Bob Stewart (politician)

Colonel Robert Alexander Stewart, DSO (born 7 July 1949) is a British politician and Member of Parliament (MP) for Beckenham since 2010. A member of the Conservative Party, he also is a former British Army officer and United Nations commander in Bosnia,[4] commentator, author and public speaker.[5]

This article is about the Member of Parliament for Beckenham. For other people with the same name, see Bob Stewart.

Colonel

Bob Stewart

DSO MP
Stewart in 2020
Member of Parliament
for Beckenham
Assumed office
6 May 2010[1]
Preceded byJacqui Lait
Majority14,258 (28.2%)
Personal details
Born
Robert Alexander Stewart[2]

(1949-07-07) 7 July 1949[3]
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Alma materRoyal Military Academy Sandhurst
Websitewww.bobstewart.org.uk
Military service
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Branch/serviceBritish Army
Years of service1967–1996
RankColonel
Commands1st Battalion, Cheshire Regiment
Battles/warsThe Troubles

Bosnian War

AwardsDistinguished Service Order

Early life

Stewart was born on 7 July 1949 to a father serving in the military. He was privately educated at Chigwell School, followed by the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst near Camberley in Surrey. He spent part of his childhood in Cyprus.[6]

Military career

Stewart was selected for officer training at the age of seventeen, and after two years of training, and at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, was commissioned into the Cheshire Regiment as a second lieutenant on 25 July 1969.[7] He was promoted to lieutenant on 25 January 1971.[8] In 1974 he undertook an in-service Bachelor's degree in International Politics at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, graduating with first class honours.[9][10] He was promoted captain on 25 July 1975.[11] He guarded Rudolf Hess in Spandau Prison, Berlin.[6]

Career in Northern Ireland

From 1977 Stewart served in Northern Ireland both as intelligence officer and, after attending Staff College, Camberley and promotion to major on 30 September 1981, company commander of A Company 1st Battalion Cheshire Regiment, with an intermediate period spent at Sandhurst as an instructor.[9][12] During his time in Northern Ireland he was the Incident Commander at the Droppin Well bombing in Ballykelly which killed seventeen people.[13] Stewart heard the explosion and arrived at the scene two or three minutes later. Six of the dead soldiers were from his company, including his clerk and storeman.[14] He received a personal commendation from the general commanding in Northern Ireland for his actions on the day.[9]

In 2017 Stewart spoke of using[15] and authorising now forbidden deep-interrogation techniques during his time in Northern Ireland.[16]

Bosnia

Stewart served in the Ministry of Defence, and was second-in-command of an infantry battalion. He was promoted lieutenant colonel on 31 December 1987,[17] and served as a military attaché to the NATO military committee in Brussels.[18] In March 1991 he assumed command of the 1st Battalion, Cheshire Regiment,[19] and as commanding officer returned to Northern Ireland for a further two operational tours and then became the first British Commander of United Nations forces in Bosnia from September 1992 to May 1993. It was as commanding officer in Bosnia, as part of Operation Grapple, that he earned the nickname "Bosnia Bob" and became something of a media personality.[20]

During his time in Bosnia he discovered the Ahmići massacre in which 103 people had been killed.[21] He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order on 12 June 1993 on his return to the United Kingdom.[22] He was promoted colonel on 31 December 1993,[23] and went on to take up the position of Chief of Policy at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe,[9] before officially retiring from the army on 1 February 1996.[24]

Career after the army

In 1997 Stewart took three weeks' leave from the public relations company Hill & Knowlton to help his friend Martin Bell who was standing for Parliament in Tatton as an Independent candidate. Stewart was alongside Bell when they were confronted by the sitting Conservative Member of Parliament for the constituency, Neil Hamilton and his wife Christine on Knutsford Heath.[25] Bell, who was opposing Hamilton as a result of accusations that Hamilton had accepted money for promoting causes in Parliament, gave Stewart the credit for defining his criticism of Hamilton as having already admitted to "conduct unbecoming".[26]

Since leaving the army Stewart has become a well-known commentator upon military and political affairs, frequently commenting upon the defence policy of the British Government and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.[27] In 2009 he condemned the system compensating injured soldiers, accusing the MOD of acting with "the speed of a striking sloth".[4][28][29] He also accused the government of repeatedly refusing the requests of army commanders for more troops and more helicopters in Afghanistan.[30]

