:Alistair Burt

Alistair Burt was born in Bury, Lancashire, and was educated at the Bury Grammar School, where he was appointed Head Boy in 1973. He read Jurisprudence at St John's College, Oxford, graduating in 1977. Whilst a student at Oxford, Burt attended the televised 1975 A Question of Europe debate wearing the stereotyped French dress of a beret, striped shirt, and string of onions.{{cite book |last1=Heath |first1=Edward |title=The Course of My Life: My Autobiography |year=2011 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-1-4482-0466-3 |page=530 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HUa0KnfCKaMC&pg=PT530}}{{cite web |last1=Dombrovskis |first1=Valdis |title=Oxford Student Union debate – Opening remarks by Vice-President Dombrovskis: "The euro is stronger than ever." 18 October 2018 |url=https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/api/files/document/print/en/speech_18_6152/SPEECH_18_6152_EN.pdf |publisher=European Commission |access-date=20 May 2020}} He was elected president of the Oxford Law Society in 1976. He became an articled clerk with Slater Heelis & Co. of Manchester in 1978, becoming a solicitor with Watts Vallence & Vallence in 1980 where he remained until 1983.

Burt was elected as a councillor on Haringey Borough Council in 1982 and left the council in 1984. He contested the new seat of Bury North at the 1983 general election at which he was elected as the Conservative MP with a majority of 2,792 votes. He represented the seat until 1997 and returned to parliament again in 2001.

In Parliament Alistair Burt became the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Secretary of State for the Environment Kenneth Baker in 1985, he remained as PPS to Baker in his role as Secretary of State for Education and Science from 1986 and in his role as the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from 1989 until 1990. Following the 1992 general election Burt was promoted to the government of John Major and became the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Social Security where he remained until 1995, when he was promoted further with the rank of Minister of State at the same department. He was one of many ministers who lost their seats at the 1997 general election when Bury North fell to Labour's David Chaytor by 7,866 votes. From 1997 to 2001, he worked at executive search firm Whitehead Mann GKR.{{cite web |url=http://www.enterprise-forum.co.uk/AlistairBurt.html |title=Alistair Burt MP |publisher=The Enterprise Forum |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304101024/http://www.enterprise-forum.co.uk/AlistairBurt.html |archive-date=4 March 2012}}

Alistair Burt re-entered parliament at the 2001 general election for the very safe Conservative seat of Bedfordshire North East, previously represented in parliament by the former Attorney General Nicholas Lyell who had retired. Burt was elected with a majority of 8,577; he was made an opposition spokesman on Education and Skills under William Hague in 2001, before becoming PPS to the Leader of the Opposition Iain Duncan Smith in 2002. The following year, Burt carried on as PPS to the new leader Michael Howard.

Following the 2005 general election, he rejoined the front bench and was a spokesman on Local Government Affairs and Communities. However, in January 2008, Burt was promoted to Assistant Chief Whip and Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party with responsibility for Internal Development.

Burt is a former officer of the Conservative Friends of Israel, a position which he resigned upon entering government as a Minister in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. In December 2008, he led an all-Party group meeting with the Red Cross to campaign for visiting rights for the Israeli hostage Gilad Shalit.{{cite web |url=http://www.cfoi.co.uk/articles.aspx?aid=20 |title=Campaigns |publisher=Conservative Friends of Israel |date=February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070628184958/http://www.cfoi.co.uk/articles.aspx?aid=20 |archive-date=28 June 2007 |url-status=dead }} 2013–14 He was a member of the Political Council of the Henry Jackson Society.{{cite web|url=http://henryjacksonsociety.org/people/council-members/ |title=Advisory Council |publisher=Henry Jackson Society |access-date=2 January 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130923022301/http://henryjacksonsociety.org/people/council-members/ |archive-date=23 September 2013 }} He is also joint founder and first Chairman of The Enterprise Forum, an organisation set up in 1997 to facilitate discussions on policy between the Business Community and the Conservative Party.{{cite news |title=Alistair Burt profile |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2052386.stm |work=BBC News |date=21 October 2002}} He is a vice-president of the Tory Reform Group.{{cite web |url=http://www.trg.org.uk/about-the-trg/people.html |title=TRG People |publisher=Tory Reform Group |access-date=2 January 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102193733/http://www.trg.org.uk/about-the-trg/people.html |archive-date=2 January 2014}}

File:UN Secretary General's Personal Envoy to Western Sahara (6515102049).jpg in 2009]]

File:HRH Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa with Alistair Burt (8076672961).jpg, in October 2012]]

File:Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt with Henry Winkler (8530318609).jpg who spoke at the Foreign Office in London on his experience of living with Dyslexia, 5 March 2013.]]

