Bob Stewart: Conservative MP charged with racially aggravated abuse

Conservative MP Bob Stewart has been charged with racially abusing a man he allegedly told to "go back to Bahrain".

The Beckenham MP faces two public order charges relating to an incident outside an event hosted by the Bahraini embassy.

It occurred after a campaigner pressed him on his links to the country outside the event in December last year.

Mr Stewart will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 5 July.

The Metropolitan Police said Mr Stewart faced one charge of using threatening or abusive words or behaviour, where the offence was racially aggravated.

He also faces an alternative charge of threatening behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress, the force added.

The force said the alternative charge related to the same incident, and would "allow the court discretion on the racial element".

In the December incident, Mr Stewart was confronted by a human rights activist who says he is living in exile after being tortured in the Gulf state of Bahrain.

After the activist pressed him on his links to the country, Mr Stewart is alleged to have said: "Get stuffed. Bahrain's a great place. End of."

He is then accused of telling the man to: "Go back to Bahrain."

The Metropolitan Police said it opened an investigation after receiving a complaint from a man alleging he had been verbally racially abused.

It is understood Mr Stewart will continue to sit as a Conservative MP, with a source in the party's whips saying he would contest the charges.

Mr Stewart, 73, is a former Army officer and has represented the south London constituency of Beckenham since 2010.