- Bob Stewart (British Army officer)
-
Bob Stewart DSO MP Member of Parliament
for BeckenhamIncumbent Assumed office
6 May 2010Preceded by Jacqui Lait Majority 17,784 (37.3%) Personal details Born 7 July 1949 Nationality British Political party Conservative Military service Allegiance 
United KingdomService/branch 
British Army
United Nations Protection ForceYears of service 1969–1996 Rank Colonel Commands 1st Battalion, Cheshire Regiment Battles/wars The Troubles (Operation Banner)
Bosnian War (Operation Grapple)Colonel Robert Alexander "Bob" Stewart DSO (born 7 July 1949) is a former British Army officer, former United Nations commander in Bosnia,[2] commentator, author, public speaker[3] and Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Beckenham constituency in South-East London since the 2010 general election.
Contents
Education
Stewart was educated at Chigwell School,[4][5] an independent boarding school in Chigwell in the Epping Forest area of Essex, followed by the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst near Camberley in Surrey. He spent part of his childhood in Cyprus.[6]
Early life
Born to a father serving in the military, Stewart was selected for officer training at the age of seventeen, and after two years of training at RMA Sandhurst was commissioned in to 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 degree in International Politics at the University 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 Ulster
From 1977 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 1 CHESHIRE, with an intermediate period spent at RMA Sandhurst as an instructor.[9][12] During his career in Ulster 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]
Bosnia
He went on to a series of appointments over the coming years. He served in the Ministry of Defence, and was second in command of an infantry battalion. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel on 31 December 1987,[15] and served as a military attaché to the NATO military committee in Brussels.[16] In March 1991 he assumed command of 1st Battalion, Cheshire Regiment,[17] 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.[18] 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.[19] During his time in Bosnia he discovered the Ahmići massacre in which 103 people were killed.[20] He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order on 12 June 1993 on his return to the United Kingdom.[21] He was promoted colonel on 31 December 1993,[22] 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.[23]
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 Common.[24] 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".[25]
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.[26] Recently, he has condemned the treatment of injured soldiers, accusing the MOD of acting with "the speed of a striking sloth."[2][27][28] and also accused the government of repeatedly refusing the requests of army commanders for more troops and more helicopters in Afghanistan.[29]
Political career
On 28 July 2009, it was revealed that he 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[30] and Congleton,[31] however the final shortlists for Macclesfield and for Congleton from Conservative Central Office did not contain his name. In autumn 2009 he was shortlisted for Beckenham, one of the safest Conservative seats in the country,[32] and on 6 December it was announced that he had been selected as Conservative candidate there, winning an overall majority on the second ballot.[33]
At the 2010 general election on 6 May, Stewart was elected as the MP for Beckenham.[34]
See also
Notes
- ^ "Bob Stewart MP". BBC Democracy Live (BBC). http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/representatives/profiles/83527.stm. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
- ^ a b Waller, Martin (20 July 2009). "Can Colonel Bob conquer books on business?". The Times (London). http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/article6732402.ece?openComment=true. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
- ^ "Bob Stewart". http://www.nyt.co.uk/bob-stewart.htm. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
- ^ Chigwell School site
- ^ Independent Schools Guide
- ^ a b http://conservativehome.blogs.com/parliament/2010/08/bob-stewart-mp-answers-conhomes-twenty-questions-for-the-class-of-2010.html
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 44923. pp. 8768–8769. 22 August 1969. Retrieved 7 August 2009.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 45287. p. 914. 26 January 1971. Retrieved 7 August 2009.
- ^ a b c d "Bob Stewart". CMM. http://www.cmmol.net/bob_stewart.htm. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
- ^ "Aberystwyth at Westminster". Aberystwyth Unibersity. http://www.aber.ac.uk/en/news/archive/2010/05/title-85880-en.html. Retrieved 2010-10-29.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 46644. p. 9643. 28 July 1975. Retrieved 7 August 2009.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 48770. pp. 13261–13263. 19 October 1981. Retrieved 7 August 2009.
- ^ "Decorated Colonel speaks at RGU". http://google.com/search?q=cache:SC0WWPeTlj4J:www.rgu.ac.uk/pressrel/Leadership%2520lecture.doc+colonel+bob+stewart+ballykelly&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
- ^ "HC Deb c216". Hansard. 26 May 2010. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm100526/debtext/100526-0011.htm#10052612000826. Retrieved 2011-09-27.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 51194. pp. 303–304. 11 January 1988. Retrieved 7 August 2009.
