By Tony O’Reilly-
Tory MP Bob Stewart(pictured) has been charged with two public order offences after allegedly telling an activist to “go back to Bahrain”.
The MP for Beckenham, in south London, is due in court next month.
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Police on Monday charged the 73-year-old with using “racially aggravated threatening or abusive words or behaviour or disorderly behaviour” and using “threatening or abusive words or behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress”.
Mr Stewart will not be suspended from the Conservative Party while he fights the charges against him, the party confirmed on Monday afternoon.
The allegation relates to a confrontation with human rights campaigner Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei outside the Foreign Office’s Lancaster House building in Belgravia on Wednesday, December 14, 2022.
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The Director of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy had challenged Mr Stewart over donations from the Bahraini government.
He complained to police after Mr Stewart allegedly told him to “get stuffed” and to “go back to Bahrain”.
Mr Alwadaei, 36, says he was tortured after taking part in anti-government protests in the country in 2011.
Mr Stewart, a former NATO military commander who served in Bosnia, was elected in 2010 and serves on a number of parliamentary committees, including the Intelligence and Security Committee.
The fact a tory MP has been charged with aggravated racism could undermine public confidence in their ability to represent the diverse needs and values of their constituents. It can also amplify existing concerns about racial bias within political institutions and reinforce the idea that discrimination persists within the political elite.
Concerns have also been expressed that the alleged incident may further alienate minority communities, eroding the public’s trust in the Conservative Party as a whole.
The Mp is in principle innocent until proven guilty.
A date for the case is yet to be announced.
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