Tory MP Bob Stewart surrenders whip whereas he appeals racial abuse conviction
Tory MP Bob Stewart has surrendered the Conservative whip whereas he considers an enchantment in opposition to his conviction for a racially-aggravated public order offence.
The Beckenham MP has knowledgeable chief whip Simon Hart, in line with a authorities supply.
Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats had referred to as for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to take motion over the “totally unacceptable” behaviour of the backbencher.
Stewart, who will now sit as an impartial within the Commons, was found guilty of racially abusing an activist by telling him to “go back to Bahrain”.
The 74-year-old former military officer was fined £600, with extra authorized prices bringing the whole to £1,435, by chief Justice of the Peace Paul Goldspring on Friday.
The courtroom heard the MP had change into concerned in a confrontation with a protester outdoors the Foreign Office’s Lancaster House in Westminster in December 2022.
He had been attending an occasion hosted by the Bahraini embassy when Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei shouted: “Bob Stewart, for how much did you sell yourself to the Bahraini regime?”
During an ensuing row, Mr Stewart stated: “Go away, I hate you. You make a lot of fuss. Go back to Bahrain.”
He additionally informed Mr Alwadaei: “You’re taking money off my country, go away.”
Stewart was discovered responsible of racially abusing Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei
While highlighting Stewart’s “immense positive character”, Mr Goldspring stated: “I accept he is not racist per se, but that is not the case against him.
“Good males can do unhealthy issues.”
Stewart told the court that he was “not a racist” and that it had been “extraordinarily offensive” for the demonstrator to suggest he was “corrupt”.
He argued his “honour was at stake in entrance of a lot of ambassadors”.
The military veteran, who was stationed in Bahrain in 1969, said he is a “pal” of the Middle Eastern nation.