fbpx
Wikipedia

Rory Stewart

October 17, 2023

For the Scottish squash player, see Rory Stewart (squash player).

Roderick James Nugent Stewart OBE FRSGS FRSL (born 3 January 1973) is a British academic, diplomat, author, broadcaster, former soldier, and former politician. He is a former president of GiveDirectly and was a visiting fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, where he taught politics and international relations.[1] He hosts the podcast The Rest is Politics[2] with Alastair Campbell. Previously, Stewart served as a minister in four different departments of the UK Government. He then became a Cabinet minister as Secretary of State for International Development from May to July 2019. He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Penrith and The Border from 2010 to 2019.

The Right Honourable
Rory Stewart
OBE FRSGS FRSL
Official portrait, 2015
Secretary of State for International Development
In office
1 May 2019 – 24 July 2019
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byPenny Mordaunt
Succeeded byAlok Sharma
Junior ministerial offices
Minister of State for Prisons
In office
9 January 2018 – 1 May 2019
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded bySam Gyimah
Succeeded byRobert Buckland
Minister of State for Africa
In office
15 June 2017 – 9 January 2018
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byTobias Ellwood
Succeeded byHarriett Baldwin
Minister of State for International Development
In office
17 July 2016 – 9 January 2018
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byDesmond Swayne
Succeeded byHarriett Baldwin
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Water, Forestry, Rural Affairs and Resource Management
In office
12 May 2015 – 17 July 2016
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byDan Rogerson
Succeeded byThérèse Coffey
Further offices held
Chair of the Defence Select Committee
In office
14 May 2014 – 12 May 2015
Preceded byJames Arbuthnot
Succeeded byJulian Lewis
Member of Parliament
for Penrith and The Border
In office
6 May 2010 – 6 November 2019
Preceded byDavid Maclean
Succeeded byNeil Hudson
Personal details
Born
Roderick James Nugent Stewart

(1973-01-03) 3 January 1973 (age 50)
British Hong Kong
Political partyIndependent (2019–present)
Other political
affiliations
Spouse
Shoshana Clark
​
(m. 2012)​
Children2
RelativesBrian Stewart (father)
WebsiteOfficial website
Military service
Allegiance United Kingdom
Branch/service British Army
Years of service1991–1992
Rank Second Lieutenant (on probation)
Unit Black Watch
Academic background
Education
Alma materBalliol College, Oxford (BA)
Academic work
Institutions
Main interests

Born in Hong Kong, Stewart was educated at the Dragon School and Eton College. After studying at Balliol College, Oxford, Stewart worked for Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service as a diplomat in Indonesia and as British Representative to Montenegro. He left the diplomatic service to undertake a two-year walk across Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, India and Nepal. He later wrote a best-selling book, The Places in Between, about his experiences.

He subsequently served as Deputy Governor in Maysan and Dhi Qar for the Coalition Provisional Authority following the 2003 invasion of Iraq and wrote a second book covering this period, Occupational Hazards or The Prince of the Marshes. In 2005, he moved to Kabul to establish and run the Turquoise Mountain Foundation. He was the Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights and the director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University from 2008 to 2010.

In 2010, Stewart was elected to the House of Commons and in 2014 he was elected chair of the Defence Select Committee. He served under David Cameron as Minister for the Environment from 2015 to 2016. He served as a minister throughout Theresa May’s government: as Minister of State for International Development, Minister of State for Africa and Minister of State for Prisons. He ultimately joined the Cabinet and National Security Council as Secretary of State for International Development.[3] After May resigned, Stewart stood as a candidate to be Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the 2019 leadership contest. His campaign was defined by his unorthodox use of social media and opposition to a no-deal Brexit. He stated at the beginning of his campaign that he would not serve under Boris Johnson[4] and when Johnson became Prime Minister, in July 2019, Stewart resigned from the Cabinet.

On 3 September 2019 Stewart had the Conservative Whip removed after voting to back a motion paving the way for a law seeking to delay the UK's exit date.[5] On 3 October 2019, Stewart announced he had resigned from the Conservative Party and that he would stand down as an MP at the next general election. He initially announced as an independent candidate in the 2021 London mayoral election but withdrew on 6 May 2020 on the grounds of the election being postponed due to COVID-19. In September 2020, he became a fellow at Yale University, teaching politics and international relations. In March 2022, he and Alastair Campbell launched The Rest Is Politics, which has been since its launch the top politics podcast in the UK in the Apple rankings, and often the leading podcast in the UK.[2][6]

Early life and education Edit

Stewart was born in Hong Kong, then under British rule, the son of Brian Stewart and his wife, Sally Elizabeth Acland Nugent (née Rose). His family is from Broich House (built in 1770), near Crieff in Perth and Kinross, Scotland.[7] Stewart's father, born in Edinburgh, Scotland, was a colonial official and diplomat who, in the 1970s, was reportedly a candidate to become the Chief of the UK's Secret Intelligence Service or MI6.[8] Stewart's maternal grandfather was Jewish.[9] His younger sister has Down syndrome.[10]

Stewart spent his early years in South Kensington, London[11] 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.[8] He was taught martial arts and fencing by his father in Hyde Park.[11] As a teenager, he was a member of the Labour Party.[12][13][14] 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.[15][16] He studied medieval history under Maurice Keen and then philosophy, politics and economics under Jonathan Barnes at Balliol College, Oxford University.[8] While a student at Oxford, Stewart was a private tutor to Prince William and Prince Harry during the summer.[8] He attended a single meeting of the Bullingdon Club[17] before resigning after witnessing the behaviour of other members.[11]

Diplomatic career Edit

Indonesia and Montenegro Edit

After graduating, Stewart joined the Foreign Office.[18] 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.[8]

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.[8][19] Stewart has said that his career progression and his father's work for MI6 might "give the appearance" that he worked for MI6,[20] but says he did not work for MI6 while a diplomat.[19] 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.[21]

Iraq Edit

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.[8] He was posted initially to the KOSB Battlegroup then to the Light Infantry.[22] His responsibilities included holding elections, resolving tribal disputes, and implementing development projects.[22] 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.[8] He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services during this period.[23] 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.[24]

Books and media Edit

Travel and travel writing Edit

 
Stewart lecturing in 2008

In 2000, Stewart took leave from the Foreign Service to walk across Asia. This journey on foot involved Stewart walking for more than eighteen months, across much of Iran, Pakistan, and the Indian and Nepali Himalayas in 2000 and 2001, finishing with a 36-day solo walk across Afghanistan in the early months of 2002. He typically walked 20–25 miles a day, staying in village houses every night. He has also walked across sections of Western New Guinea[25] 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".[26] 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.[27]

His book describing his walk across Afghanistan, The Places in Between, was a New York Times bestseller. The Places in Between[28][29] was named by The New York Times as a "flat-out masterpiece" and listed as one of its 10 notable books of 2006.[8] It won the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize,[30] the Spirit of Scotland award,[31] and the Premio de Literatura de Viaje Caminos del Cid.[31] It was short-listed for a Scottish Arts Council prize,[32] the Guardian First Book Award[28] and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize.[28] The book was adapted into a radio play by Benjamin Yeoh broadcast in 2007 on BBC Radio 4.[33]

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.[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 Edit

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.[8] 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]

'Politics on the Edge: A Memoir from Within' was published in September 2023. It is a personal account of Stewart's years in politics, starting with his attempts to be selected as a Member of Parliament, describes his experiences as an MP, as a junior and then a senior minister, and his Conservative leadership bid.

He was a columnist for The New York Times,[48] and also for his local constituency newspaper, the Cumberland and Westmorland Herald, contributing a monthly column.[49]

Television Edit

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]

Podcasts Edit

In March 2022, Stewart launched The Rest is Politics podcast with former Labour Party communications director Alastair Campbell. The pair discuss current political news stories.[53]

Stewart also hosted the BBC Radio 4 Podcast The Long History Of Argument where he discussed the history of debates.[54]

Academic, nonprofit, and advisory work Edit

Non-profit work Edit

In late 2005, Stewart set up the Turquoise Mountain Foundation, in Afghanistan, a human development NGO established by King Charles III, and Hamid Karzai.[55] 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.[8] Stewart stepped down as executive chairman of the Turquoise Mountain Foundation in May 2010.[56] Stewart also served for a time on the board of governors of the International Development Research Centre of Canada.[57]

In 2021 Stewart and his family moved to Jordan for two years to work for the Turquoise Mountain Foundation setting up a project to restore a Roman site near the Golan Heights to create employment in the area. Stewart would also be travelling to Yale University for lecture commitments.[10]

He is a commissioner of the #Principles4Peace initiative.

In August 2022, GiveDirectly announced that Stewart would be president of the organization.[58][59]

Academic and policy work Edit

In July 2008, Stewart was appointed as to the faculty of the John F. Kennedy School of Government as Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights at Harvard University and director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy,[8] having previously been a fellow at the Carr Center from 2004 to 2005.[8] He left his position to campaign for Parliament.[60] He returned to academia as a Senior Fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute in 2020.[61]

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.[8] 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.[62] 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.[63] His ideas were rejected by senators, including future Secretary of State John Kerry.[63] He also briefed Gordon Brown and David Miliband.[64]

In September 2020, he became a fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, teaching politics, grand strategy and international relations to undergraduate and graduate students.[65][66]

Member of Parliament Edit

Penrith and The Border Edit

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".[67] 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),[68] he joined the party in summer 2009.[69] Stewart tried for selection for the Bracknell constituency in the 2010 general election,[70] but the place went to Phillip Lee.[71] Stewart was then shortlisted for the Penrith and The Border constituency and, at an open caucus, selected as the candidate on 25 October 2009.[72] He was returned as the MP for the constituency on 6 May 2010.[73] 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.[74] In the 2017 general election, he received 60.4% of the vote.

