Conservative MP Bob Stewart asks the activist to return to Bahrain

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The Metropolitan Police are investigating an allegation of racial abuse after Conservative MP Bob Stewart told an activist to “go back to Bahrain” during an angry confrontation.

Scotland Yard said officers opened a case after the complaint was made by Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, who also reported the comments made by the MP to the Conservative Party.

Mr Stewart apologized but denied his comments were racist – saying his intention was to suggest the activist should campaign in Bahrain.

Video footage shows Mr Stewart telling the activist, who says he lives in exile after being tortured in the Gulf state, that he was “taking money from my country” because he was being challenged over his ties to Bahrain.

“Fill up,” said Mr. Stewart to him. Bahrain is a wonderful place, end, go away, I hate you. You make too much fuss—go back to Bahrain.

Al-Sayed Al-Wadaei, director of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, challenged the MP over Bahraini government donations, asking, “How much would you sell yourself to the Bahraini regime?”

“I have not,” answered Mr. Stewart, “now shut up, you stupid man… You are taking money out of my country, go away.”

Mr. Alwadaei’s police complaint described it as an “incident of racial abuse” that took place outside the Foreign Office’s Lancaster House following an event hosted by the Bahraini embassy on Wednesday.

In a statement to the media, the activist added: “I don’t think I would have been told to go back to the country that tortured me so violently had it not been for the color of my skin.

“No one should be subjected to racist abuse, especially for an MP being held accountable for accepting generous gifts from one of the most repressive regimes in the world.”

Al-Wadaei was awarded an award for his campaign in 2020, which the Censorship Index described as having done “vital” work since fleeing Bahrain nine years ago for taking part in anti-government protests.

Al-Wadaei, 36, says he was wounded by the Bahraini police and subsequently imprisoned, tortured, and sentenced by a military court for his participation.

Mr Stewart, 73, is the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) in Bahrain and has accepted paid flights from the Gulf country.

He told the Palestinian News Agency: “My mistake was to be subjected to a reaction, and for that I apologize. I also apologize if anyone thought I was racist – I wasn’t. I meant to go back to Bahrain, which is a perfectly safe place, and to demonstrate there.”

The MP added, “If anyone thinks I’m racist, I honestly didn’t mean to, and I apologize if they think I am, and I wasn’t.”

Mr Stewart, a former British Army officer who was stationed in Bahrain in 1969 and has represented Beckenham since 2010, hailed the Gulf state as “a wonderful place to live”, adding: “You can worship anything you want in Bahrain – you can worship a tree.”

Last month, Bahrainis took part in elections for the House of Representatives advising King Hamad, but opposition candidates were not allowed to run, and Amnesty International warned that the elections would take place in an “environment of political repression”.

Parliamentary records show Mr Stewart recorded flights, accommodation and meals worth £5,349 during a four-day trip to Bahrain in November last year paid for by the Foreign Office.

Writing in a complaint to Conservative Party Chairman Nazim Al-Zahawi, Mr. Alwadaei says the MP’s comments violated the party’s code of conduct on “minimum standards of behaviour”.

He also wrote a complaint to Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Catherine Stone, alleging that Stewart’s remarks breached the MPs’ code of conduct.

Conservative spokesperson: “We have a well-established code of conduct and formal processes where complaints can be submitted confidentially. This process is truly confidential.”

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