Top Tory Lee Anderson backs fundraising appeal campaign for ‘war hero’ party MP Bob Stewart after ex-army officer, 74,was convicted of racially abusing political activist by telling him to ‘go back to Bahrain’

• Bob Stewart, MP for Beckenham voluntarily surrendered the Tory party whip
• He was convicted of a racially aggravated public order offence on Friday  

A top Tory has backed a fundraising campaign to help a party MP convicted of racist abuse launch an appeal.

Conservative Party chairman Lee Anderson has urged people to back the crowdfunding effort for ‘war hero’ Bob Stewart.

The 74-year-old former British Army colonel, who was decorated for his service in Bosnia, was found guilty at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday of racially abusing an activist by telling him to ‘go back to Bahrain’ at a protest.

The Beckenham MP later surrendered the Conservative whip while he considers an appeal, meaning he will sit as an independent in the House of Commons.

Writing on X, Mr Anderson said Col Stewart was ‘a friend and war hero’ and a drinking buddy who had ‘seen things in battle that no other person would want to see’.

‘He has served his country and been decorated at the highest level for bravery,’ he added.

‘This man is now deemed a criminal in his 70s after a lifetime of public service. His legal bills are huge so please can you help? 

Colonel Bob Stewart, MP for Beckenham, pictured outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday, has surrendered the Tory Party whip after being convicted of a racially aggravated public order offence

Writing on X, Mr Anderson said Col Stewart was ‘a friend and war hero’ and a drinking buddy who had ‘ seen things in battle that no other person would want to see’.

‘He has served his country and been decorated at the highest level for bravery,’ he added.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats led calls for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to act against the ‘totally unacceptable’ behaviour outlined in court.

On Friday, Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring found Mr Stewart guilty of a racially aggravated public order offence and handed him a fine of £600, with additional legal costs bringing the total to £1,435.

It came after the court had been told that the MP had become embroiled in a row with a protester outside the Foreign Office’s Lancaster House in Westminster on December 14 last year.

Mr Stewart had been attending an event hosted by the Bahraini embassy when Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei shouted ‘Bob Stewart, for how much did you sell yourself to the Bahraini regime?’.

During a heated exchange, Mr Stewart replied: ‘Go away, I hate you. You make a lot of fuss. Go back to Bahrain.’

He also told Mr Alwadaei: ‘You’re taking money off my country, go away!’

He was found guilty of abusing Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei by telling him to ‘go back to Bahrain’ and ‘you’re taking money off my country, go away!’ 

Mr Alwadaei told the court that he was there because he had been beaten and tortured in Bahrain during the Arab Spring and said if he did return, he would ‘undoubtedly be killed and tortured’.

He claimed Stewart had gone on trips to Bahrain funded by the Bahraini regime and said Stewart’s comments had made him feel ‘not safe’. He said he felt ‘dehumanised’ and ‘not welcomed in the UK.’

Mr Goldspring, despite mentioning Mr Stewart’s ‘immense positive character’, remarked: ‘I accept he is not racist per se, but that is not the case against him.

‘Good men can do bad things.’

After giving his verdict at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, he fined the MP £600, with additional legal costs bringing the total to £1,435. He said Stewart will not be jailed. 

The MP told the court that he is ‘not a racist’ and that it had been ‘extremely offensive’ for the demonstrator to suggest he was ‘corrupt’.

Mr Stewart, a former British Army officer who was stationed in Bahrain in 1969, said he is a ‘friend’ of the Middle Eastern country.

He went on: ‘I’ve spent my whole life in a way defending minorities and people of different colours.’

Following his conviction, Labour Party chairwoman Anneliese Dodds said Mr Sunak ‘urgently needs to get his house in order’ and remove the whip from Mr Stewart after his ‘totally unacceptable’ behaviour.

Lib Dem chief whip Wendy Chamberlain had warned that failing to remove the whip would ‘send a dangerous message that behaviour like this is acceptable’.

What is the whip and what does losing it mean for an MP? 

Most MPs in Westminster are members of a political party and are said to hold that party’s whip. 

The chief whip is the enforcer of discipline among the ranks of backbenchers. They inform individual MPs which way they should vote at a particular division and when they should be in parliament. 

Losing the whip is the strongest sanction a party has against an individual MP. 

Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock lost the Tory Party whip after he went to Australia to participate in ‘I’m a Celebrity’. 

When an MP loses the whip, they are suspended from the party and continue to sit in Westminster as an independent. 

For a Tory MP it also means they are no longer members of the 1922 Committee who have the power, through the writing of letters, to sack their leader. 

When an MP loses their party whip they can continue to sit on the green benches as an independent. There are currently 18 independent MPs at Westminster 

Importantly, by losing the whip, an MP is unlikely to be allowed to run for election as a candidate for their former party, unless the chief whip readmits them. 

MPs can lose the whip for failing to vote at an important vote – described confusingly as a three-line whip. 

An MP who is not available for a three-line whip can ask the chief whip for permission who will try and ‘pair’ them with an opposing MP who also cannot attend. 

Including Mr Stewart, there are currently 18 MPs who are sitting as independents, including the likes of Jeremy Corbyn and Dianne Abbott. 

Recently they were joined by Crispin Blunt and Peter Bone. 

Andrew Bridgen had previously lost the Tory Party whip but joined the Reclaim Party and currently sits as their sole MP.  

 

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