Rory Stewart
Roderick James Nugent Stewart OBE PC FRSGS FRSL (born 3 January 1973), known as Rory Stewart, is a British diplomat, author, explorer, academic and politician who is a senior fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs where he teaches politics and international relations.[1][2] Prior to this appointment he was the Secretary of State for International Development for the United Kingdom. He began his government career, as a diplomat, serving in Indonesia, as the British Representative to Montenegro, and in Iraq, as Deputy Governorate Coordinator in Maysan and Dhi Qar, before establishing the Turquoise Mountain Foundation in Afghanistan, and becoming the Ryan Professor of Human Rights at Harvard University's Kennedy School.[3]
Rory Stewart | |
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![]() Stewart in 2015 | |
Secretary of State for International Development | |
In office 1 May 2019 – 24 July 2019 | |
Prime Minister | Theresa May |
Preceded by | Penny Mordaunt |
Succeeded by | Alok Sharma |
Minister of State for Prisons | |
In office 9 January 2018 – 1 May 2019 | |
Prime Minister | Theresa May |
Preceded by | Sam Gyimah |
Succeeded by | Robert Buckland |
Minister of State for Africa | |
In office 15 June 2017 – 9 January 2018 | |
Prime Minister | Theresa May |
Preceded by | Tobias Ellwood |
Succeeded by | Harriett Baldwin |
Minister of State for International Development | |
In office 17 July 2016 – 9 January 2018 | |
Prime Minister | Theresa May |
Preceded by | Desmond Swayne |
Succeeded by | Harriett Baldwin |
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Water, Forestry, Rural Affairs and Resource Management | |
In office 12 May 2015 – 17 July 2016 | |
Prime Minister | David Cameron |
Preceded by | Dan Rogerson |
Succeeded by | Thérèse Coffey |
Chair of the Defence Select Committee | |
In office 14 May 2014 – 12 May 2015 | |
Preceded by | James Arbuthnot |
Succeeded by | Julian Lewis |
Member of Parliament for Penrith and The Border | |
In office 6 May 2010 – 6 November 2019 | |
Preceded by | David Maclean |
Succeeded by | Neil Hudson |
Personal details | |
Born | Roderick James Nugent Stewart 3 January 1973 British Hong Kong |
Political party | Independent (2019–present) |
Other political affiliations | Conservative (2009–2019) Labour (before 1993) |
Spouse(s) | Shoshana Clark (m. 2012) |
Children | 2 |
Father | Brian Stewart |
Residence | South Kensington, London, England |
Education | Dragon School, Eton College |
Alma mater | Balliol College, Oxford |
Website | rorystewart |
Military service | |
Allegiance | ![]() |
Branch/service | ![]() |
Years of service | 1991–1992 |
Rank | ![]() |
Unit | ![]() |
In 2010, Stewart became a British politician, and (from 2015-9) a Minister in the UK government. He was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Penrith and The Border, [4][5]. He served in sequence as Chair of the Defence Select Committee, Minister for the Environment, Minister of State for International Development, (responsible for the Middle East and Asia), Minister of State for Africa at the Foreign Office and the Department for International Development, and then Minister of State for Justice/Minister of State for Prisons. He became a member of the Cabinet and National Security Council as Secretary of State for International Development in May 2019.[6]
Stewart stood against Boris Johnson as a candidate to be leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the 2019 leadership contest. His campaign, which was defined by his unorthodox use of social media, and his opposition to a no-deal Brexit, made him briefly the second favourite to Boris Johnson,[7] and won him the backing of several senior cabinet ministers. After a poor second leadership debate, he was eliminated from the race.[8] He resigned from his post as Secretary of State in July 2019,[9] and had the party whip removed in September 2019 after voting to try to stop a no-deal Brexit and subsequently sat as an independent.
Stewart is also known for walking 6000 miles across Asia, including Afghanistan, and for his documentaries and his best-selling books, including The Places in Between, Occupational Hazards or The Prince of the Marshes and The Marches.
Early life and education
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Stewart was born in British Hong Kong, the son of Brian Stewart and his wife, Sally Elizabeth Acland Nugent (née Rose). Stewart's father, born in Edinburgh, Scotland, was a colonial official and diplomat who, in the 1970s, was a candidate to become the Chief of the UK's Secret Intelligence Service or MI6.[3] His father's family is from Broich House (built in 1770), near Crieff in Perth and Kinross, Scotland.[10] His maternal grandfather was Jewish.[11]
Stewart spent his early years in South Kensington, London[12] before his family moved to Malaysia and then back to Hong Kong. He returned to Britain for boarding school from Malaysia at the age of 8, being educated at the Dragon School, in Oxford, and Eton College.[3] He was taught martial arts and fencing by his father in Hyde Park.[12] As a teenager, he was a member of the Labour Party.[13][14][15] During his gap year in 1991, he served a short service limited commission in the Black Watch for five months as second lieutenant on probation.[16][17] He studied medieval history under Maurice Keen and then philosophy, politics and economics under Jonathan Barnes at Balliol College, Oxford University.[3] While a student at Oxford, Stewart was a private tutor to Prince William and Prince Harry during the summer.[3] He attended a single meeting of the Bullingdon Club[18] before he resigned after witnessing the behaviour of other members.[12]
Diplomatic career
Indonesia and Montenegro
After graduating, Stewart joined the Foreign Office.[19] In Indonesia, he served as Second Secretary, Political/Economic in the British embassy in Jakarta from 1997 to 1999, during the Asian Financial Crisis and the Fall of Suharto, working on issues related to East Timor independence. He was appointed at the age of 26 as the British Representative to Montenegro in the wake of the Kosovo campaign.[3]
Some have suggested that Stewart was an employee of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), during his time as a British Representative to Montenegro – allegedly being recruited to MI6 shortly after he graduated from Oxford University.[3][20] Stewart has said that his career progression and his father's work for MI6 might "give the appearance" that he worked for MI6,[21] but says he did not work for MI6 while a diplomat.[20] Stewart has acknowledged that due to the Official Secrets Act, even if he had worked for MI6, he would not be able to admit it.[22]
Iraq
After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Stewart was appointed as the Coalition Provisional Authority Deputy Governorate Co-ordinator in Maysan and Deputy Governorate Co-ordinator/Senior Advisor in Dhi Qar in 2003, both of which are provinces in southern Iraq.[3] He was posted initially to the KOSB Battlegroup then to the Light Infantry.[23] His responsibilities included holding elections, resolving tribal disputes, and implementing development projects.[23] He faced growing unrest and an incipient civil war from his base in a Civil-Military Co-operation (CIMIC) compound in Al Amarah, and in May 2004 was in command of his compound in Nasiriyah when it was besieged by Sadrist militia.[3] He was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services during this period.[24] While Stewart initially supported the Iraq War, the international coalition's inability to achieve a more humane, prosperous state led him in retrospect to believe the invasion had been a mistake.[25]
Travel and travel writing
In 2000, Stewart took leave from the Foreign Service to walk across Asia. This journey on foot lasted more than eighteen months and involved Stewart taking a 36-day solo walk across Afghanistan in the early months of 2002 and across much of Iran, Pakistan, and the Indian and Nepali Himalayas. He typically walked 20–25 miles a day, staying in village houses every night. He has also walked across sections of Western New Guinea[26] and much of the United Kingdom. Stewart was awarded the Royal Scottish Geographical Society's Livingstone medal in 2009 "in recognition of his work in Afghanistan and his travel writing, and for his distinguished contribution to geography".[27]. His subsequent travel in the United Kingdom, and his writing on geography was recognised by the Royal Geographical Society, which awarded him The Ness Award in 2018.[28]
His book describing his walk across Afghanistan "The Places in Between" was a New York Times bestseller. "The Places in Between[29][30] was named by The New York Times as a "flat-out masterpiece" and listed as one of its 10 notable books of 2006.[3] It won the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize,[31] the Spirit of Scotland award,[32] and the Premio de Literatura de Viaje Caminos del Cid.[32] It was short-listed for a Scottish Arts Council prize,[33] the Guardian First Book Award[29] and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize.[29] The book was adapted into a radio play by Benjamin Yeoh broadcast in 2007 on BBC Radio 4.[34]
His book about his 1,000-mile walk in the borderlands separating England and Scotland, also known as the Scottish Marches(in part with his father) - The Marches: Border Walks With My Father - became a Sunday Times top ten bestseller.[35] [36] The Marches was long listed for the Orwell Prize, won the Hunter Davies Lakeland Book of the Year,[37] and was a Waterstones Book of the Month,[38].