- ^ "Desert Rats ready after rehearsal in bandit country". The Times (London). 16 September 1992.
- ^ Stephen Badsey, Paul Chester Latawski. Routledge. 2004. p. 35. ISBN 0714651907. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Kxfg1HiHdqIC&pg=PA35.
- ^ "Suits you, sirs! Natty knights welcome deal to save legendary tailor from the final cut". http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-1202793/Suits-sirs-Our-natty-knights-welcome-deal-save-legendary-tailor.html. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
- ^ Alastair Finlan (2004). The Collapse of Yugoslavia 1991-1999. Osprey Publishing. p. 56. ISBN 1841768057. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Y7mwpWxqXIUC&pg=PA56.
- ^ "Ahmici sentences 'are just a start'". BBC News. 2000-01-14. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/603992.stm. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 53333. p. 30. 11 June 1993. Retrieved 7 August 2009.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 53537. p. 20680. 31 December 1993. Retrieved 7 August 2009.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 54308. p. 1801. 5 February 1996. Retrieved 7 August 2009.
- ^ Russell Jenkins, Carol Midgley, "Bell's first dispatch from the front line", The Times, 9 April 1997, p. 1.
- ^ Martin Bell's campaign diary, The Guardian (Manchester); 6 May 1997, p. T2.
- ^ Brady, Brian; Owen, Jonathan (26 July 2009). "Revealed: £12bn hidden costs of Afghan war". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/revealed-16312bn-hidden-costs-of-afghan-war-1761469.html. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
- ^ Kirkup, James; Simpson, Aislinn; Britten, Nick (29 July 2009). "2,500 wounded British soldiers waiting for compensation, figures show". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/5926558/2500-wounded-British-soldiers-waiting-for-compensation-figures-show.html. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
- ^ Howie, Michael (31 July 2009). "Disclose full horror of our boys' injuries". The Scotsman (Edinburgh). http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/39Disclose-full-horror-of-our.5511524.jp. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
- ^ "Helicopters 'do not end war risk'". BBC News. 2009-07-12. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8146546.stm. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
- ^ "Winterton's possible successor - six hopefuls revealed". http://www.macclesfield-express.co.uk/news/s/1149704_wintertons_possible_successor__six_hopefuls_revealed. Retrieved 2009-09-30.
- ^ "Middlewich candidates aim to start a new era for Tories". http://www.middlewichguardian.co.uk/news/4752134._It_will_be_the_end_of_an_era_/. Retrieved 2009-11-24.
- ^ "Col Bob Stewart accepted as Conservative candidate". The Daily Telegraph (London). 28 July 2009. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jameskirkup/100004912/col-bob-stewart-accepted-as-conservative-candidate/. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
- ^ "Bob Stewart selected for Beckenham". ConservativeHome. 6 December 2009. http://conservativehome.blogs.com/goldlist/2009/12/somebody-will-inherit-the-safest-tory-seat-in-the-country-this-afternoon.html.
- ^ "Beckenham Conservative: Bob Stewart". The Guardian (London). 7 May 2010. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/constituency/698/beckenham. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
References
- Stephen Badsey, Paul Chester Latawski, Britain, NATO, and the lessons of the Balkan conflicts, 1991-1999 (Sandhurst Conference, 2004) ISBN 978-0-7146-5190-3
- Alistair Finlan, The Collapse of Yugoslavia 1991-1999 (Osprey, 2004) ISBN 978-1-84176-805-2
External links
- Bob Stewart MP Conservative Party profile
- Beckenham Conservatives
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
- Electoral history and profile at The Guardian
- Voting record at PublicWhip.org
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou.com
- Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
- Profile at BBC News Democracy Live
- Articles authored at Journalisted
Parliament of the United Kingdom Preceded by
Jacqui LaitMember of Parliament for Beckenham
2010–presentIncumbent Categories:- 1949 births
- Living people
- Sandhurst graduates
- United Nations operations in the former Yugoslavia
- Anglo-Scots
- English people of Scottish descent
- Cheshire Regiment officers
- Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
- People of the Bosnian War
- Conservative Party (UK) MPs
- Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies
- UK MPs 2010–
- People of The Troubles (Northern Ireland)
- Alumni of Aberystwyth University
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