Burt was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on 14 May 2010. His roles there included overseeing British-Syria policy for three years that included the start of the Syrian civil war,{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/dec/30/alistair-burt-anger-syria-westminster |title=Alistair Burt reveals anger over Syria vote at Westminster |first=Patrick |last=Wintour |first2=Nicholas |last2=Watt |newspaper=The Guardian |date=30 December 2013 |access-date=1 January 2014}} and leading on Israeli issues for the government at the United Nations.{{cite news |url=http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/54316/alistair-burt-take-charge-britains-position-un |title=Alistair Burt to take charge of Britain's position at the UN |first=Martin |last=Bright |newspaper=Jewish Chronicle |date=8 September 2011 |access-date=1 January 2014}} Burt was angered at the failure of MPs in August 2013 to support the British government's plan to participate in military strikes against the Syrian government, in the wake of a chemical-weapons attack at Ghouta.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10275158/Syria-crisis-No-to-war-blow-to-Cameron.html |title=Syria crisis: No to war, blow to Cameron |first=Robert |last=Winnett |newspaper=Daily Telegraph |date=29 August 2013 |access-date=1 January 2014}} He stepped down on 7 October 2013.{{cite tweet|user=AlistairBurtUK|first=Alistair |last-Burt|number=387221555857469440|date=7 October 2013|title=Standing down today. The last 3 1/2 years have been a pleasure working on an extraordinary portfolio with talented people. Thank you all!}} Burt had been delegated under William Hague specific responsibilities for advancing FCO policy on:{{cite web |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/people/alistair-burt |title=Alistair Burt MP |publisher=GOV.UK |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130118162307/https://www.gov.uk/government/people/alistair-burt |archive-date=18 January 2013}}

• Afghanistan and South Asia
• Middle East and North Africa
• North America
• Counter terrorism
• Counter proliferation
• FCO finance
• Human resources and diversity

After standing down from the FCO, Burt was made a Privy Councillor on 16 October 2013,{{cite news |url=http://www.bedfordshire-news.co.uk/News/MP-Alistair-Burt-appointed-as-Privy-Councillor-20131016141811.htm |title=MP Alistair Burt appointed as Privy Councillor |first=Rupert |last=Marquand |newspaper=Bedfordshire on Sunday |date=16 October 2013 |access-date=1 January 2014}} and in December that year, was appointed a Commissioner of the International Commission on Missing Persons.[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/bosnia/11732799/Twenty-years-on-were-still-digging-up-the-dead-of-the-Srebrenica-massacre.html telegraph.co.uk: "Twenty years on, we're still digging up the dead of the Srebrenica massacre"], 10 July 2015

{{See also|Premiership of David Cameron#Syria and the Middle East}}

As a former minister, he was freed to argue that the parliamentary vote against taking military action in Syria was a bad precedent, and it would be better if the government made decisions such as this in future by "executive action".{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/former-foreign-office-minister-alistair-burt-warns-of-dangerous-precedent-created-by-parliaments-syria-vote-9030932.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231041744/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/former-foreign-office-minister-alistair-burt-warns-of-dangerous-precedent-created-by-parliaments-syria-vote-9030932.html |archive-date=31 December 2013 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |title=Former Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt warns of dangerous precedent created by Parliament's Syria vote |first=Ian |last=Johnston |newspaper=The Independent |date=31 December 2013 |access-date=6 June 2014}} In June 2014 Burt called the lack of intervention in Syria "a disaster".{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jun/15/tony-blairs-call-for-anti-isis-drive-criticised |title=Tony Blair's call for anti-Isis drive criticised |first=Patrick |last=Wintour |newspaper=The Guardian |date=15 June 2014 |access-date=16 June 2014 |quote=Alistair Burt, the recent Conservative foreign office minister for the Middle East, also agreed with Blair in part by saying: "In Syria we've now seen an example of non-western intervention, it's a disaster."}}

Following the Conservative victory in the 2015 general election on 11 May, Burt returned to Government as Minister of State for Community and Social Care in the Department of Health.

As a Conservative health minister, he blocked a new law to provide cheap and effective drugs for the NHS by championing medicines whose patents have expired. Burt spoke in Parliament for nearly half an hour to filibuster the proposed Off-Patent Drugs Bill, a plan that had cross-party support from backbenchers. He said “It is not always the case that something brought forward by a charity and advocated passionately by colleagues is always the answer. It's not disgraceful – it's the right answer.”{{cite news|last=Stone |first=Jon |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-health-minister-blocks-law-to-give-the-nhs-cheap-drugs-whose-patents-have-expired-a6724526.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151107134957/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-health-minister-blocks-law-to-give-the-nhs-cheap-drugs-whose-patents-have-expired-a6724526.html |archive-date=7 November 2015 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |title=Tory health minister deliberately blocks law to give NHS cheap drugs when patents expire |work=The Independent |date=6 November 2015 |access-date=8 December 2018}} The Bill was subsequently revised and placed into law with agreement from all sides on the issue {{cite web|url=http://www.nickthomassymonds.uk/torfaen-mp-celebrates-as-bill-to-improve-access-to-cancer-drugs-passes-into-law/ |title=Torfaen MP celebrates as Bill to improve access to cancer drugs passes into law |work=Nickthomassymonds.uk |date=24 March 2016 |access-date=8 December 2018}}

