closeicon
News

Aidan Burley in hot water again

articlemain

French prosecutors announced on Wednesday that they had opened a formal investigation into a Nazi-themed stag party. A British MP who attended it lost his parliamentary job as a result.

Aidan Burley was sacked as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Transport Secretary Justine Greening after it emerged that a guest wore SS uniform at the ski-resort party in Val Thorens late last year, while others allegedly toasted the Third Reich.

Conservative Party headquarters said that its own inquiry would be published by the end of the month.

Mr Burley apologised but ran into trouble again this week after being accused of being disrespectful during a Holocaust survivor's testimony.

Mr Burley was on a two-day private visit to Auschwitz and other sites in Poland with Dr James Smith, founder of the Beth Shalom Holocaust Centre in Nottinghamshire. During the visit he joined pupils from Oldham Sixth Form College, whose teacher, Dr Suzannah Reeves, is also a Labour councillor.

Dr Reeves' pupils complained that Mr Burley had been "texting and dozing" during a concentration camp survivor's talk.

A friend of Mr Burley's denied that he had failed to stay awake, but admitted that he might have "briefly answered an urgent message from London".

Share via

Want more from the JC?

To continue reading, we just need a few details...

Want more from
the JC?

To continue reading, we just
need a few details...

Get the best news and views from across the Jewish world Get subscriber-only offers from our partners Subscribe to get access to our e-paper and archive