VETERAN Tory Colonel Bob Steward was today found guilty of racially abusing an activist by telling him to “go back to Bahrain”.
The MP for Beckenham also told Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei “you’re taking money off my country, go away!” during a row outside the Foreign Office last year.
Mr Alwadaei had shouted: “Bob Stewart, for how much did you sell yourself to the Bahraini regime?”
The top Tory then replied: “Go away, I hate you. You make a lot of fuss. Go back to Bahrain.”
In footage played during a trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday, Colonel Bob also said: “Now shut up, you stupid man.”
Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring found the MP guilty of a racially aggravated public order offence.
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He said the Colonel won’t be jailed.
Instead the MP was slapped with a £600 fine alongside additional legal costs bringing the total to £1,435.
Throughout the trial Colonel Bob insisted he isn’t racist.
Hitting back at the allegation, he said: “That’s absurd, it’s totally unfair, 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.”
The MP added: “I am not a racist. He was saying that I was corrupt and that I had taken money.
“My honour was at stake in front of a large number of ambassadors. It upset me and I thought it was extremely offensive.”
The MP went on: “‘Go back to Bahrain’ meant why don’t you go back to Bahrain and make your point there?
“I made the assumption he too was living in this country and was benefiting from living in this country.
“I certainly didn’t mean he was a freeloader.”