He has also written about theory and practice of travel writings in prefaces to Wilfred Thesiger's Arabian Sands,[39] Charles Doughty's Arabia Deserta[40] and Robert Byron's The Road to Oxiana.[41]
Writing on politics and International Affairs
Stewart's book, The Prince of the Marshes: and other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq, also published as Occupational Hazards: My Time Governing in Iraq, describes his reflections on the intervention in Iraq, based on his experiences as the Deputy Governorate Co-ordinator.[3] The New York Times critic William Grimes commented that for him the "real value of the new book is Mr. Stewart's sobering picture of the difficulties involved in creating a coherent Iraqi state based on the rule of law".[42] The book was the subject of a play at the Hampstead Theatre, written by Stephen Brown.[43]
Stewart's book on International Intervention Can Intervention Work?, co-authored with Gerald Knaus was published by W.W. Norton as part of the Amnesty International Global Ethics Series in 2011. [44] It distilled Stewart's reflections on the lessons of the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan for the practice of International Intervention.
Stewart has also written longer essays on 1920s Iraq, South Sudan and ISIS, (for the New York Review of Books,[45]), on West Papua, counterinsurgency theory and early modern Aleppo (for the London Review of Books.[46]), on the politics of the centre ground (for the New Statesman), and on Iran and Afghanistan for Prospect Magazine. He appeared frequently on television and radio, including BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.[47]
He was a columnist for The New York Times,[48]. And he was also was a columnist for his local constituency newspaper the Cumberland and Westmorland Herald, contributing a monthly column,[49]
Documentaries
In January 2010 Stewart presented the BBC Two documentary miniseries The Legacy of Lawrence of Arabia.[50] In 2012, he wrote and presented the BBC's Afghanistan: The Great Game – A Personal View by Rory Stewart, a documentary in two parts telling the story of foreign intervention by Britain, Russia and the United States in Afghanistan from the 19th century to the present day, which aired on BBC Two and which won a Scottish BAFTA.[51] In 2014, Stewart wrote and presented a two-part documentary on BBC Two about the cross-border history of what he called "Britain's lost middleland",[52] covering the kingdoms of Northumbria and Strathclyde and the Debatable Lands of the Scottish Marches on the Anglo-Scottish border.[52] Its full title was Border Country: The Story of Britain's Lost Middleland and it investigated the rift created by Hadrian's Wall and the issues of identity and culture in a region divided by the fabricated border.[52]
Academic, nonprofit, and advisory work
Stewart was a fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government from 2004 to 2005.[3] In late 2005, he set up the Turquoise Mountain Foundation, in Afghanistan, a human development NGO established by Charles, Prince of Wales, and Hamid Karzai.[53] For this role he relocated to Kabul for the next three years, working to restore historic buildings in the old city of Kabul, managing its finances, installing water supply, electricity, and establishing a clinic, a school and an institute for traditional crafts.[3] Stewart stepped down as executive chairman of the Turquoise Mountain Foundation in May 2010.[54] In July 2008, Stewart was appointed as Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights at Harvard University and director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy.[3] Stewart served for a time on the board of governors of the International Development Research Centre of Canada.[55] He left his position to campaign for Parliament.[56]
Stewart has frequently been called on to provide advice on Afghanistan and Iraq to policy-makers, particularly in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.[3] In an article in The Daily Telegraph, he was described as an advisor on Afghan issues to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the U.S. Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke.[57] In 2009, he appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, arguing that Obama's strategy on Afghanistan was 'trying to do the impossible'. He suggested, in an argument that he would later expand in his Ted Talk, that a heavy American military footprint would be counterproductive, alienating Afghans, and that it would be better to reduce the size of the American Army in Afghanistan. This smaller force, he suggested, would be able to handle al-Qaeda, while helping achieve the West's long-term objectives in the country.[58] His ideas were rejected by Senators, including future Secretary of State John Kerry.[58]
Parliamentary backbencher
Penrith and The Border
Stewart had considered a parliamentary career in the past but only decided to stand when, in the aftermath of the expenses scandal, David Cameron decided to "reopen the Conservative candidates' list to anybody who wants to apply". Stewart has said that his experience in Afghanistan made him a "Burkean conservative".[59] Having never voted for the Conservatives before (though, against his will, his parents cast his proxy vote for them in the 2001 general election, when he was abroad),[60] he joined the party in summer 2009.[61] Stewart tried for selection for the Bracknell constituency in the 2010 general election,[62] but the place went to Phillip Lee.[63] Stewart was then shortlisted for the Penrith and The Border constituency and, at an open caucus, selected as the candidate on 25 October 2009.[64] He was returned as the MP for the constituency on 6 May 2010.[65] At the 2015 general election, Stewart almost doubled his majority in Penrith and the Border from 11,241 to 19,894, the highest majority since the seat was created.[66] In the 2017 general election, he received 60.4% of the vote.
