Edmund Burke PC (12 January [NS] 1729 – 9 July 1797) is an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, serves for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party.

He is mainly remembered for his support of the cause of the American Revolutionaries, and for his later opposition to the French Revolution.

The latter leads to his becoming the leading figure within the conservative faction of the Whig party, which he dubs the "Old Whigs", in opposition to the pro–French Revolution "New Whigs", led by Charles James Fox.

Since the 20th century, Burke has generally been viewed as the philosophical founder of modern Conservatism, as well as a representative of classical liberalism.