Political career

On 28 July 2009, it was revealed that Stewart had been approved to put himself forward for selection to constituency associations as a PPC for the Conservative Party. As the former commander of the Cheshire Regiment he was linked to the safe Conservative East Cheshire seats of Macclesfield and Congleton,[31][32] however the final shortlists for Macclesfield and for Congleton from Conservative Central Office did not contain his name. In summer 2009 he was shortlisted for Beckenham, one of the safest Conservative seats in the country,[33] and on 6 December it was announced that he had been selected as Conservative candidate there, winning an overall majority on the second ballot.[34]

At the 2010 general election on 6 May, Stewart was elected as the new MP for Beckenham.[35][36]

In 2013, Stewart voted against same-sex marriage and called on the then Prime Minister David Cameron to drop the proposal.[37] Five years later in May 2018 he apologised unreservedly in the House of Commons chamber for voting against same-sex Marriage, after he had seen "the joy" it had brought to the lives of same-sex couples. In 2019, he voted to extend same-sex marriage to couples in Northern Ireland.[38]

Stewart served on the House of Commons Defence Select Committee and in May 2014 he was one of seven unsuccessful candidates for the chairmanship of the committee.[39]

Stewart has been vocal in criticising cuts to the defence budget, suggesting in March 2015, that if the Joint Chiefs of Staff were to resign over the issue it would "make a very powerful message". When asked if he would resign as an MP himself, he said that he was considering it.[40]

In 2016, Stewart was criticised after it was revealed he had described Isabel Hardman, The Spectator's assistant editor, as "totty". He later apologised to the journalist, but went on to publicly defend himself against an environment that he described as overly 'politically correct'.[41][42]

Stewart's seat was a target seat for the Liberal Democrats at both the 2017 and 2019 general election, following his open support of Brexit.[43] At the snap 2017 general election, Stewart held his seat with an increased vote share of two percent. But in 2019, his vote share fell by 5.4% as the Liberal Democrats doubled theirs, although still only achieving third place behind Labour.[44]

In the House of Commons Stewart sits on the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee[45] and has previously sat on the Committees on Arms Export Controls and Defence Sub-Committee.[46]

Stewart employs his wife as a Senior Parliamentary Assistant.[47] He was listed in an article in The Daily Telegraph criticising the practice of MPs employing family members, on the lines that it promotes nepotism. Although MPs who were first elected in 2017 have been banned from employing family members, the restriction is not retrospective – meaning that Stewart's employment of his wife is lawful.[48]

During an interview with Russia Today that followed the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, Stewart suggested that teachers in American high schools may have to be armed.[49]

In March 2020, Stewart was accused of fuelling xenophobia after he described COVID-19 as a "foul Chinese illness" in a Facebook post. Stewart said: "My grandfather died of Spanish flu in 1919 and I used the word Chinese Flu in respect of where the virus originated. As a constituent emailed me and thought I was being rude about the Chinese I deleted the word 'Chinese' because that was not my intention."[50]

Personal life

Stewart lives in Beckenham in London. He has six children and is married to Claire Podbielski, whom Stewart met whilst he was commanding British forces in Bosnia in 1993.