In July 2010, Stewart apologised to his constituents after blogging about the relative poverty of rural areas and need for more public services.[67] He was quoted in the Scottish Sun as saying that "some areas around here are pretty primitive, people holding up their trousers with bits of twine".[67] He later said that he was making the point that Cumbria's beauty hides its "pockets of poverty".[68] A light-hearted Guardian article, "In praise of ... binder twine", whilst acknowledging the "serious effort" Stewart had made by "walking hundreds of miles" to get to know his constituency, concluded that he had simply underestimated the importance of the "ubiquitous and indispensable" twine to the rural community.[69]
Stewart was successful in securing the Cumbrian broadband pilot in 2011,[70] and in November 2013, broadband provider EE cited the support of Government and regulatory policy in announcing that over 2,000 residents and businesses in rural Cumbria were to have access to superfast home and office broadband for the first time.[71] In February 2015, Stewart secured more funding to continue the broadband roll-out in Cumbria.[72] He was also part of the successful campaigns against the closure of the Penrith cinema [73] and fire station,[74] and helped to secure agreeement and funding for disabled access at Penrith Station, [75] and the dualling of A66 road, [76] and for flood defence funding for Cumbria.[77]
National roles and influence
Upon joining the House of Commons, Stewart was elected a member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, serving until 2014. During his tenure on the Committee he was also chair of the trans-Atlantic group Le Cercle but did not declare his membership.[78] Stewart also served as the chair of the APPG for Mountain Rescue[79][80] and the APPG for Local Democracy[81][82] and was an officer of the APPG for Rural Services.[83] He was elected chair of the Defence Select Committee in May 2014. He left these positions upon his appointment as environment minister.
His speech about hedgehogs in Parliament in 2015 was named by The Times and The Daily Telegraph as the best parliamentary speech of 2015 and described by the deputy speaker as "one of the best speeches [she] had ever heard in Parliament".[84][85][86]
Stewart led the first backbench motion for expanding broadband and mobile coverage, securing what was then the largest number of cross-party endorsements for a backbench motion.[87] In a report published in 2011, Stewart won support from the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee in calling for mobile phone companies to be forced to provide coverage to 98% of the population,[88] and in 2012, his campaign achieved its goal when regulator Ofcom announced its plans for the auction of fourth generation (4G) bandwidth for mobile phone services.[89] In March 2018, Ofcom announced that the 98% target had been met.[90]
In January 2014, Stewart was asked by Chris Grayling, Secretary of State for Justice, to lead a Government review into the reasons why a number of British veterans become criminal offenders after returning to civilian life.[91] The review looked at ways in which support and prevention for veterans in the justice system can be improved.[92] Following his election to Chairman of the Defence Select Committee, Stewart handed over the lead for the review to Stephen Phillips.[93]
In May 2014, Stewart was elected by MPs from all parties as Chairman of the Defence Select Committee. He was the youngest Chair of a select committee in parliamentary history, as well as the first MP of the 2010 intake to be elected to chair a committee.[94][95][96] In this capacity, Stewart argued strongly for a more vigorous response to Russian aggression in Ukraine.[97] The committee also argued that Britain's commitments to Iraq and Syria were "strikingly modest" and that more should be done.[98] Under Stewart's chairmanship, the committee produced a report in favour of the proposals for a Service Complaints Ombudsman and also secured an amendment extending the powers of the Ombudsman.[99]
In July 2014, Stewart launched Hands Across The Border, a project to construct a cairn called 'The Auld Acquaintance' as "a testament to the Union".[100] Built by members of the public, it is close to the Scotland–England border near Gretna. During the run up to the Scottish independence referendum.[101] Stewart said of the project: "We wanted to come up with a lasting marker of our union, something that future generations will look back at and remember, with deep gratitude, the moment we chose to stay together."[102] The campaign received support from several notable public figures in the UK, including actress Joanna Lumley, explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, mountaineers Alan Hinkes and Doug Scott, and historians Simon Schama and David Starkey.[103] Approximately 100,000 stones were laid on the cairn, many with personal messages.
Ministerial positions
Environment minister
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Following the Conservatives' return with an outright majority at the 2015 general election, Stewart was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), with responsibilities including the natural environment, national parks, floods and water, resource and environmental management, rural affairs, lead responsibility for the Environment Agency, Natural England and the Forestry Commission, and acting as the secretary of state's deputy on the Environment Council.[104]
In July 2015, in his capacity as resource minister, he announced a review into the regulatory and enforcement barriers to growth and innovation in the waste sector.[105] Stewart as 'floods minister' joined the National Flood Resilience Review, formed in 2016 and chaired by the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Oliver Letwin.[106] Stewart initiated the Cumbria Floods Partnership in response to Storm Desmond, with a focus on long-term flood defence.[107] The House of Commons cross-party Environment Audit Committee criticised the statement by Stewart that the extra £700m for flood defence was the result of a "political calculation" and that it might not be spent according to the strict value-for-money criteria currently used.[108]
As environment minister he introduced the plastic bag tax which reduced the use of personal bags by 85% in 6 months;[109] and he was responsible for producing the first draft of the 25-year environment plan in which he emphasised, alongside biodiversity and ecosystems, the importance of human cultural features in the landscape, and particularly the conservation of small family sheep farms.[110] As Minister responsible for the National Parks, Stewart secured five years of increased funding for national parks and AONBs.[111] He also ensured the extension of the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Park and supported the UNESCO World Heritage bid for the Lake District.[112]
As floods minister, Stewart oversaw the government's response to the 2015–16 Great Britain and Ireland floods, including the post-Storm Desmond floods,[113] including the reopening of the A591 and the bridge at Pooley Bridge in the Lake District.[114]
Minister for International Development and Africa
After Theresa May replaced David Cameron as Prime Minister, Stewart was promoted to Minister of State for International Development – the second most senior figure in the department – responsible for the UK development programs in the Middle East and Asia, and its multilateral programs on 17 July 2016.[6][115] In this role he travelled widely, meeting in country with Sheikh Hasina the Prime-Minister of Bangladesh, Prachanda the Prime-Minister of Nepal, Ashraf Ghani the President of Afghanistan, and Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi.[116]
In 2017, Stewart was promoted to a joint position as a Minister of State in both the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development taking over responsibility for the Foreign Office and its embassies in Africa, as well as the Department for International Development (DfID) programs in Africa. In this capacity he visited a number of countries in Africa[117][118][119] and the United National General Assembly in New York City (UNGA).[120] During these trips, he held personal meetings with President Kagame of Rwanda,[121] President Kabila of DRC,[122] President Lungu of Zambia,[123] President Magufuli of Tanzania,[124] President Kenyatta of Kenya and President Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe.[125] In this role, Stewart was the driving force behind the British Government's new Africa strategy and pushed for more resources to go into the Foreign Office network in Africa. His most notable trip was to Zimbabwe where he was the first foreign dignitary to be received by President Mnangagwa.[126] His Zimbabwe policy pressed for political reform, and free and fair elections.[127]
