seat of Rochester and Strood in a by-election.

It will take place on 20 November.

Despite previously expressing reservations due to his Catholic faith, Mr Burns voted in favour of same-sex marriage.

A close friend of the late Lady Thatcher, Mr Burns told PinkNews last year that the former prime minister “did not have a problem with gay people” – despite her support for Section 28.

Section 28 stated that a local authority “shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality” and that schools “could not promote of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship”.

It was repealed in Scotland in 2000, and three years later in England and Wales.

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