Tory MP found guilty of racial abuse resigns whip to fight conviction
Bob Stewart has surrendered the Conservative whip while he considers an appeal of his conviction for a racially aggravated public order offence, a Government source has said.
The Beckenham MP was found guilty at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday of racially abusing an activist by telling him to ‘go back to Bahrain’.
Labour and the Liberal Democrats led calls for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to act against the ‘totally unacceptable’ behaviour of the 74-year-old Conservative backbencher.
A Government source said on Saturday that Mr Stewart has informed Chief Whip Simon Hart that he wishes to surrender the party whip until a possible appeal of his conviction is resolved.
Stewart got into a row with activist Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei outside the Foreign Office’s Lancaster House in Westminster, on December 14 last year.
He had been attending an event hosted by the Bahrani embassy when Mr Alwadaei shouted: ‘Bob Stewart, for how much did you sell yourself to the Bahraini regime?’
He told the activist: ‘You’re taking money off my country, go away.’
During the heated exchange, he added: ‘Go away, I hate you.’
In footage played during a trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, he also said: ‘Now shut up, you stupid man.’
The Metropolitan Police launched an investigation into the incident after a complaint was made by Mr Alwadaei, who has said he was living in exile after being tortured in the Gulf state.
Mr Alwadaei alleged Bahrain was ‘corrupt’ and a ‘human rights violator’, during the one-day trial.
The activist was asked during the hearing how he felt following the confrontation with the MP.
He said: ‘I feel that I was dehumanised, like I was someone who is not welcomed in the UK.
‘Because of my skin colour, because of where I came from, he feels I am taking money from his country.’
He claimed if he returned to Bahrain he would ‘undoubtedly be killed and tortured’.
In response to the accusation, Stewart said it was ‘absurd’ and ‘totally unfair’, stating he was ‘not a racist’.
He said: ‘My life has been, I don’t want to say destroyed, but I am deeply hurt at having to appear in a court like this.’
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