In July 2010, Stewart apologised after blogging about his constituents using twine to hold their trousers up.[75] 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".[75] He later said that he was making the point that Cumbria's beauty hides its "pockets of poverty".[76] 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.[77]

Stewart was successful in securing the Cumbrian broadband pilot in 2011,[78] 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.[79] In February 2015, Stewart secured more funding to continue the broadband roll-out in Cumbria.[80] He was also part of the successful campaigns against the closure of the Penrith cinema[81] and fire station,[82] and helped to secure agreement and funding for disabled access at Penrith Station,[83] and the dualling of the A66 road,[84] and for flood defence funding for Cumbria.[85]

National roles and influence before becoming a Minister Edit

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.[86] Stewart also served as the chair of the APPG for Mountain Rescue[87][88] and the APPG for Local Democracy,[89][90] and was an officer of the APPG for Rural Services.[91] 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".[92][93][94]

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.[95] 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,[96] 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.[97] In March 2018, Ofcom announced that the 98% target had been met.[98]

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.[99] The review looked at ways in which support and prevention for veterans in the justice system can be improved.[100] Following his election to Chairman of the Defence Select Committee, Stewart handed over the lead for the review to Stephen Phillips.[101]

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.[102][103][104] In this capacity, Stewart argued strongly for a more vigorous response to Russian aggression in Ukraine.[105] The committee also argued that Britain's commitments to Iraq and Syria were "strikingly modest" and that more should be done.[106] 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.[107]

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".[108] 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,[109] 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."[110] 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.[111] Approximately 100,000 stones were laid on the cairn, many with personal messages.

Ministerial positions Edit

Environment minister Edit

 
Stewart pictured with the Greek politician Nikos Xydakis in September 2016

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.[112]

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.[113] 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.[114] Stewart initiated the Cumbria Floods Partnership in response to Storm Desmond, with a focus on long-term flood defence.[115] 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.[116]

As environment minister, he introduced the 5 pence a bag plastic bag tax for England from 5 October 2015 (designed to phase out lightweight plastic bags), expected to reduce the use of personal bags take from supermarkets by up to 80%[117] (in fact, usage reduced in England by 85%);[118] 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.[119] As Minister responsible for the national parks, Stewart secured five years of increased funding for national parks and AONBs.[120] 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.[121]

As floods minister, Stewart oversaw the government's response to the 2015–16 Great Britain and Ireland floods, including the post-Storm Desmond floods,[122] including the reopening of the A591 and the bridge at Pooley Bridge in the Lake District.[123]

Minister of International Development: Middle East and Asia Edit

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.[3][124] 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.[125]

Minister of Foreign Office and International Development: Africa Edit

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,[126][127][128] and the United National General Assembly in New York City (UNGA).[129] During these trips, he held personal meetings with President Kagame of Rwanda,[130] President Kabila of DRC,[131] President Lungu of Zambia,[132] President Magufuli of Tanzania,[133] President Kenyatta of Kenya, and President Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe.[134] 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.[135] His Zimbabwe policy pressed for political reform, and free and fair elections.[136]

Prisons and probations minister Edit

 
Stewart at the London Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference in 2018

Stewart was appointed Minister of State for Prisons with responsibility for prisons and probation in England and Wales in January 2018.[137] 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.[138] Stewart immediately visited the prison and, testifying before the Justice Select Committee, announced his determination to clean up prisons in England and Wales.[139] 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".[140]

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.[141]

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.[142] 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%.[143]

Secretary of State for International Development Edit

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.[144]

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 enshrine these priorities in his new single departmental plan.[145] 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".[146]

Concerned about the increase in Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2019,[147] 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,[148] 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).[149]

Stewart felt that he could not serve under his fellow Old Etonian Boris Johnson, who was elected Prime Minister after the resignation of Theresa May, and so resigned from cabinet on 24 July 2019.[11][150]

Conservative Party leadership election Edit

Stewart was a candidate in the 2019 Conservative leadership election, announcing his intention to stand in an interview in The Times.[151][152] His candidacy was not initially taken seriously, with a piece in the New Statesman's diary stating that he had a single supporter: himself.[153] 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".[154]

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.[155]

On 29 May, Stewart admitted he had smoked opium during a wedding in Iran.[156] Several other candidates admitted to previous illegal drug use during the election.[157]

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.[158] Against expectations, on 13 June he made it through the first parliamentary ballot, gaining 19 votes, two more than the elimination threshold.[159] On 16 June, he appeared, as one of the six remaining candidates, in a televised debate on Channel 4.[160] 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".[161]

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.[162][163] It was revealed on the same day that Stewart was in talks with Michael Gove to stop Boris Johnson becoming Prime Minister.[164] Although, in his podcast, with co-host Alastair Campbell, Stewart claimed that Gove was intentionally wasting his time to better position Boris Johnson in the leadership race.[165]

Independent politician Edit

Sitting as an independent and resignation Edit

Main article: September 2019 suspension of rebel Conservative MPs

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.[166] 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,[167] expelling them as Conservative MPs and requiring them to sit as independents.[168][169] If they should decide to run for re-election in a future election, the party would block their selection as Conservative candidates.[170] Stewart stated that he was informed of this decision by text message, while collecting his GQ Politician of the Year Award.[171]

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."[172]

London mayoral candidate Edit

In October 2019, Stewart announced that he was to stand as an independent in the upcoming London mayoral election against incumbent Labour mayor Sadiq Khan and Conservative candidate Shaun Bailey.[173] He planned during his candidacy to walk through each of the 32 London boroughs.[11] In November 2019, he appeared on BBC One's Have I Got News for You.[174] Labelled by Scottish Nationalist publication, The National, as a "bizarre campaign trick", in February 2020, as a part of his campaign, he sought invitations from "Londoners to invite him into their homes and let him stay the night".[175] The objective, he tweeted was for them to "show me the city through their eyes. I want to know your concerns and your ideas."[176] By 14 February, The Guardian tweeted, "2,000 Londoners [had taken] up Rory Stewart's offer".[177]

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.[178] This drew accusations of racism from many politicians, including Dawn Butler, David Lammy and Diane Abbott.[179] Stewart apologised the next day, tweeting "I am very sorry towards the guys and towards everyone else. I was wrong".[180]

Initially scheduled to be held in 2020, the mayoral election was postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[181] On 6 May 2020, Stewart ended his mayoralty bid, saying he could not maintain a campaign for another year against the large budgets of the Labour and Conservative campaigns.[182] He stated 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.[183]

Political views Edit

Stewart supported remain in the 2016 referendum on the UK's continued membership of the European Union.[184] Following the result of the referendum, he tried to argue for what he called a "sensible, moderate deal"[185] that could act as a compromise between Remain and Leave voters. He argued that although the referendum made it necessary to leave the EU, Britain should seek "to stay very close to Europe diplomatically and politically and economically".[186] He was initially a prominent advocate for the Brexit withdrawal agreement negotiated by the prime minister Theresa May, 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.[187][188][154]

He then became an advocate for the UK remaining in a Customs Union with the European Union, and voted with the Labour Party for a Customs Union amendment in the House of Commons. He continued to argue, following that defeat, that following the outcome of the referendum "the Customs Union option was the best available – the only way of achieving the substantial separation desired by Brexit voters while remaining close to the EU diplomatically and economically."[189] He proposed, however, following the failure of parliament to reach any positive agreement – that the issue could be passed to a Citizens Assembly, chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury to find a compromise on Brexit.[190]

Although he accepted the result of the Brexit referendum,[191] he remained opposed to the idea of a no-deal Brexit – even as a bargaining position in the negotiation with the EU. He voted against a no-deal Brexit in parliament. He was formally stripped of the Conservative whip, and expelled from the Conservative Party after voting with 20 other Conservative colleagues to try to block a no-deal Brexit.[192]

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.[193] 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."[194]

Personal life Edit

In 2012, Stewart married American Shoshana Clark, a former employee.[195][196] They had their first child in November 2014, a son whom Stewart delivered at home in the absence of medical assistance,[197] and their second son was born in April 2017.[198][199][11]

Stewart lives in South Kensington, London[11][200][201] as well as Dufton, Cumbria.[202] He is a member of the Athenaeum Club and the Special Forces Club.[17] He is said to be proficient in 11 languages, though he claims to be 'mediocre' in several of them. He described himself as 'distinguished' in German.[11] From 2021 to 2023 Stewart and his family lived in Jordan while he worked on a Turquoise Mountain Foundation project.[10]

