Alistair Burt

The Right Honourable Alistair Burt
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
In office 13 May 2010 – 7 October 2013
Preceded by	Ivan Lewis
Succeeded by	Hugh Robertson
Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party for Development
In office January 2008 – 13 May 2010
Minister of State for Social Security (Minister for the Disabled)
In office 5 July 1995 – 4 May 1997
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	William Hague
Succeeded by	Paul Boateng
Member of Parliament for North East Bedfordshire
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 June 2001
Preceded by	Nicholas Lyell
Majority	18,942 (34.1%)
Member of Parliament for Bury North
In office 9 June 1983 – 1 May 1997
Preceded by	Constituency Created
Succeeded by	David Chaytor
Personal details
Born	(1955-05-25) 25 May 1955 Bury, Lancashire, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Eve Alexandra Twite
Residence	Wootton, Bedfordshire
Alma mater	St John's College, Oxford
Website	www.alistair-burt.co.uk

Alistair James Hendrie Burt (born 25 May 1955) is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Bedfordshire.^[1] Burt was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State then Minister of State at the Department of Social Security from 1992 to 1997, and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 2010 to 2013.

Early life

Alistair Burt was born in Bury, Lancashire, and was educated at the Bury Grammar School,^[1] where he was appointed Head Boy in 1973, and St John's College, Oxford where he was elected president of the Oxford Law Society in 1976 and graduated with a degree in jurisprudence law in 1977. 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.

Early parliamentary career

He was elected as a councillor to the Haringey Borough Council in 1982 and left the council in 1984.^[1] He contested the new seat of Bury North at the 1983 general election at which he was elected as the Conservative MP for Bury North with a majority of 2,792 votes. He represented the seat until 1997 and returned to parliament again in 2001.^[1]

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.^[1] After 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.^[1] 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 1997-2001 he worked at executive search firm Whitehead Mann GKR.^[2]

Alistair Burt re-entered parliament at the 2001 general election for the very safe Conservative seat of Bedfordshire North East which had been represented in parliament by the former Attorney General Nicholas Lyell who had retired. Burt was elected with a majority of 8,577, and has remained as an MP since. He was made an opposition spokesman on Education and Skills under William Hague in 2001, before he became the PPS to the Leader of the Opposition Iain Duncan Smith in 2002 and carried on as PPS to the new leader Michael Howard.^[1] After the 2005 general election he rejoined the front bench and was a spokesman on Local Government Affairs and Communities.^[1] 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 lobby group, 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 Israeli hostage Gilad Shalit.^[3] He is a member of the Political Council of the Henry Jackson Society.^[4] He is also a founder and was the 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.^[5] He is a Vice-President of the Tory Reform Group.^[6]

Ministerial career

Burt was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State then Minister of State at the Department of Social Security from 1992 to 1997.^[1]

Burt meeting the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces on 5 September 2013

Burt was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on 14 May 2010.^[1] His roles there included overseeing Syria policy for three years that included the start of the Syrian Civil War,^[7][8] and leading on Israeli issues for the government at the United Nations.^[9] 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.^[7][10] He stepped down on 7 October 2013.^[11] Burt was responsible for FCO policy on:^[12]

• 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.^[13]

Later parliamentary career

As a former minister, he argued 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".^[8] In June 2014 Burt called the lack of intervention in Syria "a disaster".^[14]

Alistair Burt is the Convenor of the Top Level Group of UK Parliamentarians for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation.

Funding and Expenses

The North East Bedfordshire Constituency Association has received £34,911.93 in donations since 2005. Burt has received a variety of corporate donations from conservative groups, the largest of which was £32,071.93 from The Association of Conservative Clubs Ltd in 2005.^[15]

In 2009 Burt was found to have over-claimed for rent by £1000, but was not required to return the money as he was not claiming expenses for food^[16]

Personal life

Burt married Eve Alexandra Twite in 1983 in Haringey, and they have two children. Eve works as the MP office manager for Alistair Burt.^[17] He is an active Christian.^[18] 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.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alistair Burt.

• Alistair Burt MP official site
• North East Bedfordshire Conservatives
• Biggleswade Athletics Club, official site
• BBC Politics page
• Alistair Burt Profile at New Statesman Your democracy
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Current session contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Electoral history and profile at The Guardian
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou