Colonel Bob Stewart DSO was born in 1949. His father, Jock Stewart MC, was an RAF officer and his mother, Joan Stewart, had been a member of the Special Operations Executive in the Second World War, a fact of which Bob is especially proud. He spent most of his early years abroad in the Middle East with his parents but in 1959, together with his younger brother, he was sent to boarding school at Chigwell in Essex.
When he was 17 years old Bob was selected to attend the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst and he graduated from there in 1969 as an infantry officer, commissioned into The Cheshire Regiment.
Thereafter Bob was an Army officer for a total of 26 years. From 1974-77 Bob was sent to read for a degree by the Army; being awarded a First in International Politics and Strategy from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. In all he has completed 7 operational tours of Northern Ireland during the troubles; serving there as a Platoon Commander, Intelligence Officer, Company Commander, and finally Commanding Officer. He was the incident commander at the scene of the Ballykelly bomb in 1982 where 17 people were killed including 6 of his own soldiers from A Company, 1st Battalion The Cheshire Regiment.
In 1992, as a Lieutenant Colonel, Bob took his Battalion to Bosnia as the first United Nations Commander of British Forces there. On return Bob was promoted to Colonel and posted for his final appointment in the Army as Chief of Policy at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in Mons, Belgium.
Bob left the Army in January 1996 and worked successively as Senior Consultant Public Affairs in Hill & Knowlton Ltd, Chief Executive of WorldSpace UK Ltd and then for himself as a freelance consultant until he was elected to Parliament in 2010 as Conservative MP for Beckenham. He was re-elected in 2015, 2017 and 2019.
In Parliament Bob was a member of the House of Commons Defence Committee from 2010 to 2017. He has also, at various times, been a member of the House of Commons Arms Control Committee. In addition he has been Vice Chair of the All Party Group for the Armed Forces representing the Army since he was elected. More recently, in November 2016, he joined the House of Commons Select Committee on Northern Ireland.
Bob lives in the Constituency with his wife and family. His youngest children have attended or are still attending local schools and he commutes to Westminster daily by train.
Helping Constituents:
Bob holds regular surgeries for my constituents who have individual problems they would like my help in resolving. Sadly for security reasons he is unable to publish dates, times and venues in public.
If you would like to attend a surgery, please get in touch with the Westminster office, and provide your full contact details including name, address, e-mail address where available and a day time telephone number. Please also give a brief description of the issue you require assistance with.
If you have easy access to computers, it is not necessary to attend a surgery in person if you need help. An e-mail giving a summary of your problem, with contact details as above and relevant reference numbers is usually sufficient. If the team need more information they will be in touch.
Before you contacting Bob, do check that you are a constituent by inputting your postcode into the search box on the Homepage of this website. You can also check who your MP is by inputting your postcode into this search box on the Parliament website: https://members.parliament.uk/ For legal, practical and ethical reasons, MPs can only act for their own constituents.
If you are contacting Bob to seek help for another person who is over the age of 18, then I will need their express permission to intervene on their behalf and to discuss their situation with you as it would be illegal for Bob to do so except in the most critical circumstances. The law applies even if you are a close relative such as a partner, parent or child. They can either write to Bob, or send an e-mail from their personal e-mail address.
If, however if you have Power of Attorney over the constituent's affairs arranged by a solicitor, or you have been appointed their Guardian by the Court of Protection, then please advise Bob of when the power to act on their behalf was given.
Bob's address, e-mail and telephone number are given on the Homepage of this website. Alternatively pleas use the Contact Form page on this website.
About the Beckenham Constituency:
Beckenham is an Outer London Constituency located within the London Borough of Bromley. As the constituency was created using the 2002 Local Government Boundaries some wards (which came into effect in 2022) are split between constituencies, the Beckenham constituency includes all of Beckenham Town & Copers Cope, Hayes & Coney Hall, Kelsey & Eden Park and West Wickham Wards, it includes most of Bromley Common & Holwood (does not include streets north of Southlands Road) and Shortlands & Park Langley Wards (does not include Shortlands Village or Queensmead). The constituency also includes the Hayesford Park area which is part of Bromley Town Ward. You can check if Bob is your MP using the tool on the homepage.
Since its foundation in 1950 the Beckenham Constituency has returned Conservative Members of Parliament. The Constituency was first represented by Patrick Buchan-Hepburn; created Lord Hailes in 1957. Between 1957 and 1992 the long-serving MP for Beckenham was Sir Philip Goodhart, who is well known for his book on the workings of the Conservative MPs' 1922 Committee. When Sir Philip Goodhart retired after 35 years he was replaced by Piers Merchant. Then in 1997, after a by-election, Ms Jacqui Lait became Beckenham's MP for the next 13 years. With the retirement of Jacqui Lait in May 2010, Colonel Bob Stewart was elected for the Beckenham Constituency and was re-elected in 2015, 17 and 19.