Awards and honours Edit

References Edit

  1. ^ "Rory Stewart - Senior Fellow 2020-2022". Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  2. ^ a b Marriott, James (18 March 2022). "The Rest Is Politics review — notes from the political wilderness". The Times. from the original on 18 August 2022. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Rory Stewart MP OBE". GOV.UK. British Government. from the original on 23 July 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  4. ^ "Stewart will not serve with Johnson". BBC News. from the original on 28 June 2021. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
  5. ^ "Brexit showdown: Who were Tory rebels who defied Boris Johnson?". BBC News. 3 September 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  6. ^ "Apple Podcasts Preview The Rest Is Politics". Goalhanger Podcasts. from the original on 1 September 2022. Retrieved 18 August 2022. Two men who've been at the heart of the political world - former Downing Street Director of Communications and Strategy Alastair Campbell and cabinet minister Rory Stewart - join forces from across the political divide. The Rest Is Politics lifts the lid on the secrets of Westminster, offering an insider's view on politics at home and abroad, while bringing back the lost art of disagreeing agreeably.
  7. ^ Satnam, Sanghera (4 December 2013). "Rory Stewart: Adventurer, academic, MP – PM?". The Times. from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Parker, Ian (8 November 2010). "Paths of Glory". from the original on 5 February 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2018 – via www.newyorker.com.
  9. ^ Harpin, Lee (7 October 2019). "Rory Stewart enjoys a bagel and reveals his 'special connection' to the Jewish community". The Jewish Chronicle. from the original on 8 October 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
  10. ^ a b c Mossman, Kate (28 July 2021). "Rory Stewart is on the road again". New Statesman. from the original on 30 July 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h Fletcher, Martin (1 November 2019). "Rory Stewart: 'Boris and I are complete chalk and cheese. I'm suspicious of the whole show'". The Telegraph. from the original on 19 May 2021. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  12. ^ Glover, Julian (14 January 2010). "Rory Stewart's awfully big adventure". The Guardian. London. from the original on 9 September 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  13. ^ Parker, Ian (7 November 2010). "Paths of Glory". The New Yorker. from the original on 24 September 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2020. He had been a member of the Labour Party in his late teens. (A few pounds a year; occasional meetings.)
  14. ^ "BBC Radio 4 – Political Thinking with Nick Robinson, The Rory Stewart One". BBC. from the original on 7 June 2020. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  15. ^ "No. 52792". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 January 1992. p. 493.
  16. ^ "No. 52910". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 May 1992. p. 7744.
  17. ^ a b Letts, Quentin (5 April 2016). "Everything you need to know about Tory MP Rory Stewart". Tatler. from the original on 28 February 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  18. ^ . rorystewart.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 January 2010.
  19. ^ a b Rob Merrick (17 June 2019). Tory leadership: Rory Stewart claims 100 Conservative MPs would rebel against Boris Johnson to stop no-deal Brexit 17 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine 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.'"
  20. ^ Swain, Jon (8 November 2010). "Rory Stewart concedes career 'gives appearance' that he worked for MI6". The Telegraph. from the original on 5 January 2020. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  21. ^ 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. from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  22. ^ a b Stewart, Rory (2007). Occupational Hazards. London: Picador. p. 87.
  23. ^ "Rory Stewart: Days of hope and hubris". The Independent. 23 June 2006. from the original on 7 March 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  24. ^ . Harcourt Trade Publishers. Archived from the original on 15 February 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  25. ^ Stewart, Rory (20 July 2000). "Rory Stewart | Diary: In Papua". London Review of Books. 22 (14). from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  26. ^ . Royal Scottish Geographical Society. Archived from the original on 12 February 2010. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  27. ^ "2018 medal and award recipients announced". Royal Geographical Society. from the original on 22 September 2020. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  28. ^ a b c "The Places In Between". Pan Macmillan. from the original on 7 March 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  29. ^ Sattin, Anthony (20 June 2004). "Review: Travel: The Places In Between by Rory Stewart". The Times. from the original on 25 February 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  30. ^ "Royal Society of Literature » Two-way traffic: Rory Stewart on writing about place". rsliterature.org. from the original on 5 March 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  31. ^ a b "About Rory – Rory Stewart". Rory Stewart. from the original on 9 March 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  32. ^ . www.scottisharts.org.uk. Archived from the original on 7 March 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  33. ^ Benjamin Yeoh (15 February 2007), Places In Between, The, retrieved 6 March 2018
  34. ^ "Rory Stewart The Tory Leadership Hopeful Whose Life Brad Pitt Wants To Film". LBC. 28 May 2019. from the original on 8 February 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  35. ^ Barber, Caroline. "What did your MP receive last year? Parliament's gifts and donations list revealed". from the original on 9 March 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  36. ^ Jack, Ian (18 November 2016). "The Marches by Rory Stewart review – farewell to an imperial class". The Guardian. from the original on 9 March 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  37. ^ "Rory Stewart is the 33rd Lakeland Book of the Year Winner for 'The Marches'". www.jamescropper.com. from the original on 7 April 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  38. ^ "THE MARCHES – Rory Stewart". Rory Stewart. from the original on 9 March 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  39. ^ Thesiger, Wilfred; Stewart, Rory (25 October 2007). Arabian Sands (Reissue ed.). London: Penguin Classics. ISBN 9780141442075.
  40. ^ "Travels In Arabia Deserta | Folio Illustrated Book". www.foliosociety.com. from the original on 8 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  41. ^ Byron, Robert; Stewart, Rory; Fussell, Paul (18 May 2007). The Road to Oxiana. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195325607. from the original on 10 June 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  42. ^ Stewart, Rory (1 February 2007). The Prince of the Marshes: And Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq. HMH. ISBN 9780156033008. from the original on 8 June 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  43. ^ "OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS". Hampstead Theatre. from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  44. ^ Oborne, Peter (10 October 2011). "Can Intervention Work? by Rory Stewart and Gerald Knaus: review". Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. from the original on 7 March 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  45. ^ "Rory Stewart". The New York Review of Books. from the original on 22 July 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  46. ^ "Rory Stewart · LRB". www.lrb.co.uk. from the original on 9 March 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  47. ^ "Desert Island Discs – Rory Stewart". BBC Radio 4. 20 January 2008. from the original on 1 February 2009. Retrieved 10 October 2009.
  48. ^ Stewart, Rory (22 November 2008). "Opinion | The 'Good War' Isn't Worth Fighting". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. from the original on 31 January 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  49. ^ "Latest Headlines". cwherald.com. from the original on 18 September 2013. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  50. ^ "The Legacy of Lawrence of Arabia". BBC Two. from the original on 17 January 2010. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
  51. ^ "BBC Two – Afghanistan: The Great Game – A Personal View by Rory Stewart". BBC Two. from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  52. ^ a b c "Border Country: The Story of Britain's Lost Middleland". BBC iPlayer. 26 March 2014. from the original on 27 July 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  53. ^ Sturges, Fiona (28 March 2022). "Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell's odd-couple podcast". Financial Times. London. ISSN 0307-1766. from the original on 20 April 2022. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  54. ^ "Rory Stewart BBC Sounds Podcast". from the original on 25 July 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  55. ^ . Prince of Wales. 25 March 2007. Archived from the original on 1 July 2007. Retrieved 28 September 2008.
  56. ^ "Rory Stewart MP | Parliamentary Candidate Declarations of Interests – April 2010". RoryStewart.co.uk. 23 April 2010. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  57. ^ Board of Governors: 2 November 2010] International Development Research Centre of Canada.
  58. ^ "GiveDirectly sets sights on bigger goals with Rory Stewart taking the helm". GiveDirectly (Press release). 29 August 2022. from the original on 29 August 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  59. ^ Gibbons, Amy (29 August 2022). "Former Tory minister Rory Stewart to head up international charity". The Independent. London. from the original on 29 August 2022. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  60. ^ "Director's Lecture with Rory Stewart". University of Chicago Oriental Institute. from the original on 1 March 2021. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  61. ^ "Rory Stewart, Senior Fellow – Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs". Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  62. ^ van Praagh, Anna (1 November 2009). "Rory Stewart: A new kind of Tory". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. from the original on 3 January 2020. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  63. ^ a b Jaffe, Greg (20 December 2019). "Perspective | Afghanistan wasn't destined to fail. Here's how we could have fought it better". The Washington Post. from the original on 26 December 2019. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  64. ^ Ruth Davidson (14 February 2021). "An Inconvenient Ruth". globalplayer.com (Podcast). Global. from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  65. ^ "Rory Stewart, Senior Fellow – Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs". Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  66. ^ "Six new Senior Fellows join Jackson". Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. 22 July 2020. from the original on 4 August 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  67. ^ Parker, Ian (7 November 2010). "Paths of Glory". The New Yorker. from the original on 24 September 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2020. "The experience of running this thing in Afghanistan made me a Burkean conservative," Stewart said.
  68. ^ Parker, Ian (7 November 2010). "Paths of Glory". The New Yorker. from the original on 24 September 2019. 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.
  69. ^ Glover, Julian (20 March 2010). "Tories 2.0: Cameron's new breed". The Guardian. from the original on 11 January 2020. 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.
  70. ^ "Residents choose Tory candidate". BBC News Online. 17 October 2009. from the original on 8 June 2022. Retrieved 30 May 2010.
  71. ^ Waugh, Paul (25 October 2009). . London Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 28 October 2009. Retrieved 30 May 2010.
  72. ^ . Cumberland News. 7 October 2009. Archived from the original on 24 February 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2009.
  73. ^ "Election 2010 – Penrith & the Border". BBC News Online. 6 May 2010. from the original on 4 May 2010. Retrieved 30 May 2010.
  74. ^ "Penrith and the Border: results". ITV News. from the original on 7 March 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  75. ^ a b "Tory MP 'sorry' for twine remark". BBC News Online. 25 July 2010. from the original on 27 July 2010. Retrieved 26 July 2010.