See also

References
  1. "Bob Stewart". members.parliament.uk.
  2. "No. 61961". The London Gazette. 19 June 2017. p. 11776.
  3. "Bob Stewart MP". BBC Democracy Live. BBC. Archived from the original on 10 May 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  4. Waller, Martin (20 July 2009). "Can Colonel Bob conquer books on business?". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  5. "Bob Stewart". Now You're Talking. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  6. "Bob Stewart MP answers ConHome's Twenty Questions for the Class of 2010". 18 January 2013. Archived from the original on 18 January 2013. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
  7. "No. 44923". The London Gazette (Supplement). 22 August 1969. pp. 8768–8769.
  8. "No. 45287". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 January 1971. p. 914.
  9. "Bob Stewart". CMM. Archived from the original on 1 June 2009. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  10. "Aberystwyth at Westminster". Aberystwyth University. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2010.
  11. "No. 46644". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 July 1975. p. 9643.
  12. "No. 48770". The London Gazette (Supplement). 19 October 1981. pp. 13261–13263.
  13. "Decorated Colonel speaks at RGU". Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  14. "HC Deb c216". Hansard. 26 May 2010. Archived from the original on 21 November 2011. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  15. "MP was 'kind of torturer' in Troubles". 27 January 2017. Archived from the original on 3 December 2019. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  16. "Conservative MP Bob Stewart 'was kind of torturer' during Troubles". BBC News. 27 January 2017. Archived from the original on 25 April 2017. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  17. "No. 51194". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 January 1988. pp. 303–304.
  18. "Desert Rats ready after rehearsal in bandit country". The Times. London. 16 September 1992.
  19. Badsey & Latawski 2004, p. 35.
  20. Finlan 2004, p. 56.
  21. "Ahmici sentences 'are just a start'". BBC News. 14 January 2000. Archived from the original on 5 April 2003. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  22. "No. 53333". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 1993. p. 30.
  23. "No. 53537". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1993. p. 20680.
  24. "No. 54308". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 February 1996. p. 1801.
  25. Jenkins, Russell; Midgley, Carol (9 April 1997). "Bell's first dispatch from the front line". The Times. London. p. 1.
  26. "Martin Bell's campaign diary". The Guardian. Manchester. 6 May 1997.
  27. Brady, Brian; Owen, Jonathan (26 July 2009). "Revealed: £12bn hidden costs of Afghan war". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 30 July 2009. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  28. Kirkup, James; Simpson, Aislinn; Britten, Nick (29 July 2009). "2,500 wounded British soldiers waiting for compensation, figures show". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 1 August 2009. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  29. Howie, Michael (31 July 2009). "Disclose full horror of our boys' injuries". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. Archived from the original on 3 August 2009. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  30. "Helicopters 'do not end war risk'". BBC News. 12 July 2009. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  31. "Winterton's possible successor – six hopefuls revealed". Macclesfield Express. Archived from the original on 2 October 2009. Retrieved 30 September 2009.
  32. Morgan, David (21 November 2009). "Middlewich candidates aim to start a new era for Tories". Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2009.
  33. "Col Bob Stewart accepted as Conservative candidate". The Daily Telegraph. London. 28 July 2009. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  34. "Bob Stewart selected for Beckenham". ConservativeHome. 6 December 2009. Archived from the original on 8 December 2009. Retrieved 6 December 2009.
  35. "Bob Stewart MP, Beckenham – TheyWorkForYou". TheyWorkForYou. Archived from the original on 31 August 2018. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  36. "Election 2010 | Constituency | Beckenham". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  37. "Voting record - Bob Stewart MP, Beckenham". TheyWorkForYou. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  38. "Tory MP apologises for voting against equal marriage: 'I was wrong'". PinkNews. 17 May 2018. Archived from the original on 12 November 2019. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  39. "Defence Committee Chair election: Rory Stewart MP elected" (PDF). parliament.uk. 14 May 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 May 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  40. Morris, Nigel (4 March 2015). "Col Bob Stewart: Defence chiefs 'should resign over Army cuts'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 13 April 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  41. "Tory MP Bob Stewart breaks his silence on 'totty' row". TotalPolitics.com. 14 April 2016.
  42. "MP apologises for calling female political journalist 'totty'". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  43. "Lib Dems Gunning for Beckenham". Bromley Times. 10 January 2017. Archived from the original on 16 January 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
  44. "Beckenham parliamentary constituency – Election 2017". BBC News. Archived from the original on 22 October 2018. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  45. "Northern Ireland Affairs Committee Committee membership at the end of Parliament 2017-19 - News from Parliament". UK Parliament. Archived from the original on 12 November 2019. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  46. "Bob Stewart". Parliament UK. Archived from the original on 28 August 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  47. "IPSA". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 28 August 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  48. Cecil, Nicholas (21 April 2017). "MPs banned from employing spouses after election in expenses crackdown". Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  49. "WATCH Tory MP Bob Stewart says arming US teachers 'should be considered'". PoliticsHome.com. 2 March 2018. Archived from the original on 12 November 2019. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  50. Wearmouth, Rachel (31 March 2020). "Tory MP Bob Stewart Calls Coronavirus 'Foul Chinese Illness' In Facebook Post". HuffPost UK. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
Bibliography
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Jacqui Lait		 Member of Parliament for Beckenham
2010–present		 Incumbent
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