Simon Burns

Sir Simon Hugh McGuigan Burns (born 6 September 1952) is a British politician, who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Chelmsford since being elected at the 1987 general election until the 2017 general election. Burns resigned from being Minister of State for Transport in October 2013 to stand in the First Deputy Chairmen of Ways and Means by-election following the resignation of Deputy Speaker Nigel Evans.Returned to Parliament as a Conservative MP in the 2015 election, he was knighted in the 2015 Birthday Honours. Burns announced in January 2016 that he would not be standing at the next general election, reaffirmed when the 2017 general election was declared.