Prisons minister
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Stewart was appointed Minister of State for Prisons with responsibility for prisons and probation in England and Wales in January 2018.[128] He was appointed in the aftermath of a highly critical leaked report on the state of HMP Liverpool, in which the inspector described it as the "worst prison he had ever seen" with piles of rubbish, rats, soaring violence and drug use and poor health provision.[129] Stewart immediately visited the prison and, testifying before the Justice Select Committee, announced his determination to clean up prisons in England and Wales.[130] This advocacy of a "back to basics" approach was recorded in The Guardian, with Stewart writing an opinion piece in the publication, entitled "I strongly believe we can improve our prisons and make progress".[131]
In April 2018, Stewart took the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Private Member's Bill through the House of Commons, on behalf of the government, which doubled the maximum sentences for those who attack emergency services personnel and introduced sexual assault as an aggravating factor in sentencing.[132]
In August 2018, during an interview with BBC Breakfast, Stewart announced the launch of the Ten Prisons Project. He argued that, despite five years of continuous rise in violence in prisons, it was possible to turn it around. Stewart argued that it could be done through improving perimeter gate security (to catch drugs) and by improving training and support of staff. The key, he said, was to get the basics right. He undertook to create a new prison officer handbook and a new course at the training college for prison officers. Stewart pledged, in the same interview, that he would resign if this project was not successful.[133] The twelve months statistics showed a continuing positive trend when, in August 2019, the results from the Ten Prisons Project were published. These showed a 16% drop in the rate of assaults, and a 17% drop in the number of assaults, almost 10% greater than the national trend. At the same time, the percentage of positive results from random mandatory drug tests dropped by 50%.[134] According to blogger Elliot Tyler, published by The Canary, he later described prisons as "the most shocking failure in British civilisation".[135][136]
Secretary of State for International Development
In May 2019, Stewart was promoted to the cabinet after the dismissal of Gavin Williamson, replacing the new Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt in the Department for International Development. The position included full membership of the UK Cabinet, and the National Security Council. It also saw Stewart serve as a governor of the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the Caribbean Development Bank and the Inter-African Development Bank. He was also an alternative governor to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.[137]
Stewart's three priorities as Secretary of State for International Development were to double the UK government's international investment in the environment and climate change, to radically increase the number of UK development staff on the ground (developing language and area expertise), and to focus on the response to Ebola. He was able within a month of taking up the role to enshrined these priorities in his new single departmental plan.[138] He committed in the House of Commons 'to double spending on climate change prevention because the world faced a "climate cataclysm" and double "the effort that the department puts into that issue".[139]
Concerned about the increase in Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2019,[140] Stewart increased the UK's contribution to the WHO and Ebola programs, led international meetings to mobilise international donor support for Ebola in Paris and Geneva, working with USAID administrator Mark Green and flew to Goma, Beni and Butembo in Eastern DRC to visit the outbreak sites.[141] and then to Kinshasa where he met with President Tshisekedi.
His other international visits took Stewart to environmental programs in Kenya (from wind turbine projects in Lake Turkana in the North to Mangrove Protection in Lamu on the East coast, and UK aid funded programmes in Jordan (holding meetings with Prime Minister Omar Razzaz).[142]
Stewart felt that he could not serve under Boris Johnson, who was elected Prime Minister after the resignation of Theresa May, and so resigned from cabinet on 24 July 2019.[12][143]
Conservative Party leadership election
Stewart was a candidate in the 2019 Conservative leadership election, announcing his intention to stand in an interview in The Times.[144][145] His candidacy was not initially taken seriously, with a piece in the New Statesman's diary stating that he had a single supporter: himself.[146] As The Guardian noted: "his campaign benefited at the start from low expectations, and for days leading up to the first vote his tally of supporters was in single figures. When he met the threshold he looked like the insurgent because so many had assumed he would be knocked out".[147]
Adopting an unconventional campaigning style, Stewart did not focus his attention on Westminster but, instead, went on a series of filmed walkabouts (dubbed 'RoryWalks'), which saw him take to the streets of Britain, talking to voters, to understand their priorities and concerns. These were then uploaded onto social media, with significant success.[148]
On 29 May, Stewart admitted he had smoked opium during a wedding in Iran.[149] Several other candidates admitted to previous illegal drug use during the election.[150]
On 1 June, Kenneth Clarke was announced as one of Stewart's MP backers, with other supporters including David Lidington, David Gauke, Nicholas Soames, Tobias Ellwood, Gillian Keegan and Victoria Prentis.[151] Against expectations, on 13 June he made it through the first parliamentary ballot, gaining 19 votes, two more than the elimination threshold.[152] On 16 June, he appeared, as one of the six remaining candidates, in a televised debate on Channel 4.[153] He was widely judged to have won the debate, with Michael Deacon writing in The Daily Telegraph that "If you were to judge it by the response of the studio audience, Channel 4's debate had only one winner. Rory Stewart got more rounds of applause than any other candidate – and, at the end, when each took turns to sum up, he was the only candidate to get a round of applause at all".[154]
On 18 June 2019, he also made it through the second parliamentary ballot, with 37 votes from a threshold of 33, surpassing Home Secretary Sajid Javid by four votes; however, following a lacklustre performance in that evening's BBC debate, he polled just 27 votes in the next day's ballot and was eliminated as the last-placed candidate.[155][156] It was revealed on the same day that Stewart was in talks with Michael Gove to stop Boris Johnson becoming Prime Minister.[157]
Independent politician
Sitting as an independent and resignation
On 3 September 2019, Stewart and 20 other Conservative MPs voted in favour of MPs taking control of the order paper, as the first step to table a bill to stop a no-deal Brexit, in the process rebelling against the Government Whip.[158] It had been widely reported in the media that any such action would lead to a withdrawal of the Conservative whip, and all 21 were told that they had lost it,[159] expelling them as Conservative MPs and requiring them to sit as independents.[160][161] If they should decide to run for re-election in a future election, the party would block their selection as Conservative candidates.[162] Stewart stated that he was informed of this decision by text message, while collecting his GQ Politician of the Year Award.[163]
At an event on 3 October, Stewart announced he had resigned from the Conservative Party and would stand down as an MP at the next general election. He read out a letter in which a housemaster at Eton College described Boris Johnson as being guilty of "a gross failure of responsibility". The next day, Stewart confirmed his resignation on Twitter, saying: "It's been a great privilege to serve Penrith and The Border for the last ten years, so it is with sadness that I am announcing that I will be standing down."[164]
London mayoral candidate
In October 2019, Stewart announced that he was to stand as an independent in the upcoming London mayoral election (initially scheduled to be held in 2020 and later postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic)[165] against incumbent Labour mayor Sadiq Khan and Conservative candidate Shaun Bailey.[166] On the day he announced his run, Stewart's odds to win were placed at 2/1.[167] He planned during his candidacy to walk through each of the 32 London boroughs.[12] In November 2019 he appeared on BBC One's Have I Got News for You.[168]
Stewart's use of social media later became the subject of controversy when, at a talk at the Emmanuel Centre, in the course of discussing his use of social media during the contest, he referred to an encounter in Brick Lane with three "sort of minor gangsters". Two of the men were members of an Irish rap group, Hare Squead.[169] This drew accusations of racism from many politicians, including Dawn Butler, David Lammy and Diane Abbott.[170] Stewart apologised the next day, tweeting "I am very sorry towards the guys and towards everyone else. I was wrong".[171]
On 6 May 2020, Stewart ended his mayoralty bid. He stated that the COVID-19 pandemic had made it "impossible" to campaign and that he could not ask his unpaid volunteers to continue in their roles for another year.[172]
Post-political career
In September 2020 he became a fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, teaching politics, grand strategy and international relations to undergraduates and graduate students.[2] He is a Commissioner of the #Principles4Peace initiative. According to 'The Daily Telegraph Brad Pitt bought the rights to make a film about Stewart in 2008, with Orlando Bloom tipped to play the leading role.[173]
Political views
Stewart supported remain in the 2016 referendum on the UK's continued membership of the European Union[174] but accepted the result, writing that "the decision is made, and we should be energetic and optimistic [about it]".[175] Stewart was a prominent supporter of the Brexit withdrawal agreement negotiated by the prime minister Theresa May,[176][177][178] arguing that the agreement respects the result of the referendum "by leaving EU political institutions...and by taking back control over immigration" while also addressing "the concerns of the more than 16 million who voted remain" and protecting the British economy.[179]
As an MP, Stewart expressed his support for fox hunting, and was marked as a "For" voter to upkeep the traditional sport if it were voted on. He has been seen at hunt meets in his local area.[180] He said, "I'm in favour. It's an important cultural tradition in Cumbria going back many hundreds of years, and hunts like Blencathra and Ullswater are a very important part of rural tradition. It's not something I've ever done myself but it's something I think people should have the right to do."[181]
Personal life
In 2012, he married American Shoshana Clark, a former employee.[182][183] They had their first child in November 2014, a son whom Stewart delivered at home in the absence of medical assistance,[184] and their second child was born in April 2017.[185][186] Shoshana and her former husband were volunteering at the Turquoise Mountain Foundation in Afghanistan when she met Stewart.[173]
Stewart lives in South Kensington, London[12][187][188] as well as Dufton, Cumbria.[189] He is a member of the Athenaeum Club and the Special Forces Club.[18] He is proficient in 11 languages.[12]
Awards and honours
- The Order of the British Empire, Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Civil Division.[190]
- The Ondaatje Prize of the The Royal Society of Literature (2005).[191]
- The Livingstone Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society (2009).[192]
- The Ness Award of the Royal Geographical Society.[193]
- The British Academy Scotland Award for documentary.[194]
- The Spirit of Scotland Award for writing.
- The Politician of the Year award of British GQ.[195]
- The Prize del Camino del Cid (2009).[196]
- honorary Doctorate from the University of Stirling Doctor of the University (D.Univ), awarded on 23 November 2009.[197]
- honorary Doctorate from the American University of Paris.[198]
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (2005).[199]
- Fellow of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society (FRSGS) (2009).[200]
- He was sworn in as a member of the Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council in 2019 upon his appointment as International Development Secretary in the second May ministry. This gave him the Honorific title "The Right Honourable" for life.
Notes
- "Rory Stewart, Senior Fellow – Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs". Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
- "Six new Senior Fellows join Jackson". Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. 22 July 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
- Parker, Ian (8 November 2010). "Paths of Glory" – via www.newyorker.com.
- Stratton, Allegra (26 October 2009). "Former royal tutor Rory Stewart selected for safe Tory seat". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
- Penrith and the Border Conservatives Rory Stewart becomes MP for Penrith and the Border
- "Rory Stewart MP OBE". GOV.UK. British Government. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
- "Rory Stewart second favourite for Tory leadership". 17 June 2019.
- "Tory leadership contest: Rory Stewart knocked out". BBC News. 19 June 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
- https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/rory-stewart-confirms-resignation-from-cabinet-after-boris-johnson-s-victory-a4196546.html. Missing or empty
|title=
(help) - Satnam, Sanghera (4 December 2013). "Rory Stewart: Adventurer, academic, MP – PM?". The Times. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
- Harpin, Lee (7 October 2019). "Rory Stewart enjoys a bagel and reveals his 'special connection' to the Jewish community". The Jewish Chronicle.
- Fletcher, Martin (1 November 2019). "Rory Stewart: 'Boris and I are complete chalk and cheese. I'm suspicious of the whole show'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
- Glover, Julian (14 January 2010). "Rory Stewart's awfully big adventure". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
- Parker, Ian (7 November 2010). "Paths of Glory". The New Yorker. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
He had been a member of the Labour Party in his late teens. (A few pounds a year; occasional meetings.)
- "BBC Radio 4 – Political Thinking with Nick Robinson, The Rory Stewart One". BBC. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
- "No. 52792". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 January 1992. p. 493.
- "No. 52910". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 May 1992. p. 7744.
- Letts, Quentin (5 April 2016). "Everything you need to know about Tory MP Rory Stewart". Tatler. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
- Biography Archived 20 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine Rory Stewart
- Rob Merrick (17 June 2019). Tory leadership: Rory Stewart claims 100 Conservative MPs would rebel against Boris Johnson to stop no-deal Brexit The Independent. Retrieved 16 April 2020. "He was also asked if, as strongly rumoured he was an MI6 spy when working as a diplomat, but replied: 'No.'"
- Swain, Jon (8 November 2010). "Rory Stewart concedes career 'gives appearance' that he worked for MI6". The Telegraph. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
- Telegraph Reporters (18 June 2019). "Rory Stewart denies being a spy for MI6 – but admits he is prohibited by law from saying otherwise". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
- Stewart, Rory (2007). Occupational Hazards. London: Picador. p. 87.
- "Rory Stewart: Days of hope and hubris". The Independent. 23 June 2006. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
- "Interview: Rory Stewart". Harcourt Trade Publishers. Archived from the original on 15 February 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
- "Rory Stewart | Diary: In Papua". London Review of Books. 20 July 2000. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
- "Medals and Awards". Royal Scottish Geographical Society. Archived from the original on 12 February 2010. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
- https://www.rgs.org/geography/news/2018-medal-and-award-recipients-announced/. Missing or empty
|title=
(help) - "The Places In Between". Pan Macmillan. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
- Sattin, Anthony (20 June 2004). "Review: Travel: The Places In Between by Rory Stewart". The Times. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
- "Royal Society of Literature » Two-way traffic: Rory Stewart on writing about place". rsliterature.org. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
- "About Rory – Rory Stewart". Rory Stewart. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
- "Scottish Arts Council – Book Awards 2005". www.scottisharts.org.uk. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
- Benjamin Yeoh (15 February 2007), Places In Between, The, retrieved 6 March 2018
- Barber, Caroline. "What did your MP receive last year? Parliament's gifts and donations list revealed". Retrieved 8 March 2018.
- Jack, Ian (18 November 2016). "The Marches by Rory Stewart review – farewell to an imperial class". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
- "Rory Stewart is the 33rd Lakeland Book of the Year Winner for 'The Marches'". www.jamescropper.com. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
- "THE MARCHES – Rory Stewart". Rory Stewart. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
- Thesiger, Wilfred; Stewart, Rory (25 October 2007). Arabian Sands (Reissue ed.). London: Penguin Classics. ISBN 9780141442075.
- "Travels In Arabia Deserta | Folio Illustrated Book". www.foliosociety.com. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- Byron, Robert; Stewart, Rory; Fussell, Paul (18 May 2007). The Road to Oxiana. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195325607.
- Stewart, Rory (1 February 2007). The Prince of the Marshes: And Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq. HMH. ISBN 9780156033008.
- "OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS". Hampstead Theatre. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
- Oborne, Peter (10 October 2011). "Can Intervention Work? by Rory Stewart and Gerald Knaus: review". Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
- "Rory Stewart". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
- "Rory Stewart · LRB". www.lrb.co.uk. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
- Desert Island Discs – Rory Stewart, BBC Radio 4, 20 January 2008.
- Stewart, Rory (22 November 2008). "Opinion | The 'Good War' Isn't Worth Fighting". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
- "Latest Headlines". cwherald.com.
- The Legacy of Lawrence of Arabia BBC Two
- "BBC Two – Afghanistan: The Great Game – A Personal View by Rory Stewart". BBC. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
- "Border Country: The Story of Britain's Lost Middleland". BBC iPlayer. 26 March 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
- "The Turquoise Mountain Foundation becomes The Prince's 18th charity". Prince of Wales. 25 March 2007. Archived from the original on 1 July 2007. Retrieved 28 September 2008.
- "Rory Stewart MP | Parliamentary Candidate Declarations of Interests – April 2010". RoryStewart.co.uk. 23 April 2010. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
- [Board of Governors: 2 November 2010], International Development Research Centre of Canada.
- "Director's Lecture with Rory Stewart". University of Chicago Oriental Institute. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
- van Praagh, Anna (1 November 2009). "Rory Stewart: A new kind of Tory". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
- Jaffe, Greg (20 December 2019). "Perspective | Afghanistan wasn't destined to fail. Here's how we could have fought it better". The Washington Post. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
- Parker, Ian (7 November 2010). "Paths of Glory". The New Yorker. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
“The experience of running this thing in Afghanistan made me a Burkean conservative,” Stewart said.
- Parker, Ian (7 November 2010). "Paths of Glory". The New Yorker. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
Stewart had never voted Conservative, except against his will; in 2001, when he was walking in India, his parents cast his proxy vote for the Conservatives, to his dismay.
- Glover, Julian (20 March 2010). "Tories 2.0: Cameron's new breed". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
In Penrith and the Border, Rory Stewart is one of those stars who is almost certain of election – an Etonian Harvard professor with an extraordinary life story and lively media career who joined his party only last summer.
- "Residents choose Tory candidate". BBC News Online. 17 October 2009.
- Paul Waugh (25 October 2009). "Rory Stewart for PM?". London Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 28 October 2009. Retrieved 30 May 2010.
- "Ex-diplomat heads list to succeed Penrith MP David Maclean". Cumberland News. 7 October 2009. Archived from the original on 24 February 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2009.
- "Election 2010 – Penrith & the Border". BBC News Online. 6 May 2010.
- "Penrith and the Border: results". ITV News. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
- "Tory MP 'sorry' for twine remark". BBC News Online. 25 July 2010. Retrieved 26 July 2010.
- Parker, Ian (7 November 2010). "Paths of Glory". The New Yorker. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
This summer, a minor tabloid scandal broke after Stewart was quoted in a paper saying, of his constituency, "Some areas around here are pretty primitive, people holding up their trousers with bits of twine and that sort of thing." (His point, he later said, was that Cumbria's beauty is misleading; there are "hidden pockets of poverty.")
- "In praise of ... binder twine". The Guardian. 27 July 2010. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
- "Rural broadband pilot areas named". Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. 19 May 2011.
- "EE switches on superfast 4G broadband in rural Cumbria". EE Limited. 11 November 2013.
- "Secretary of State pays testament to broadband activist Rory Stewart MP". Rory Stewart. 5 February 2015.
- https://cumbriacrack.com/2020/10/26/mp-urges-the-public-to-support-penriths-alhambra-cinema/amp/. Missing or empty
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(help) - https://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2014/news/fire-engine-saved-from-axe-after-weeklys-campaign/. Missing or empty
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(help) - https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cumbria-25066293. Missing or empty
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(help) - https://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/17648008.mp-urges-public-say-1bn-a66-plans/. Missing or empty
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(help) - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/700m-boost-for-flood-defences-brings-150m-more-for-yorkshire-and-cumbria. Missing or empty
|title=
(help) - Johnston, John (22 July 2019). "EXCL Top Tories face questions over links to secretive foreign affairs group". PoliticsHome. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
- "Mountain Rescue". All Party. 24 January 2012. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
- "Rory delivers keynote speech at UK's bi-ennial Mountain Rescue conference". Rory Stewart. 17 September 2012.
- "Local Democracy". Register of All-Party Groups. House of Commons. 30 March 2015.
- "Rory Stewart MP leads national campaign for parish financing". National Association of Local Councils. 30 April 2013. Archived from the original on 16 July 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
- "RORY STEWART MP HERALDS FUEL REBATE WIN FOR RURAL AREAS – Rory Stewart". Rory Stewart. 2 June 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
- "Hedgehog conservation". Hansard. 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
- Parris, Matthew (23 December 2015). "Why llamas are the hedgehog's best friend". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
- Moore, Charles (28 December 2015). "If only we could consign Tracey Crouch and her views on foxhunting to history". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
- "Broadband Archives – Rory Stewart". Rory Stewart. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- "98% coverage for mobile broadband". Rory Stewart. 4 November 2011.
- "Rory's campaign for rural mobile coverage in 4G triumph". Rory Stewart. 25 July 2012.
- "Mobile coverage obligation". Ofcom. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
- "Rory Stewart visits VA to consult on rehabilitation needs". Veterans Aid. 2 April 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- "Review of Veterans within the Criminal Justice System Call for Evidence". Ministry of Justice. 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
- "New chair announced for Veterans Review". Ministry of Justice. 16 June 2014.