  76. ^ Parker, Ian (7 November 2010). "Paths of Glory". The New Yorker. from the original on 24 September 2019. 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.")
  77. ^ "In praise of ... binder twine". The Guardian. 27 July 2010. from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  78. ^ "Rural broadband pilot areas named". Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. 19 May 2011. from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  79. ^ "EE switches on superfast 4G broadband in rural Cumbria". EE Limited. 11 November 2013. from the original on 12 November 2013. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  80. ^ "Secretary of State pays testament to broadband activist Rory Stewart MP". Rory Stewart. 5 February 2015. from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  81. ^ "MP urges the public to support Penrith's Alhambra Cinema". Cumbria Crack. from the original on 8 June 2022. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  82. ^ Lambourne, Helen (12 February 2014). "Fire engine saved from axe after weekly's campaign". HoldtheFrontPage. from the original on 1 September 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  83. ^ Unia, Emily (23 November 2013). "Rory Stewart's disabled passenger station access call". BBC News. from the original on 9 February 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  84. ^ "MP urges public to have their say on £1bn A66 plans". News and Star. 18 May 2019. from the original on 22 July 2022. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  85. ^ "£700m boost for flood defences brings £150m more for Yorkshire and Cumbria". GOV.UK. 17 March 2016. from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  86. ^ Johnston, John (22 July 2019). "EXCL Top Tories face questions over links to secretive foreign affairs group". PoliticsHome. from the original on 6 November 2019. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  87. ^ . All Party. 24 January 2012. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  88. ^ "Rory delivers keynote speech at UK's bi-ennial Mountain Rescue conference". Rory Stewart. 17 September 2012. from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  89. ^ "Local Democracy". Register of All-Party Groups. House of Commons. 30 March 2015. from the original on 8 March 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  90. ^ . National Association of Local Councils. 30 April 2013. Archived from the original on 16 July 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  91. ^ "RORY STEWART MP HERALDS FUEL REBATE WIN FOR RURAL AREAS – Rory Stewart". Rory Stewart. 2 June 2015. from the original on 7 March 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  92. ^ "Hedgehog conservation". Hansard. 2015. from the original on 22 July 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  93. ^ Parris, Matthew (23 December 2015). "Why llamas are the hedgehog's best friend". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. from the original on 10 June 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  94. ^ Moore, Charles (28 December 2015). "If only we could consign Tracey Crouch and her views on foxhunting to history". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. from the original on 9 January 2020. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  95. ^ "Broadband Archives – Rory Stewart". Rory Stewart. from the original on 8 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  96. ^ "98% coverage for mobile broadband". Rory Stewart. 4 November 2011. from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  97. ^ "Rory's campaign for rural mobile coverage in 4G triumph". Rory Stewart. 25 July 2012. from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  98. ^ "Mobile coverage obligation". Ofcom. from the original on 20 February 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  99. ^ "Rory Stewart visits VA to consult on rehabilitation needs". Veterans Aid. 2 April 2014. from the original on 12 June 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  100. ^ "Review of Veterans within the Criminal Justice System Call for Evidence". Ministry of Justice. 2014. from the original on 10 June 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  101. ^ "New chair announced for Veterans Review". Ministry of Justice. 16 June 2014. from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  102. ^ D'Arcy, Mark (14 May 2014). "Rory roars in". BBC News. from the original on 17 December 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  103. ^ Blackburn, David (14 May 2014). "Rory Stewart elected Chairman of the Defence Select Committee". Spectator Blogs. from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  104. ^ "Rory Stewart's new triumph". The Economist. 14 May 2014. from the original on 23 July 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  105. ^ "Ukraine must be a wake-up call for NATO – News from Parliament". UK Parliament. from the original on 8 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  106. ^ MacAskill, Ewen (5 February 2015). "Britain must play a greater role in fighting Islamic State in Iraq, say MPs". The Guardian. from the original on 9 November 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  107. ^ "Forces Ombudsman should have further powers, says Defence Committee". UK Parliament. 23 October 2014. from the original on 8 June 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  108. ^ "Home". Hands Across the Border. from the original on 24 April 2018. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  109. ^ "'THE CAIRN REMAINS A POWERFUL SYMBOL OF THE TIES THAT BIND US' SAYS RORY STEWART – Rory Stewart". Rory Stewart. 14 April 2015. from the original on 8 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  110. ^ "Scottish independence: 'cairn to celebrate union love'". BBC News Online. 9 July 2014. from the original on 13 July 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  111. ^ "Joanna Lumley shows support for union with Scotland". BBC News Online. 31 August 2014. from the original on 4 August 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  112. ^ "The Rt Hon Rory Stewart OBE". GOV.UK. from the original on 23 July 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  113. ^ "Review into regulation and enforcement in waste sector launches". GOV.UK. 17 July 2015. from the original on 23 July 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  114. ^ "National Flood Resilience Review: Government action to tackle floods". GOV.UK. 26 January 2016. from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  115. ^ "A country more flood resilient". GOV.UK. 13 December 2015. from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  116. ^ Carrington, Damian (9 June 2016). "Government failing to protect communities at risk of flooding, MPs say". from the original on 24 June 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2016 – via www.theguardian.com.
  117. ^ . Rory Stewart. 7 October 2015. Archived from the original on 9 June 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  118. ^ Smithers, Rebecca (29 July 2016). "England's plastic bag usage drops 85% since 5p charge introduced". The Guardian. from the original on 8 September 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  119. ^ "Government's 25-year environment plan". www.complydirect.com. from the original on 8 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  120. ^ "The call of the wild: Environment Minister champions weekend walking trips in our National Parks – Rory Stewart". Rory Stewart. 29 April 2016. from the original on 8 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  121. ^ "Rory Stewart MP Celebrates The Lake District's World Heritage Success – "A Vindication of all that we love"". Rory Stewart. 11 July 2017. from the original on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  122. ^ "Reducing flood risk from source to sea" (PDF). UK Government. 2016. (PDF) from the original on 13 June 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  123. ^ "Floods Minister: 'Lake District is open for business'". ITV News. from the original on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  124. ^ "New ministerial role for MP Rory Stewart". ITV.com. ITV. 17 July 2016. from the original on 28 January 2017. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  125. ^ "International Development Minister Rory Stewart concludes Asia visit to promote peace, security and prosperity in the region". GOV.UK. 8 September 2016. from the original on 5 November 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  126. ^ Mafita (3 August 2017). "UK's Minister for Africa is 'very happy' with what he saw at MAFITA COSDEC in Mando". Medium. from the original on 8 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  127. ^ "Bruce, British Minister Stewart push trade deals in Uganda – Vanguard News". Vanguard News. 15 July 2017. from the original on 8 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  128. ^ "Minister for Africa, Rory Stewart OBE MP Visit to Gaborone | Facebook". www.facebook.com. from the original on 8 June 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  129. ^ "Oral Answers to Questions – Hansard Online". hansard.parliament.uk. from the original on 8 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  130. ^ "Meeting with UK Minister for Africa, Rory Stewart | Kigali, 7 November 2017". Flickr. from the original on 8 June 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  131. ^ "Tête-à-tête Rory Stewart-Joseph Kabila ce vendredi à Kingakati – Le Portail de Barnabé KIKAYA". kikayabinkarubi.net. from the original on 8 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  132. ^ "UK Minister for Africa Rory Stewart visits Zambia – GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. from the original on 8 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  133. ^ "UK minister Rory Stewart announces $450 million for development in Tanzania – GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. from the original on 8 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  134. ^ "Cumbrian MP Rory Stewart meets Zimbabwe's new president". News and Star. 20 November 2017. from the original on 22 July 2018. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  135. ^ "Zimbabwe must reform after Mugabe, says first British minster to visit country in two decades". The Telegraph. 23 November 2017. ISSN 0307-1235. from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  136. ^ "Rory Stewart returns from Zimbabwe – GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. from the original on 8 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  137. ^ "Rory Stewart given new role in cabinet reshuffle". News and Star. 9 January 2018. from the original on 22 July 2018. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  138. ^ Travis, Alan (19 January 2018). "Liverpool prison has 'worst conditions inspectors have seen'". The Guardian. from the original on 7 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  139. ^ 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. from the original on 10 June 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  140. ^ Stewart, Rory (17 February 2018). "I strongly believe we can improve our prisons and make progress". The Guardian. from the original on 1 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  141. ^ "Assaults on police constables: 27 Apr 2018: House of Commons debates – TheyWorkForYou". TheyWorkForYou. from the original on 10 May 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  142. ^ "I'll quit if jails don't improve – minister". BBC News. 17 August 2018. from the original on 17 August 2018. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  143. ^ "Results from the 10 Prisons Project Ad Hoc Statistics" (PDF). GOV.UK. 22 August 2019. (PDF) from the original on 15 August 2021. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  144. ^ "Secretary of State for International Development – GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. from the original on 17 August 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  145. ^ "Department for International Development single departmental plan". GOV.UK. 27 June 2019. from the original on 26 December 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  146. ^ Letts, Quentin (7 June 2019). "Springtime for Stewart is no laughing matter". The Times. from the original on 27 November 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  147. ^ "Oral statement to Parliament on the Ebola crisis in DR Congo". GOV.UK. 20 May 2019. from the original on 4 October 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  148. ^ Wintour, Patrick (7 July 2019). "Declare Ebola outbreak in DRC an emergency, says UK's Rory Stewart". The Guardian. from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  149. ^ "International Development Secretary Rory Stewart visits Jordan in first foreign visit in role". GOV.UK. 4 July 2019. from the original on 18 December 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  150. ^ Clifton, Katy (23 July 2019). "Rory Stewart confirms resignation from Cabinet after Boris Johnson's victory". Evening Standard. from the original on 23 July 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  151. ^ "Rory Stewart: I'd bring country together as PM". BBC News. 2 May 2019. from the original on 6 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  152. ^ "Rory Stewart: We need a standard bearer for the middle ground — it could be me". The Times. 13 April 2019. ISSN 0140-0460. from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  153. ^ "Commons Confidential: The Eurosceptic hackocracy". www.newstatesman.com. from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  154. ^ a b Elgot, Jessica (18 June 2019). "'This is serious': the unlikely rise of Rory Stewart's pitch to be PM". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. from the original on 3 March 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  155. ^ "The Londoner: Rory Stewart is proving to be a master of PR". Evening Standard. 30 May 2019. from the original on 9 August 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  156. ^ Mikhailova, Anna (29 May 2019). "Rory Stewart admits smoking opium in Iran as he continues Tory leadership tour of Britain". The Telegraph. from the original on 5 January 2020. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  157. ^ "Michael Gove admits he was lucky to avoid jail over cocaine use". BBC. 9 June 2019. from the original on 9 June 2019. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  158. ^ "Rory Stewart pledges grown-up approach in Tory leadership race". Financial Times. 11 June 2019. from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  159. ^ "Full results of the Conservative leadership election – round 1". The Guardian. 13 June 2019. from the original on 7 June 2020. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  160. ^ "Dominic Raab refuses to rule out suspending Parliament to push through no deal". ITV News. 16 June 2019. from the original on 16 June 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  161. ^ 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. from the original on 26 September 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  162. ^ "Rory Stewart out of Tory leadership race". BBC News. 19 June 2019. from the original on 19 June 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  163. ^ "LIVE: Raab eliminated as Johnson wins second leadership contest ballot". Sky News. 18 June 2019. from the original on 18 June 2019. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  164. ^ "Rory Stewart in talks with Michael Gove to stop Boris Johnson becoming prime minister". The Independent. 19 June 2019. from the original on 19 June 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  165. ^ Campbell, Alastair; Stewart, Rory (27 April 2022). "Biggest snakes, Basic Instinct, and meeting Miley". The Rest Is Politics (Podcast). Acast. from the original on 8 June 2022. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
  166. ^ Lyons, Kate; Rawlinson, Kevin; Sparrow, Andrew; Perraudin, Frances (4 September 2019). "Boris Johnson to table motion for election after failed vote – as it happened". The Guardian. from the original on 4 September 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019. MPs back move to allow bill to block no-deal Brexit by majority of 27
  167. ^ "What is removing the whip, filibustering and other Brexit jargon?". BBC Newsbeat. 4 September 2019. from the original on 4 September 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  168. ^ "Whips". Parliament.uk. from the original on 22 July 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  169. ^ Stewart, Heather; Walker, Peter (3 September 2019). "Boris Johnson to seek election after rebel Tories deliver Commons defeat". The Guardian. from the original on 3 September 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  170. ^ Mikhailova, Anna (4 September 2019). "Boris Johnson to strip 21 Tory MPs of the Tory whip in parliamentary bloodbath". The Daily Telegraph. from the original on 5 September 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  171. ^ Bloom, Dan (4 September 2019). "Tory Rory Stewart sacked by text while he accepted politician of the year award". Daily Mirror. from the original on 8 September 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  172. ^ Walker, Peter (4 October 2019). "Rory Stewart resigns from Conservative party". The Guardian. from the original on 4 October 2019. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  173. ^ @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.
  174. ^ "BBC One – Have I Got News for You, Series 58, Episode 6". bbc.co.uk. from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  175. ^ Jarvis, Tom (11 February 2020). "WATCH: Rory Stewart's bizarre campaign trick trending on social media". The National. from the original on 31 August 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  176. ^ @RoryStewartUK (11 February 2020). "Today I'm launching #ComeKipWithMe - asking Londoners to invite me into their homes and show me the city through their eyes. I want to know your concerns and your ideas. And I promise to bring a sleeping bag and a box of chocolates!" (Tweet). Retrieved 31 August 2021 – via Twitter.
  177. ^ @guardian (14 February 2020). "#ComeKipWithMe: 2,000 Londoners take up Rory Stewart's offer" (Tweet). Retrieved 31 August 2021 – via Twitter.
  178. ^ "Irish musicians angry at being called 'minor gangsters' by Rory Stewart". The Irish Times. 26 October 2019. from the original on 29 October 2019. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  179. ^ Cowburn, Ashley (25 October 2019). "Labour accuses mayoral candidate Rory Stewart of racism after describing three London men as 'minor gangsters'". The Independent. from the original on 7 April 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  180. ^ Stewart, Rory [@rorystewartuk] (25 October 2019). "I am very sorry towards the guys and towards everyone else. I was wrong" (Tweet). Retrieved 12 March 2021 – via Twitter.
  181. ^ "Coronavirus: English local elections postponed for a year". BBC News. 13 March 2020. from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  182. ^ "Rory Stewart pulls out of contest for Mayor of London". The Guardian. 6 May 2020. from the original on 6 May 2020. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  183. ^ Lydall, Ross (6 May 2020). "Rory Stewart quits race to become London Mayor saying coronavirus crisis made it 'impossible' to campaign". Evening Standard. from the original on 6 May 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  184. ^ "EU vote: Where the cabinet and other MPs stand". BBC News Online. 22 June 2016. from the original on 3 October 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  185. ^ Cowburn, Ashley; Rahim, Zamira (17 June 2019). "Conservative leadership race – live: Boris Johnson dodges hustings despite ridicule from Jeremy Hunt for ducking TV debate". The Independent. from the original on 8 June 2022. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  186. ^ Chotiner, Isaac (12 June 2019). "Rory Stewart Insists that Brexit Is Different from Trump". The New Yorker. from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  187. ^ "ON BREXIT". Rory Stewart. 29 November 2018. from the original on 15 February 2019. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  188. ^ Behr, Rafael (19 June 2019). "May's Brexit deal is not dead – and only Rory Stewart will admit it". The Guardian. from the original on 19 May 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  189. ^ Stewart, Rory [@RoryStewartUK] (5 December 2020). "The Customs Union option was the best available – the only way of achieving the substantial separation desired by Brexit voters while remaining close to the EU diplomatically and economically" (Tweet). Retrieved 12 March 2021 – via Twitter.
  190. ^ Woodcock, Andrew (28 May 2019). "Rory Stewart: Tory leadership contender unveils proposal to break Brexit deadlock". The Independent. from the original on 13 June 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2021. Rory Stewart has said he wants to set up a Citizens' Assembly to thrash out a Brexit compromise, with the Archbishop of Canterbury as mediator.
  191. ^ "Statement on Brexit". Rory Stewart. 5 July 2016. from the original on 8 April 2019. Retrieved 15 February 2019. the decision is made, and we should be energetic and optimistic [about it]
  192. ^ Butterworth, Benjamin (4 September 2019). "Tory rebels: Full list of 21 MPs to lose the whip over Brexit vote, from Ken Clarke to Nicholas Soames". i. from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  193. ^ Wilkinson, Michael; Prince, Rosa; Gosden, Emily (14 July 2015). "Fox Hunting – Will my MP vote to repeal it?". The Telegraph. from the original on 12 June 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  194. ^ "General Election candidates: Our views on fox hunting". News&Star. 31 May 2017. from the original on 28 August 2021. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  195. ^ "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.
  196. ^ www.cwherald.com. 9 November 2012. Archived from the original on 14 February 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  197. ^ Thring, Oliver (9 October 2016). "Florence of Arabia tamed by a toddler". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0956-1382. from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  198. ^ Milan, Aidan (20 June 2019). "Who is Rort Stewart's wife Shoshana Clark as he leaves the Tory leadership race?". Metro. from the original on 7 April 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  199. ^ 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. from the original on 19 May 2021. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  200. ^ Stewart, Rory (30 October 2019). "Rory Stewart's Diary: Running for London mayor, life in a gang, and getting coached by Dominic Cummings". NewStatesman. from the original on 12 January 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2020. I live in the same house in London that I lived in when I was one.
  201. ^ Wright, Charles (27 November 2019). "Rory Stewart: 'Less politics, more action' from City Hall if I become London Mayor". OnLondon. from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2021. 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.
  202. ^ "Would-be Tory MP Rory Stewart". The Guardian. 14 January 2010. ISSN 0261-3077. from the original on 6 May 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  203. ^ "No. 57315". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 2004. p. 23.
  204. ^ "Ondaatje prize". from the original on 5 March 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  205. ^ "Livingstone Medal". rsgs.org. from the original on 5 March 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  206. ^ "Ness Award". from the original on 22 September 2020. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  207. ^ "British Academy Scotland Awards: Winners in 2012". www.bafta.org. 22 May 2014. from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  208. ^ Singh, Anita (3 September 2019). "GQ Men of the Year 2019: Andrew Scott, Rory Stewart and Greta Thunberg". The Telegraph.
  209. ^ "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). from the original on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  210. ^ "Graduating Stirling students reap their rewards". University of Stirling. 23 November 2009. from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
  211. ^ . Archived from the original on 3 October 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  212. ^ "Royal Society of Literature » Two-way traffic: Rory Stewart on writing about place". rsliterature.org. from the original on 5 March 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  213. ^ . rsgs.org. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  214. ^ King, Ceri (3 May 2019). "Business transacted at the Privy Council held by the Queen at Windsor Castle" (PDF). Privy Council of the United Kingdom. (PDF) from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021. This day Rory Stewart OBE was, by Her Majesty's command, sworn of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council and took his place at the Board accordingly.