As the Minister of State for Community and Social Care, he announced on 17 July 2015 that the implementation of the cap on care costs would be delayed until April 2020.{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/delay-in-the-implementation-of-the-cap-on-care-costs/ |title=delay-in-the-implementation-of-the-cap-on-care-costs |work=www.gov.uk|date=17 July 2015 |access-date=4 February 2019}} The introduction of the cap had been passed into law as part of the Care Act 2014 during the coalition government, and implementation of that part of the law from 2016 onwards had been accepted by all main political parties during the general election of 2015.

In July 2016, Burt announced that he would be resigning from his Ministerial position, "Twenty-four years and one month ago, I answered my first question as a junior minister in oral questions and I’ve just completed my last oral questions," Burt said. It was made clear that his resignation was not related to Brexit.{{cite web |last=May |first=Josh |url=https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/conservative-party/news/76967/alistair-burt-announces-resignation-health |title=Alistair Burt announces resignation as Health Minister |work=PoliticsHome.com |date=5 July 2016 |access-date=8 December 2018 |archive-date=9 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181209165214/https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/conservative-party/news/76967/alistair-burt-announces-resignation-health |url-status=dead }}

Historically Burt had been active in seeking justice for the victims of the Tainted Blood Scandal.{{cite web |url=https://haemophilia.scot/2014/07/03/contaminated-blood-campaign-update-from-alistair-burt-mp-in-westminster/ |title=Contaminated Blood Campaign Update from Alistair Burt MP in Westminster | Haemophilia Scotland |access-date=7 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170108002010/https://haemophilia.scot/2014/07/03/contaminated-blood-campaign-update-from-alistair-burt-mp-in-westminster/ |archive-date=8 January 2017 |url-status=dead }} In November 2016, following his departure from a ministerial post he made a passionate speech to Parliament in order to layout events stating: "In June 2015, I was re-invited by the then Prime Minister to join the Government in the Department of Health, at which point I went quiet on campaigning as far as the public were concerned. I know that some people misinterpreted that. My position in the Department of Health was not conditional on the fact that I had been involved with contaminated blood, and neither was my position in the Foreign Office or my decision to leave the Department of Health of my own accord earlier this year. However, the ministerial convention is clear: Ministers say only what the Government's position is. We cannot have two colleagues firing away on the same issues, so I did indeed go quiet publicly for a period".{{citation needed|date=December 2018}}

In Theresa May's reshuffle following the 2017 election, Burt accepted his old post back at the Foreign Office. The role is a shared one, with Burt also being Minister in the Department for International Development. Burt resigned from government by voting for Oliver Letwin's amendment on 25 March 2019.{{cite news|url=https://www.bedfordindependent.co.uk/alistair-burt-mp-resigns-from-ministerial-role-over-brexit/|title=Alistair Burt MP resigns from ministerial role over Brexit|date=25 March 2019|work=Bedford Independent|access-date=25 March 2019}}

Burt defended the British involvement in the Saudi Arabian–led intervention in Yemen against the Shia Houthis."[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/uk-saudi-arabia-yemen-bombing-campaigns-mohammed-bin-salman-crown-prince-visit-theresa-may-cabinet-a8244136.html UK Government must be held accountable for children killed during Saudi Arabia's Yemen bombing, says Labour]". The Independent. 7 March 2018. He said that the United Kingdom "remains committed to supporting Saudi Arabia to address its legitimate security needs.""[https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/minister-for-the-middle-east-speech-on-the-situation-in-yemen Minister for the Middle East speech on the situation in Yemen]". Gov.uk. 20 November 2017.

