Allan Stewart (politician)

John Allan Stewart (1 June 1942 – 7 December 2016) was a Scottish Conservative politician and Scottish Office minister.

Stewart was educated at Bell Baxter High School, St. Andrews University and Harvard University, where he obtained a first class degree. He was a lecturer in Political Economy at St. Andrews before standing unsuccessfully for the Dundee East constituency in 1970. He was briefly a councillor in the London Borough of Bromley in the mid-1970s. He was elected MP for East Renfrewshire in 1979 and continued as MP in its successor Eastwood from 1983 until 1997. He served two spells as Under-Secretary of State for Scotland at the Scottish Office from 1981 to 1986, and from 1990 to 1995.

Stewart was forced to resign his ministerial post after an incident in February 1995 when he brandished a pickaxe at demonstrators who were protesting at the construction of the M77 motorway.[1][2] Stewart was hospitalised, in Dykebar Hospital, Paisley, after suffering a nervous breakdown and due to accusations about his personal life [3] in March 1997.[4] He stood down, not seeking re-election to Parliament in the General Election held on 1 May that year, and subsequently retired altogether from politics. Stewart died in December 2016 at the age of 74.[5]