Books Edit

External links Edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rory Stewart.
 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Rory Stewart.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Penrith and The Border
2010–2019 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Chair of the Defence Select Committee
2014–2015 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
2015–2016 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of State for International Development
2016–2018 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Office created
 Minister of State for Africa
2017–2018
Preceded by Minister of State for Prisons
2018–2019 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Secretary of State for International Development
2019 		Succeeded by
Awards and achievements
Preceded by British GQ Politician of the Year
2019 		Incumbent

October 17, 2023
rory, stewart, scottish, squash, player, squash, player, major, contributor, this, article, appears, have, close, connection, with, subject, require, cleanup, comply, with, wikipedia, content, policies, particularly, neutral, point, view, please, discuss, furt. For the Scottish squash player see Rory Stewart squash player A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia s content policies particularly neutral point of view Please discuss further on the talk page September 2023 Learn how and when to remove this template message Roderick James Nugent Stewart OBE FRSGS FRSL born 3 January 1973 is a British academic diplomat author broadcaster former soldier and former politician He is a former president of GiveDirectly and was a visiting fellow at Yale University s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs where he taught politics and international relations 1 He hosts the podcast The Rest is Politics 2 with Alastair Campbell Previously Stewart served as a minister in four different departments of the UK Government He then became a Cabinet minister as Secretary of State for International Development from May to July 2019 He served as Member of Parliament MP for Penrith and The Border from 2010 to 2019 The Right HonourableRory StewartOBE FRSGS FRSLOfficial portrait 2015Secretary of State for International DevelopmentIn office 1 May 2019 24 July 2019Prime MinisterTheresa MayPreceded byPenny MordauntSucceeded byAlok SharmaJunior ministerial officesMinister of State for PrisonsIn office 9 January 2018 1 May 2019Prime MinisterTheresa MayPreceded bySam GyimahSucceeded byRobert BucklandMinister of State for AfricaIn office 15 June 2017 9 January 2018Prime MinisterTheresa MayPreceded byTobias EllwoodSucceeded byHarriett BaldwinMinister of State for International DevelopmentIn office 17 July 2016 9 January 2018Prime MinisterTheresa MayPreceded byDesmond SwayneSucceeded byHarriett BaldwinParliamentary Under Secretary of State for Water Forestry Rural Affairs and Resource ManagementIn office 12 May 2015 17 July 2016Prime MinisterDavid CameronPreceded byDan RogersonSucceeded byTherese CoffeyFurther offices heldChair of the Defence Select CommitteeIn office 14 May 2014 12 May 2015Preceded byJames ArbuthnotSucceeded byJulian LewisMember of Parliament for Penrith and The BorderIn office 6 May 2010 6 November 2019Preceded byDavid MacleanSucceeded byNeil HudsonPersonal detailsBornRoderick James Nugent Stewart 1973 01 03 3 January 1973 age 50 British Hong KongPolitical partyIndependent 2019 present Other politicalaffiliationsLabour before 1993 Conservative 2009 2019 SpouseShoshana Clark m 2012 wbr Children2RelativesBrian Stewart father WebsiteOfficial websiteMilitary serviceAllegiance United KingdomBranch service British ArmyYears of service1991 1992RankSecond Lieutenant on probation UnitBlack WatchAcademic backgroundEducationDragon SchoolEton CollegeAlma materBalliol College Oxford BA Academic workInstitutionsHarvard Kennedy SchoolJackson Institute for Global AffairsMain interestsInternational relationsPoliticsHuman rightsBorn in Hong Kong Stewart was educated at the Dragon School and Eton College After studying at Balliol College Oxford Stewart worked for Her Majesty s Diplomatic Service as a diplomat in Indonesia and as British Representative to Montenegro He left the diplomatic service to undertake a two year walk across Afghanistan Iran Pakistan India and Nepal He later wrote a best selling book The Places in Between about his experiences He subsequently served as Deputy Governor in Maysan and Dhi Qar for the Coalition Provisional Authority following the 2003 invasion of Iraq and wrote a second book covering this period Occupational Hazards or The Prince of the Marshes In 2005 he moved to Kabul to establish and run the Turquoise Mountain Foundation He was the Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights and the director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University from 2008 to 2010 In 2010 Stewart was elected to the House of Commons and in 2014 he was elected chair of the Defence Select Committee He served under David Cameron as Minister for the Environment from 2015 to 2016 He served as a minister throughout Theresa May s government as Minister of State for International Development Minister of State for Africa and Minister of State for Prisons He ultimately joined the Cabinet and National Security Council as Secretary of State for International Development 3 After May resigned Stewart stood as a candidate to be Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the 2019 leadership contest His campaign was defined by his unorthodox use of social media and opposition to a no deal Brexit He stated at the beginning of his campaign that he would not serve under Boris Johnson 4 and when Johnson became Prime Minister in July 2019 Stewart resigned from the Cabinet On 3 September 2019 Stewart had the Conservative Whip removed after voting to back a motion paving the way for a law seeking to delay the UK s exit date 5 On 3 October 2019 Stewart announced he had resigned from the Conservative Party and that he would stand down as an MP at the next general election He initially announced as an independent candidate in the 2021 London mayoral election but withdrew on 6 May 2020 on the grounds of the election being postponed due to COVID 19 In September 2020 he became a fellow at Yale University teaching politics and international relations In March 2022 he and Alastair Campbell launched The Rest Is Politics which has been since its launch the top politics podcast in the UK in the Apple rankings and often the leading podcast in the UK 2 6 Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Diplomatic career 2 1 Indonesia and Montenegro 2 2 Iraq 3 Books and media 3 1 Travel and travel writing 3 2 Writing on politics and international affairs 3 3 Television 3 4 Podcasts 4 Academic nonprofit and advisory work 4 1 Non profit work 4 2 Academic and policy work 5 Member of Parliament 5 1 Penrith and The Border 5 2 National roles and influence before becoming a Minister 6 Ministerial positions 6 1 Environment minister 6 2 Minister of International Development Middle East and Asia 6 3 Minister of Foreign Office and International Development Africa 6 4 Prisons and probations minister 6 5 Secretary of State for International Development 7 Conservative Party leadership election 8 Independent politician 8 1 Sitting as an independent and resignation 8 2 London mayoral candidate 9 Political views 10 Personal life 11 Awards and honours 12 References 13 Books 14 External linksEarly life and education EditStewart was born in Hong Kong then under British rule the son of Brian Stewart and his wife Sally Elizabeth Acland Nugent nee Rose His family is from Broich House built in 1770 near Crieff in Perth and Kinross Scotland 7 Stewart s father born in Edinburgh Scotland was a colonial official and diplomat who in the 1970s was reportedly a candidate to become the Chief of the UK s Secret Intelligence Service or MI6 8 Stewart s maternal grandfather was Jewish 9 His younger sister has Down syndrome 10 Stewart spent his early years in South Kensington London 11 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 8 He was taught martial arts and fencing by his father in Hyde Park 11 As a teenager he was a member of the Labour Party 12 13 14 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 15 16 He studied medieval history under Maurice Keen and then philosophy politics and economics under Jonathan Barnes at Balliol College Oxford University 8 While a student at Oxford Stewart was a private tutor to Prince William and Prince Harry during the summer 8 He attended a single meeting of the Bullingdon Club 17 before resigning after witnessing the behaviour of other members 11 Diplomatic career EditIndonesia and Montenegro Edit After graduating Stewart joined the Foreign Office 18 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 8 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 8 19 Stewart has said that his career progression and his father s work for MI6 might give the appearance that he worked for MI6 20 but says he did not work for MI6 while a diplomat 19 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 21 Iraq Edit 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 8 He was posted initially to the KOSB Battlegroup then to the Light Infantry 22 His responsibilities included holding elections resolving tribal disputes and implementing development projects 22 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 8 He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire OBE for his services during this period 23 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 24 Books and media EditTravel and travel writing Edit nbsp Stewart lecturing in 2008In 2000 Stewart took leave from the Foreign Service to walk across Asia This journey on foot involved Stewart walking for more than eighteen months across much of Iran Pakistan and the Indian and Nepali Himalayas in 2000 and 2001 finishing with a 36 day solo walk across Afghanistan in the early months of 2002 He typically walked 20 25 miles a day staying in village houses every night He has also walked across sections of Western New Guinea 25 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 26 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 27 His book describing his walk across Afghanistan The Places in Between was a New York Times bestseller The Places in Between 28 29 was named by The New York Times as a flat out masterpiece and listed as one of its 10 notable books of 2006 8 It won the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize 30 the Spirit of Scotland award 31 and the Premio de Literatura de Viaje Caminos del Cid 31 It was short listed for a Scottish Arts Council prize 32 the Guardian First Book Award 28 and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize 28 The book was adapted into a radio play by Benjamin Yeoh broadcast in 2007 on BBC Radio 4 33 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 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 Edit 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 8 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 Politics on the Edge A Memoir from Within was published in September 2023 It is a personal account of Stewart s years in politics starting with his attempts to be selected as a Member of Parliament describes his experiences as an MP as a junior and then a senior minister and his Conservative leadership bid He was a columnist for The New York Times 48 and also for his local constituency newspaper the Cumberland and Westmorland Herald contributing a monthly column 49 Television Edit 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 Podcasts Edit In March 2022 Stewart launched The Rest is Politics podcast with former Labour Party communications director Alastair Campbell The pair discuss current political news stories 53 Stewart also hosted the BBC Radio 4 Podcast The Long History Of Argument where he discussed the history of debates 54 Academic nonprofit and advisory work EditNon profit work Edit In late 2005 Stewart set up the Turquoise Mountain Foundation in Afghanistan a human development NGO established by King Charles III and Hamid Karzai 55 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 8 Stewart stepped down as executive chairman of the Turquoise Mountain Foundation in May 2010 56 Stewart also served for a time on the board of governors of the International Development Research Centre of Canada 57 In 2021 Stewart and his family moved to Jordan for two years to work for the Turquoise Mountain Foundation setting up a project to restore a Roman site near the Golan Heights to create employment in the area Stewart would also be travelling to Yale University for lecture commitments 10 He is a commissioner of the Principles4Peace initiative In August 2022 GiveDirectly announced that Stewart would be president of the organization 58 59 Academic and policy work Edit In July 2008 Stewart was appointed as to the faculty of the John F Kennedy School of Government as Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights at Harvard University and director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy 8 having previously been a fellow at the Carr Center from 2004 to 2005 8 He left his position to campaign for Parliament 60 He returned to academia as a Senior Fellow at Yale University s Jackson Institute in 2020 61 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 8 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 62 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 63 His ideas were rejected by senators including future Secretary of State John Kerry 63 He also briefed Gordon Brown and David Miliband 64 In September 2020 he became a fellow at Yale University s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs teaching politics grand strategy and international relations to undergraduate and graduate students 65 66 Member of Parliament EditPenrith and The Border Edit 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 67 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 68 he joined the party in summer 2009 69 Stewart tried for selection for the Bracknell constituency in the 2010 general election 70 but the place went to Phillip Lee 71 Stewart was then shortlisted for the Penrith and The Border constituency and at an open caucus selected as the candidate on 25 October 2009 72 He was returned as the MP for the constituency on 6 May 2010 73 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 74 In the 2017 general election he received 60 4 of the vote In July 2010 Stewart apologised after blogging about his constituents using twine to hold their trousers up 75 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 75 He