- D'Arcy, Mark (14 May 2014). "Rory roars in". BBC News.
- Blackburn, David (14 May 2014). "Rory Stewart elected Chairman of the Defence Select Committee". Spectator Blogs.
- "Rory Stewart's new triumph". The Economist. 14 May 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
- "Ukraine must be a wake-up call for NATO – News from Parliament". UK Parliament. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- Ewen MacAskill (5 February 2015). "Britain must play a greater role in fighting Islamic State in Iraq, say MPs". The Guardian.
- "Forces Ombudsman should have further powers, says Defence Committee". UK Parliament. 23 October 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
- "Home". Hands Across the Border.
- "'THE CAIRN REMAINS A POWERFUL SYMBOL OF THE TIES THAT BIND US' SAYS RORY STEWART – Rory Stewart". Rory Stewart. 14 April 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- "Scottish independence: 'cairn to celebrate union love'". BBC News Online. 9 July 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
- "Joanna Lumley shows support for union with Scotland". BBC News Online. 31 August 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
- "The Rt Hon Rory Stewart OBE". GOV.UK. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
- "Review into regulation and enforcement in waste sector launches". GOV.UK. 17 July 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
- "National Flood Resilience Review: Government action to tackle floods". GOV.UK. 26 January 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
- "A country more flood resilient". GOV.UK. 13 December 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
- Carrington, Damian (9 June 2016). "Government failing to protect communities at risk of flooding, MPs say" – via www.theguardian.com.
- "Plastic bag charge to protect marine environment – Rory Stewart". Rory Stewart. 7 October 2015. Archived from the original on 9 June 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- "Government's 25-year environment plan". www.complydirect.com. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- "The call of the wild: Environment Minister champions weekend walking trips in our National Parks – Rory Stewart". Rory Stewart. 29 April 2016. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- "RORY STEWART MP CELEBRATES THE LAKE DISTRICT'S WORLD HERITAGE SUCCESS – "A VINDICATION OF ALL THAT WE LOVE" – Rory Stewart". Rory Stewart. 11 July 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
- "Reducing flood risk from source to sea" (PDF). UK Government. 2016.
- "Floods Minister: 'Lake District is open for business'". ITV News. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
- "New ministerial role for MP Rory Stewart". ITV.com. ITV. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
- "Rory Stewart Visit to Asia".
- Mafita (3 August 2017). "UK's Minister for Africa is 'very happy' with what he saw at MAFITA COSDEC in Mando". Medium. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- "Bruce, British Minister Stewart push trade deals in Uganda – Vanguard News". Vanguard News. 15 July 2017. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- "Minister for Africa,Rory Stewart OBE MP Visit to Gaborone | Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- "Oral Answers to Questions – Hansard Online". hansard.parliament.uk. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- "Meeting with UK Minister for Africa, Rory Stewart | Kigali, 7 November 2017". Flickr. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- "Tête-à-tête Rory Stewart-Joseph Kabila ce vendredi à Kingakati – Le Portail de Barnabé KIKAYA". kikayabinkarubi.net. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- "UK Minister for Africa Rory Stewart visits Zambia – GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- "UK minister Rory Stewart announces $450 million for development in Tanzania – GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- "Cumbrian MP Rory Stewart meets Zimbabwe's new president". News and Star. 20 November 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
- "Zimbabwe must reform after Mugabe, says first British minster to visit country in two decades". The Telegraph. 23 November 2017. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
- "Rory Stewart returns from Zimbabwe – GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- "Rory Stewart given new role in cabinet reshuffle". News and Star. 9 January 2018. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
- Travis, Alan (19 January 2018). "Liverpool prison has 'worst conditions inspectors have seen'". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- Ford, Richard (24 January 2018). "I'm going back to basics to clean up our filthy prisons, vows minister Rory Stewart". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
- Stewart, Rory (17 February 2018). "I strongly believe we can improve our prisons and make progress". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- "Assaults on police constables: 27 Apr 2018: House of Commons debates – TheyWorkForYou". TheyWorkForYou. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
- "I'll quit if jails don't improve – minister". BBC News. 17 August 2018. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
- "Results from the 10 Prisons Project Ad Hoc Statistics" (PDF). GOV.UK. 22 August 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
- Elliot Tyler. "What 2021 Might Hold For Those in Prison". Elliot Tyler: The Official Blog of Elliot Tyle (via Wordpress). Retrieved 22 December 2020.
- Elliot Tyler. "What 2021 Might Hold For Those in Prison". The Canary. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
- "Secretary of State for International Development – GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
- "Department for International Development single departmental plan". GOV.UK. 27 June 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
- Letts, Quentin (7 June 2019). "Springtime for Stewart is no laughing matter". The Times. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
- "Oral statement to Parliament on the Ebola crisis in DR Congo". GOV.UK. 20 May 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
- Wintour, Patrick (7 July 2019). "Declare Ebola outbreak in DRC an emergency, says UK's Rory Stewart". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
- "International Development Secretary Rory Stewart visits Jordan in first foreign visit in role". GOV.UK. 4 July 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
- Clifton, Katy (23 July 2019). "Rory Stewart confirms resignation from Cabinet after Boris Johnson's victory". Evening Standard. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
- "Rory Stewart: I'd bring country together as PM". BBC News. 2 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
- "Rory Stewart: We need a standard bearer for the middle ground — it could be me". The Times. 13 April 2019. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
- "Commons Confidential: The Eurosceptic hackocracy". www.newstatesman.com. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
- Elgot, Jessica (18 June 2019). "'This is serious': the unlikely rise of Rory Stewart's pitch to be PM". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
- "The Londoner: Rory Stewart is proving to be a master of PR". Evening Standard. 30 May 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
- Mikhailova, Anna (29 May 2019). "Rory Stewart admits smoking opium in Iran as he continues Tory leadership tour of Britain". The Telegraph. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
- "Michael Gove admits he was lucky to avoid jail over cocaine use". BBC. 9 June 2019. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
- "Rory Stewart pledges grown-up approach in Tory leadership race". Financial Times. 11 June 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
- "Full results of the Conservative leadership election – round 1". The Guardian. 13 June 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
- "Dominic Raab refuses to rule out suspending Parliament to push through no deal". ITV News. 16 June 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- Deacon, Michael (16 June 2019). "Rory Stewart is the only serious threat to Boris Johnson – and the TV debate proved it". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
- "Rory Stewart out of Tory leadership race". BBC News. 19 June 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
- "LIVE: Raab eliminated as Johnson wins second leadership contest ballot". Sky News. 18 June 2019. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
- "Rory Stewart in talks with Michael Gove to stop Boris Johnson becoming prime minister". The Independent. 19 June 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
- Kate Lyons; Kevin Rawlinson; Andrew Sparrow; Frances Perraudin (4 September 2019). "Boris Johnson to table motion for election after failed vote – as it happened". The Guardian.
