Bob Stewart DSO MP - Self-confessed Torturer

Mr. Stewart has been the member of parliament for the Tory safe-seat of Beckenham, South London, since 2010. He achieved the rank of Colonel in a 27-year military career that spanned the British army’s occupation of Northern Ireland. In 2017 Mr. Stewart confessed to having been ‘kind of a torturer’ of prisoners during his service in Ireland. Mr. Stewart was retired from the defence committee in 2017.

Bob Stewart MP

Mr. Stewart’s reputation proceeds him in Westminster, in military circles and in the tabloids. So shall skip those issues and go directly to detailing my correspondence with him.

On the 28th October 2015 I sent a report to parliament detailing the evidence that had previously been withheld from the defence committee's inquiry in to the Taliban’s devastating 2012 attack on Camp Bastion airfield. I explained and evidenced to a dozen committee members how their inquiry had been deceived and lied to regarding the true extent of the British military command’s criminal failures in failing to defend Camp Bastion.

Mr. Stewart, acting as self-appointed spokesperson for the committee, replied to my email within the hour, on the morning of the 28th. He arbitarially dismissed my evidence submissions and instead accused me (a one-tour TA vehicle mechanic) of having failed in my duty as a soldier:

"I wonder why you didn’t say this when the investigation was ongoing? You were there on the ground.  Please don’t argue that you were told or bullied into saying nothing – every soldier has the right (and a duty) to have his or her say when things go wrong as they clearly did in Bastion.  That is well established in British Army doctrine as I know from experience."


I had in fact raised my concerns earlier:

·       first in theatre on 22nd April 2012 with a Major whilst in an airfield guard tower, 

·       again in the same guard tower on 7th September 2012 with the guard commander, 

·       then at the beginning of the defence committee's inquiry in November 2013, 

·       then to the defence committee in May 2014 after their inquiry was published,

·       and again to the defence committee on 28th October 2015, when Mr. Stewart replied. 


My evidenced reporting chain proves the fallacy and fantasy of Mr. Stewart’s perceptions noted above. My assertions regarding our misconduct in Helmand have since been verified and validated beyond any doubt by satellite imagery of the base, two additional testimonies from a senior security contractor and a still serving army-whistleblower, and official records. 


Bob’s Hypocracy:

2003 - Mr. Stewart was quoted by the BBC when the first evidence of Iraqi prisoner torture & mis-treatment came to light after a British soldier took a film with photos of mistreatment to a high street shop to be developed:

Colonel Bob Stewart, former army officer, said:

"If someone has done this then it devalues the British Army which is a great pity.

"That's why the British Army understands that if there's an accusation it must be rigorously pursued and proved either guilty or not guilty.”

BBC report: Shopworker 'sickened' by POW photos

 
2015 - Mr. Stewart dismissed my evidence submission to the defence committee within one-hour of recieving them. There was no ‘rigourous pursuit’ of my allegations - Mr. Stewart simply labeled them as ‘an opinion’:

"This matter was dealt with in a very serious matter and the House of Commons Defence Committee did visit the location and write a report on it.  I was part of that visit.  You have been referred to that report and the MOD answer by the Committee Clerk. Just because you did not agree with it yourself does not make it wrong."


2017
 - Mr. Stewart confesses to having been ‘kind of a torturer’ of prisoners during his service in Ireland.


Legal proceedings against Mr. Stewart

This arbitrary ruling to reject my evidence submissions out-of-hand is a criminal offence - misconduct in public office. But an establishment cover-up presided over by defence secretary Gavin Williamson MP has ensured that once again our system of government remains legally unaccountable. It appears to me that the law-of-the-land does not apply in all cases, or to all people.

(Please see this seperate report, misconduct in public office


Truly, for some of us nothing is written, unless we write it 
© Anthony C Heaford - The Quiet Mancunian