later said that he was making the point that Cumbria s beauty hides its pockets of poverty 76 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 77 Stewart was successful in securing the Cumbrian broadband pilot in 2011 78 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 79 In February 2015 Stewart secured more funding to continue the broadband roll out in Cumbria 80 He was also part of the successful campaigns against the closure of the Penrith cinema 81 and fire station 82 and helped to secure agreement and funding for disabled access at Penrith Station 83 and the dualling of the A66 road 84 and for flood defence funding for Cumbria 85 National roles and influence before becoming a Minister Edit 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 86 Stewart also served as the chair of the APPG for Mountain Rescue 87 88 and the APPG for Local Democracy 89 90 and was an officer of the APPG for Rural Services 91 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 92 93 94 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 95 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 96 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 97 In March 2018 Ofcom announced that the 98 target had been met 98 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 99 The review looked at ways in which support and prevention for veterans in the justice system can be improved 100 Following his election to Chairman of the Defence Select Committee Stewart handed over the lead for the review to Stephen Phillips 101 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 102 103 104 In this capacity Stewart argued strongly for a more vigorous response to Russian aggression in Ukraine 105 The committee also argued that Britain s commitments to Iraq and Syria were strikingly modest and that more should be done 106 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 107 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 108 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 109 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 110 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 111 Approximately 100 000 stones were laid on the cairn many with personal messages Ministerial positions EditEnvironment minister Edit nbsp Stewart pictured with the Greek politician Nikos Xydakis in September 2016Following 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 amp 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 112 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 113 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 114 Stewart initiated the Cumbria Floods Partnership in response to Storm Desmond with a focus on long term flood defence 115 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 116 As environment minister he introduced the 5 pence a bag plastic bag tax for England from 5 October 2015 designed to phase out lightweight plastic bags expected to reduce the use of personal bags take from supermarkets by up to 80 117 in fact usage reduced in England by 85 118 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 119 As Minister responsible for the national parks Stewart secured five years of increased funding for national parks and AONBs 120 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 121 As floods minister Stewart oversaw the government s response to the 2015 16 Great Britain and Ireland floods including the post Storm Desmond floods 122 including the reopening of the A591 and the bridge at Pooley Bridge in the Lake District 123 Minister of International Development Middle East and Asia Edit 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 3 124 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 125 Minister of Foreign Office and International Development Africa Edit 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 126 127 128 and the United National General Assembly in New York City UNGA 129 During these trips he held personal meetings with President Kagame of Rwanda 130 President Kabila of DRC 131 President Lungu of Zambia 132 President Magufuli of Tanzania 133 President Kenyatta of Kenya and President Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe 134 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 135 His Zimbabwe policy pressed for political reform and free and fair elections 136 Prisons and probations minister Edit nbsp Stewart at the London Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference in 2018Stewart was appointed Minister of State for Prisons with responsibility for prisons and probation in England and Wales in January 2018 137 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 138 Stewart immediately visited the prison and testifying before the Justice Select Committee announced his determination to clean up prisons in England and Wales 139 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 140 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 141 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 142 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 50 143 Secretary of State for International Development Edit 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 144 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 enshrine these priorities in his new single departmental plan 145 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 146 Concerned about the increase in Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo DRC in 2019 147 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 148 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 149 Stewart felt that he could not serve under his fellow Old Etonian Boris Johnson who was elected Prime Minister after the resignation of Theresa May and so resigned from cabinet on 24 July 2019 11 150 Conservative Party leadership election EditStewart was a candidate in the 2019 Conservative leadership election announcing his intention to stand in an interview in The Times 151 152 His candidacy was not initially taken seriously with a piece in the New Statesman s diary stating that he had a single supporter himself 153 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 154 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 155 On 29 May Stewart admitted he had smoked opium during a wedding in Iran 156 Several other candidates admitted to previous illegal drug use during the election 157 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 158 Against expectations on 13 June he made it through the first parliamentary ballot gaining 19 votes two more than the elimination threshold 159 On 16 June he appeared as one of the six remaining candidates in a televised debate on Channel 4 160 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 161 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 162 163 It was revealed on the same day that Stewart was in talks with Michael Gove to stop Boris Johnson becoming Prime Minister 164 Although in his podcast with co host Alastair Campbell Stewart claimed that Gove was intentionally wasting his time to better position Boris Johnson in the leadership race 165 Independent politician EditSitting as an independent and resignation Edit Main article September 2019 suspension of rebel Conservative MPs 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 166 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 167 expelling them as Conservative MPs and requiring them to sit as independents 168 169 If they should decide to run for re election in a future election the party would block their selection as Conservative candidates 170 Stewart stated that he was informed of this decision by text message while collecting his GQ Politician of the Year Award 171 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 172 London mayoral candidate Edit In October 2019 Stewart announced that he was to stand as an independent in the upcoming London mayoral election against incumbent Labour mayor Sadiq Khan and Conservative candidate Shaun Bailey 173 He planned during his candidacy to walk through each of the 32 London boroughs 11 In November 2019 he appeared on BBC One s Have I Got News for You 174 Labelled by Scottish Nationalist publication The National as a bizarre campaign trick in February 2020 as a part of his campaign he sought invitations from Londoners to invite him into their homes and let him stay the night 175 The objective he tweeted was for them to show me the city through their eyes I want to know your concerns and your ideas 176 By 14 February The Guardian tweeted 2 000 Londoners had taken up Rory Stewart s offer 177 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 178 This drew accusations of racism from many politicians including Dawn Butler David Lammy and Diane Abbott 179 Stewart apologised the next day tweeting I am very sorry towards the guys and towards everyone else I was wrong 180 Initially scheduled to be held in 2020 the mayoral election was postponed until 2021 due to the COVID 19 pandemic 181 On 6 May 2020 Stewart ended his mayoralty bid saying he could not maintain a campaign for another year against the large budgets of the Labour and Conservative campaigns 182 He stated 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 183 Political views EditStewart supported remain in the 2016 referendum on the UK s continued membership of the European Union 184 Following the result of the referendum he tried to argue for what he called a sensible moderate deal 185 that could act as a compromise between Remain and Leave voters He argued that although the referendum made it necessary to leave the EU Britain should seek to stay very close to Europe diplomatically and politically and economically 186 He was initially a prominent advocate for the Brexit withdrawal agreement negotiated by the prime minister Theresa May 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 187 188 154 He then became an advocate for the UK remaining in a Customs Union with the European Union and voted with the Labour Party for a Customs Union amendment in the House of Commons He continued to argue following that defeat that following the outcome of the referendum the Customs Union option was the best available the only way of achieving the substantial separation desired by Brexit voters while remaining close to the EU diplomatically and economically 189 He proposed however following the failure of parliament to reach any positive agreement that the issue could be passed to a Citizens Assembly chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury to find a compromise on Brexit 190 Although he accepted the result of the Brexit referendum 191 he remained opposed to the idea of a no deal Brexit even as a bargaining position in the negotiation with the EU He voted against a no deal Brexit in parliament He was formally stripped of the Conservative whip and expelled from the Conservative Party after voting with 20 other Conservative colleagues to try to block a no deal Brexit 192 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 193 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 194 Personal life EditIn 2012 Stewart married American Shoshana Clark a former employee 195 196 They had their first child in November 2014 a son whom Stewart delivered at home in the absence of medical assistance 197 and their second son was born in April 2017 198 199 11 Stewart lives in South Kensington London 11 200 201 as well as Dufton Cumbria 202 He is a member of the Athenaeum Club and the Special Forces Club 17 He is said to be proficient in 11 languages though he claims to be mediocre in several of them He described himself as distinguished in German 11 From 2021 to 2023 Stewart and his family lived in Jordan while he worked on a Turquoise Mountain Foundation project 10 Awards and honours EditThe Order of the British Empire Officer of the Order of the British Empire OBE in the Civil Division 203 The Ondaatje Prize of The Royal Society of Literature 2005 204 The Livingstone Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society 2009 205 The Ness Award of the Royal Geographical Society 206 The British Academy Scotland Award for documentary 207 The Spirit of Scotland Award for writing The Politician of the Year award of British GQ 208 The Prize del Camino del Cid 2009 209 Honorary doctorate from the University of Stirling Doctor of the University D Univ awarded on 23 November 2009 210 Honorary doctorate from the American University of Paris 211 Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature 2005 212 Fellow of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society FRSGS 2009 213 He was sworn of the Her Majesty s Most Honourable Privy Council on 3 May 2019 upon his appointment as International Development Secretary in the second May ministry This gave him the honorific style The Right Honourable 214 References Edit Rory Stewart Senior Fellow 2020 2022 Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs Retrieved 5 May 2023 a b Marriott James 18 March 2022 The Rest Is Politics review notes from the political wilderness The Times Archived from the original on 18 August 2022 Retrieved 18 August 2022 a b Rory Stewart MP OBE GOV UK British Government Archived from the original on 23 July 2019 Retrieved 5 December 2016 Stewart will not serve with Johnson BBC News Archived from the original on 28 June 2021 Retrieved 28 June 2021 Brexit showdown Who were Tory rebels who defied Boris Johnson BBC News 3 September 2019 Retrieved 22 September 2023 Apple Podcasts Preview The Rest Is Politics Goalhanger Podcasts Archived from the original on 1 September 2022 Retrieved 18 August 2022 Two men who ve been at the heart of the political world former Downing Street Director of Communications and Strategy Alastair Campbell and cabinet minister Rory Stewart join forces from across the political divide The Rest Is Politics lifts the lid on the secrets of Westminster offering an insider s view on politics at home and abroad while bringing back the lost art of disagreeing agreeably Satnam Sanghera 4 December 2013 Rory Stewart Adventurer academic MP PM The Times Archived from the original on 11 April 2021 Retrieved 16 April 2020 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Parker Ian 8 November 2010 Paths of Glory Archived from the original on 5 February 2018 Retrieved 5 March 2018 via www newyorker com Harpin Lee 7 October 2019 Rory Stewart enjoys a bagel and reveals his special connection to the Jewish community The Jewish Chronicle Archived from the original on 8 October 2019 Retrieved 12 October 2019 a b c Mossman Kate 28 July 2021 Rory Stewart is on the road again New Statesman Archived from the original on 30 July 2021 Retrieved 9 August 2021 a b c d e f g h Fletcher Martin 1 November 2019 Rory Stewart Boris and I are