{{Main|2019 suspension of rebel Conservative MPs}}

On 3 September 2019, Burt joined 20 other rebel Conservative MPs to vote against the Conservative government of Boris Johnson.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/sep/03/commons-showdown-looms-in-battle-over-no-deal-brexit-live?page=with%3Ablock-5d6ed2f58f0845a5dab7cc88|title=Boris Johnson to table motion for election after failed vote – as it happened|first1=Kate|last1=Lyons|first2=Kevin|last2=Rawlinson|first3=Andrew|last3=Sparrow|first4=Frances|last4=Perraudin|date=4 September 2019|via=www.theguardian.com}} The rebel MPs voted with the Opposition against a Conservative motion which subsequently failed. Effectively, they helped block Johnson's no-deal Brexit plan from proceeding on 31 October.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/09/04/parliament-whip-removed/|title=Boris Johnson to strip 21 Tory MPs of the Tory whip in parliamentary bloodbath|first=Anna|last=Mikhailova|newspaper=The Telegraph |date=4 September 2019|via=www.telegraph.co.uk}} Subsequently, all 21 were advised that they had lost the Conservative whip,{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-49578000|title=What is removing the whip, filibustering and other Brexit jargon?|website=BBC Newsbeat|date=4 September 2019|access-date=4 September 2019}} expelling them as Conservative MPs and requiring them to sit as independents.{{cite web |url=https://www.parliament.uk/about/mps-and-lords/principal/whips/ |title=Whips |website=Parliament.uk |access-date=4 September 2019}}{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/03/boris-johnson-suffers-commons-defeat-as-tories-turn-against-him |title=Boris Johnson to seek election after rebel Tories deliver Commons defeat |access-date=4 September 2019}} If they had decided to run for re-election in a future election, the party would have blocked their selection as Conservative candidates. Burt himself, however, decided that he would not seek re-election at the next general election. He was readmitted to the Conservative Party alongside nine other MPs on 29 October, before the general election took place,{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-50228946 |title=PM readmits 10 Brexit rebels to Tory party |date=29 October 2019 |work=BBC News |access-date=29 October 2019}} which he chose not to contest.{{cite news |url=https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2019-09-04/bedfordshire-s-rebel-mp-alistair-burt-to-stand-down-at-next-election/ |title=Bedfordshire's rebel MP Alistair Burt to stand down at next election |publisher=ITV News |date=4 September 2019 |access-date=30 May 2020}}

In 2009, Burt was found to have over-claimed for rent by £1,000, but was not required to return the money as he was not claiming expenses for food.{{cite news |title=Alistair Burt was permitted to keep rent overcame |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5348673/Alistair-Burt-was-permitted-to-keep-rent-overclaim.html |access-date=20 March 2015|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |location= London |date=19 May 2009}}

Burt married Eve Alexandra Twite in 1983 in Haringey. Burt is an active Christian. He enjoys athletics and football, and supports Bury F.C. He is a member of Biggleswade Athletics Club, and has run many London Marathons and Harrold Pit Runs.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}}

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

{{commons category|Alistair Burt}}

• [http://www.alistair-burt.co.uk Alistair Burt MP] official site
• [http://www.northeastbedsconservatives.com North East Bedfordshire Conservatives]
• [http://www.biggleswadeac.org.uk Biggleswade Athletics Club, official site]
• [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/40.stm BBC Politics page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080727015444/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/40.stm |date=27 July 2008 }}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110716062953/http://yourdemocracy.newstatesman.com/profile/alistair-burt Alistair Burt Profile] at New Statesman Your democracy
• {{UK MP links | parliament = alistair-burt/1201 | hansardcurr = 2385 | guardian = 6031/alistair-burt | publicwhip = alistair_burt | theywork = alistair_burt}}
• [https://fathomjournal.org/uk-strategy-in-the-middle-east-1-alistair-burt-on-the-uks-regional-role-is-policy-fit-for-purpose/ Fathom Journal – UK Strategy in the Middle East (1) | Alistair Burt on the UK’s regional role: is policy fit for purpose?]

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{{s-ttl|title = Member of Parliament for Bury North|years=1983–1997}}

{{s-aft|after=David Chaytor}}

{{s-bef|before=Nicholas Lyell}}

{{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament for North East Bedfordshire|years=2001–2019}}

{{s-aft|after=Richard Fuller}}

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{{s-bef|before=William Hague}}

{{s-ttl|title=Minister of State for Disabled|years=1995–1997}}

{{s-aft|after=Paul Boateng}}

{{s-bef|before=Ivan Lewis}}

{{s-ttl|title=Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs|years=2010–2013}}

{{s-aft|after=Hugh Robertson}}

{{s-bef|before=Norman Lamb}}

{{s-ttl|title=Minister of State for Community and Social Care|years=2015–2016}}

{{s-aft|after=Philip Dunne}}

{{s-bef|before=Tobias Ellwood}}

{{s-ttl|title=Minister of State for International Development|years=2016–2019}}

{{s-aft|after=Andrew Murrison}}

{{s-bef|before=James Wharton}}

{{s-ttl|title=Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs|years=2016–2019}}

{{s-aft|after=Andrew Murrison}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Burt, Alistair}}

Category:1955 births

Category:Living people

Category:Alumni of St John's College, Oxford

Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies

Category:Independent members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom

Category:Councillors in the London Borough of Haringey

Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom

Category:People educated at Bury Grammar School

Category:People from Bury, Greater Manchester

Category:UK MPs 1983–1987

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Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Bury North