MPs back move to allow bill to block no-deal Brexit by majority of 27
- "What is removing the whip, filibustering and other Brexit jargon?". BBC Newsbeat. 4 September 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
- "Whips". Parliament.uk. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
- Stewart, Heather; Walker, Peter (3 September 2019). "Boris Johnson to seek election after rebel Tories deliver Commons defeat". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
- Mikhailova, Anna (4 September 2019). "Boris Johnson to strip 21 Tory MPs of the Tory whip in parliamentary bloodbath". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
- Bloom, Dan (4 September 2019). "Tory Rory Stewart sacked by text while he accepted politician of the year award". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
- Walker, Peter (4 October 2019). "Rory Stewart resigns from Conservative party". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
- "Coronavirus: English local elections postponed for a year". BBC News. 13 March 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
- @RoryStewartUK (4 October 2019). "I am running as an Independent candidate for Mayor of London, and here's why. Please join me in my campaign: join.rorystewart.co.uk #Rory4London" (Tweet). Retrieved 7 April 2020 – via Twitter.
- Whitfield, Kate (5 October 2019). "When are next London mayor elections? Who will stand against Rory Stewart? Latest odds". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
- "BBC One – Have I Got News for You, Series 58, Episode 6".
- "Irish musicians angry at being called 'minor gangsters' by Rory Stewart". The Irish Times. 26 October 2019. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
- Cowburn, Ashley (25 October 2019). "Labour accuses mayoral candidate Rory Stewart of racism after describing three London men as 'minor gangsters'". The Independent. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
- Stewart, Rory (25 October 2019). "I am very sorry towards the guys and towards everyone else. I was wrong". @rorystewartuk. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
- Lydall, Ross (6 May 2020). "Rory Stewart quits race to become London Mayor saying coronavirus crisis made it 'impossible' to campaign". Evening Standard. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
- https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/rory-stewart-the-tory-leadership-hopeful-whose-lif/. Missing or empty
|title=
(help) - "EU vote: Where the cabinet and other MPs stand". BBC News Online. 22 June 2016.
- "Statement on Brexit". Rory Stewart. 5 July 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
- Rafael Behr (19 June 2019). May's Brexit deal is not dead – and only Rory Stewart will admit it. The Guardian.
- Jessica Elgot (18 June 2019). 'This is serious': the unlikely rise of Rory Stewart's pitch to be PM. The Guardian. "his energetic defence of Theresa May’s Brexit deal".
- Andrew Woodcock (28 May 2019). Rory Stewart: Tory leadership contender unveils proposal to break Brexit deadlock. Independent. "Mr Stewart, who backed Remain in the 2016 referendum and has been one of the most persistent public defenders of Theresa May’s withdrawal deal".
- "ON BREXIT". Rory Stewart. 29 November 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
- Wilkinson, Michael; Prince, Rosa; Gosden, Emily (14 July 2015). "Fox Hunting – Will my MP vote to repeal it?". The Telegraph. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
- "General Election candidates: Our views on fox hunting". News&Star. 31 May 2017.
- "Conservative MP Rory Stewart to marry American volunteer at his Afghan charity". News and Star. 24 October 2012. Archived from the original on 22 April 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
- "Penrith and the Border MP Rory Stewart and his American bride, ..." www.cwherald.com. 9 November 2012. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
- Thring, Oliver (9 October 2016). "Florence of Arabia tamed by a toddler". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0956-1382. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
- Milan, Aidan (20 June 2019). "Who is Rort Stewart's wife Shoshana Clark as he leaves the Tory leadership race?". Metro. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
- Tominey, Camilla (19 June 2019). "Rory Stewart: the 'Florence of Belgravia' years, and the portrait that set him apart from his Eton peers". The Telegraph. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
- Stewart, Rory (30 October 2019). "Rory Stewart's Diary: Running for London mayor, life in a gang, and getting coached by Dominic Cummings". NewStatesman. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
I live in the same house in London that I lived in when I was one.
- Wright, Charles (27 November 2019). "Rory Stewart: 'Less politics, more action' from City Hall if I become London Mayor". OnLondon. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
And finally, the former Conservative, who has had a family home in Kensington all his life, revealed that he has decided who he’s voting for on December 12, but wasn’t saying any more.
- "Would-be Tory MP Rory Stewart". The Guardian. 14 January 2010. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
- "No. 57315". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 2004. p. 23.
- "Ondaatje prize".
- "Livingstone Medal". rsgs.org. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
- "Ness Award".
- "British Academy Scotland Awards: Winners in 2012". www.bafta.org. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
- Singh, Anita (3 September 2019). "GQ Men of the Year 2019: Andrew Scott, Rory Stewart and Greta Thunberg". The Telegraph.
- "Noticias Ruta Camino del CID |El escocés Rory Stewart gana el Premio de Literatura de Viajes Camino del Cid con su libro La huella de Babur". www.caminodelcid.org (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 March 2018.
- Graduating Stirling students reap their rewards University of Stirling, 23 November 2009
- "AUP official website". Archived from the original on 3 October 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
- "Royal Society of Literature » Two-way traffic: Rory Stewart on writing about place". rsliterature.org. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
- "Honorary Fellowship (FRSGS)". rsgs.org. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
Books
- The Places in Between, Picador, 2004–2006
- Occupational Hazards: My Time Governing in Iraq, Picador, 2006, ISBN 0-330-44049-7
- Can Intervention Work? Amnesty International Global Ethics Series, co-authored with Gerald Knaus. W.W. Norton and Co. (Published in the USA on 15 August 2011; due for UK publication on 7 October 2011). ISBN 0-393-08120-6.
- The Marches: A Borderland Journey between England and Scotland, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, ISBN 978-0544108882
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rory Stewart. |
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Wikiquote has quotations related to: Rory Stewart |
- website
- Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
- Voting record at Public Whip
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by David Maclean |
Member of Parliament for Penrith and The Border 2010–2019 |
Succeeded by Neil Hudson |
Preceded by James Arbuthnot |
Chair of the Defence Select Committee 2014–2015 |
Succeeded by Julian Lewis |
Political offices | ||
Preceded by Dan Rogerson |
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 2015–2016 |
Succeeded by Thérèse Coffey |
Preceded by Sir Desmond Swayne |
Minister of State for International Development 2016–2018 |
Succeeded by Harriett Baldwin |
Preceded by Office created |
Minister of State for Africa 2017–2018 | |
Preceded by Sam Gyimah |
Minister of State for Prisons 2018–2019 |
Succeeded by Robert Buckland |
Preceded by Penny Mordaunt |
Secretary of State for International Development 2019 |
Succeeded by Alok Sharma |
Awards and achievements | ||
Preceded by David Lammy |
British GQ Politician of the Year 2019 |
Incumbent |