complete chalk and cheese I m suspicious of the whole show The Telegraph Archived from the original on 19 May 2021 Retrieved 14 March 2021 Glover Julian 14 January 2010 Rory Stewart s awfully big adventure The Guardian London Archived from the original on 9 September 2013 Retrieved 22 May 2010 Parker Ian 7 November 2010 Paths of Glory The New Yorker Archived from the original on 24 September 2019 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 Archived from the original on 7 June 2020 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 a b Letts Quentin 5 April 2016 Everything you need to know about Tory MP Rory Stewart Tatler Archived from the original on 28 February 2021 Retrieved 12 March 2021 Biography rorystewart co uk Archived from the original on 20 January 2010 a b Rob Merrick 17 June 2019 Tory leadership Rory Stewart claims 100 Conservative MPs would rebel against Boris Johnson to stop no deal Brexit Archived 17 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine 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 Archived from the original on 5 January 2020 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 Archived from the original on 8 November 2020 Retrieved 16 April 2020 a b Stewart Rory 2007 Occupational Hazards London Picador p 87 Rory Stewart Days of hope and hubris The Independent 23 June 2006 Archived from the original on 7 March 2018 Retrieved 6 March 2018 Interview Rory Stewart Harcourt Trade Publishers Archived from the original on 15 February 2010 Retrieved 2 January 2010 Stewart Rory 20 July 2000 Rory Stewart Diary In Papua London Review of Books 22 14 Archived from the original on 1 October 2020 Retrieved 22 September 2020 Medals and Awards Royal Scottish Geographical Society Archived from the original on 12 February 2010 Retrieved 27 June 2013 2018 medal and award recipients announced Royal Geographical Society Archived from the original on 22 September 2020 Retrieved 1 October 2020 a b c The Places In Between Pan Macmillan Archived from the original on 7 March 2018 Retrieved 8 March 2018 Sattin Anthony 20 June 2004 Review Travel The Places In Between by Rory Stewart The Times Archived from the original on 25 February 2021 Retrieved 16 April 2020 Royal Society of Literature Two way traffic Rory Stewart on writing about place rsliterature org Archived from the original on 5 March 2018 Retrieved 8 March 2018 a b About Rory Rory Stewart Rory Stewart Archived from the original on 9 March 2018 Retrieved 8 March 2018 Scottish Arts Council Book Awards 2005 www scottisharts org uk Archived from the original on 7 March 2018 Retrieved 6 March 2018 Benjamin Yeoh 15 February 2007 Places In Between The retrieved 6 March 2018 Rory Stewart The Tory Leadership Hopeful Whose Life Brad Pitt Wants To Film LBC 28 May 2019 Archived from the original on 8 February 2021 Retrieved 29 January 2021 Barber Caroline What did your MP receive last year Parliament s gifts and donations list revealed Archived from the original on 9 March 2018 Retrieved 8 March 2018 Jack Ian 18 November 2016 The Marches by Rory Stewart review farewell to an imperial class The Guardian Archived from the original on 9 March 2018 Retrieved 8 March 2018 Rory Stewart is the 33rd Lakeland Book of the Year Winner for The Marches www jamescropper com Archived from the original on 7 April 2020 Retrieved 7 April 2020 THE MARCHES Rory Stewart Rory Stewart Archived from the original on 9 March 2018 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 Archived from the original on 8 March 2018 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 Archived from the original on 10 June 2019 Retrieved 7 March 2018 Stewart Rory 1 February 2007 The Prince of the Marshes And Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq HMH ISBN 9780156033008 Archived from the original on 8 June 2022 Retrieved 23 November 2020 OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS Hampstead Theatre Archived from the original on 1 December 2017 Retrieved 5 March 2018 Oborne Peter 10 October 2011 Can Intervention Work by Rory Stewart and Gerald Knaus review Daily Telegraph ISSN 0307 1235 Archived from the original on 7 March 2018 Retrieved 6 March 2018 Rory Stewart The New York Review of Books Archived from the original on 22 July 2018 Retrieved 8 March 2018 Rory Stewart LRB www lrb co uk Archived from the original on 9 March 2018 Retrieved 8 March 2018 Desert Island Discs Rory Stewart BBC Radio 4 20 January 2008 Archived from the original on 1 February 2009 Retrieved 10 October 2009 Stewart Rory 22 November 2008 Opinion The Good War Isn t Worth Fighting The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on 31 January 2021 Retrieved 16 April 2020 Latest Headlines cwherald com Archived from the original on 18 September 2013 Retrieved 15 September 2013 The Legacy of Lawrence of Arabia BBC Two Archived from the original on 17 January 2010 Retrieved 18 January 2010 BBC Two Afghanistan The Great Game A Personal View by Rory Stewart BBC Two Archived from the original on 26 November 2020 Retrieved 22 September 2020 a b c Border Country The Story of Britain s Lost Middleland BBC iPlayer 26 March 2014 Archived from the original on 27 July 2018 Retrieved 20 December 2017 Sturges Fiona 28 March 2022 Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell s odd couple podcast Financial Times London ISSN 0307 1766 Archived from the original on 20 April 2022 Retrieved 8 June 2022 Rory Stewart BBC Sounds Podcast Archived from the original on 25 July 2022 Retrieved 25 July 2022 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 Archived from the original on 21 April 2013 Retrieved 22 September 2020 Board of Governors 2 November 2010 International Development Research Centre of Canada GiveDirectly sets sights on bigger goals with Rory Stewart taking the helm GiveDirectly Press release 29 August 2022 Archived from the original on 29 August 2022 Retrieved 29 August 2022 Gibbons Amy 29 August 2022 Former Tory minister Rory Stewart to head up international charity The Independent London Archived from the original on 29 August 2022 Retrieved 1 September 2022 Director s Lecture with Rory Stewart University of Chicago Oriental Institute Archived from the original on 1 March 2021 Retrieved 22 September 2020 Rory Stewart Senior Fellow Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs Jackson Institute for Global Affairs Archived from the original on 28 October 2020 Retrieved 22 September 2020 van Praagh Anna 1 November 2009 Rory Stewart A new kind of Tory The Telegraph ISSN 0307 1235 Archived from the original on 3 January 2020 Retrieved 16 April 2020 a b Jaffe Greg 20 December 2019 Perspective Afghanistan wasn t destined to fail Here s how we could have fought it better The Washington Post Archived from the original on 26 December 2019 Retrieved 7 April 2020 Ruth Davidson 14 February 2021 An Inconvenient Ruth globalplayer com Podcast Global Archived from the original on 27 January 2021 Retrieved 26 February 2021 Rory Stewart Senior Fellow Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs Jackson Institute for Global Affairs Archived from the original on 28 October 2020 Retrieved 22 September 2020 Six new Senior Fellows join Jackson Jackson Institute for Global Affairs 22 July 2020 Archived from the original on 4 August 2020 Retrieved 22 September 2020 Parker Ian 7 November 2010 Paths of Glory The New Yorker Archived from the original on 24 September 2019 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 Archived from the original on 24 September 2019 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 Archived from the original on 11 January 2020 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 Archived from the original on 8 June 2022 Retrieved 30 May 2010 Waugh Paul 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 amp the Border BBC News Online 6 May 2010 Archived from the original on 4 May 2010 Retrieved 30 May 2010 Penrith and the Border results ITV News Archived from the original on 7 March 2018 Retrieved 6 March 2018 a b Tory MP sorry for twine remark BBC News Online 25 July 2010 Archived from the original on 27 July 2010 Retrieved 26 July 2010 Parker Ian 7 November 2010 Paths of Glory The New Yorker Archived from the original on 24 September 2019 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 Archived from the original on 5 March 2016 Retrieved 27 July 2010 Rural broadband pilot areas named Department for Digital Culture Media and Sport 19 May 2011 Archived from the original on 5 March 2016 Retrieved 31 July 2015 EE switches on superfast 4G broadband in rural Cumbria EE Limited 11 November 2013 Archived from the original on 12 November 2013 Retrieved 31 July 2015 Secretary of State pays testament to broadband activist Rory Stewart MP Rory Stewart 5 February 2015 Archived from the original on 2 April 2015 Retrieved 4 March 2015 MP urges the public to support Penrith s Alhambra Cinema Cumbria Crack Archived from the original on 8 June 2022 Retrieved 29 January 2021 Lambourne Helen 12 February 2014 Fire engine saved from axe after weekly s campaign HoldtheFrontPage Archived from the original on 1 September 2020 Retrieved 29 January 2021 Unia Emily 23 November 2013 Rory Stewart s disabled passenger station access call BBC News Archived from the original on 9 February 2021 Retrieved 29 January 2021 MP urges public to have their say on 1bn A66 plans News and Star 18 May 2019 Archived from the original on 22 July 2022 Retrieved 29 January 2021 700m boost for flood defences brings 150m more for Yorkshire and Cumbria GOV UK 17 March 2016 Archived from the original on 11 November 2020 Retrieved 29 January 2021 Johnston John 22 July 2019 EXCL Top Tories face questions over links to secretive foreign affairs group PoliticsHome Archived from the original on 6 November 2019 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 Archived from the original on 21 September 2013 Retrieved 15 September 2013 Local Democracy Register of All Party Groups House of Commons 30 March 2015 Archived from the original on 8 March 2017 Retrieved 11 September 2017 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 Archived from the original on 7 March 2018 Retrieved 6 March 2018 Hedgehog conservation Hansard 2015 Archived from the original on 22 July 2018 Retrieved 22 July 2018 Parris Matthew 23 December 2015 Why llamas are the hedgehog s best friend The Times ISSN 0140 0460 Archived from the original on 10 June 2019 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 Archived from the original on 9 January 2020 Retrieved 16 April 2020 Broadband Archives Rory Stewart Rory Stewart Archived from the original on 8 March 2018 Retrieved 7 March 2018 98 coverage for mobile broadband Rory Stewart 4 November 2011 Archived from the original on 2 April 2015 Retrieved 4 March 2015 Rory s campaign for rural mobile coverage in 4G triumph Rory Stewart 25 July 2012 Archived from the original on 22 December 2017 Retrieved 31 July 2015 Mobile coverage obligation Ofcom Archived from the original on 20 February 2019 Retrieved 21 March 2018 Rory Stewart visits VA to consult on rehabilitation needs Veterans Aid 2 April 2014 Archived from the original on 12 June 2019 Retrieved 7 March 2018 Review of Veterans within the Criminal Justice System Call for Evidence Ministry of Justice 2014 Archived from the original on 10 June 2019 Retrieved 22 September 2020 New chair announced for Veterans Review Ministry of Justice 16 June 2014 Archived from the original on 2 April 2015 Retrieved 4 March 2015 D Arcy Mark 14 May 2014 Rory roars in BBC News Archived from the original on 17 December 2018 Retrieved 20 June 2018 Blackburn David 14 May 2014 Rory Stewart elected Chairman of the Defence Select Committee Spectator Blogs Archived from the original on 3 April 2015 Retrieved 4 March 2015 Rory Stewart s new triumph The Economist 14 May 2014 Archived from the original on 23 July 2014 Retrieved 29 August 2014 Ukraine must be a wake up call for NATO News from Parliament UK Parliament Archived from the original on 8 March 2018 Retrieved 7 March 2018 MacAskill Ewen 5 February 2015 Britain must play a greater role in fighting Islamic State in Iraq say MPs The Guardian Archived from the original on 9 November 2016 Retrieved 13 December 2016 Forces Ombudsman should have further powers says Defence Committee UK Parliament 23 October 2014 Archived from the original on 8 June 2022 Retrieved 22 September 2020 Home Hands Across the Border Archived from the original on 24 April 2018 Retrieved 23 April 2018 THE CAIRN REMAINS A POWERFUL SYMBOL OF THE TIES THAT BIND US SAYS RORY STEWART Rory Stewart Rory Stewart 14 April 2015 Archived from the original on 8 March 2018 Retrieved 7 March 2018 Scottish independence cairn to celebrate union love BBC News Online 9 July 2014 Archived from the original on 13 July 2014 Retrieved 2 August 2014 Joanna Lumley shows support for union with Scotland BBC News Online 31 August 2014 Archived from the original on 4 August 2014 Retrieved 2 August 2014 The Rt Hon Rory Stewart OBE GOV UK Archived from the original on 23 July 2019 Retrieved 22 September 2020 Review into regulation and enforcement in waste sector launches GOV UK 17 July 2015 Archived from the original on 23 July 2019 Retrieved 22 September 2020 National Flood Resilience Review Government action to tackle floods GOV UK 26 January 2016 Archived from the original on 17 April 2021 Retrieved 22 September 2020 A country more flood resilient GOV UK 13 December 2015 Archived from the original on 17 April 2021 Retrieved 22 September 2020 Carrington Damian 9 June 2016 Government failing to protect communities at risk of flooding MPs say Archived from the original on 24 June 2016 Retrieved 23 June 2016 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 Smithers Rebecca 29 July 2016 England s plastic bag usage drops 85 since 5p charge introduced The Guardian Archived from the original on 8 September 2021 Retrieved 8 September 2021 Government s 25 year environment plan www complydirect com Archived from the original on 8 March 2018 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 Archived from the original on 8 March 2018 Retrieved 7 March 2018 Rory Stewart MP Celebrates The Lake District s World Heritage Success A Vindication of all that we love Rory Stewart 11 July 2017 Archived from the original on 6 March 2018 Retrieved 5 March 2018 Reducing flood risk from source to sea PDF UK Government 2016 Archived PDF from the original on 13 June 2017 Retrieved 5 March 2018 Floods Minister Lake District is open for business ITV News Archived from the original on 6 March 2018 Retrieved 5 March 2018 New ministerial role for MP Rory Stewart ITV com ITV 17 July 2016 Archived from the original on 28 January 2017 Retrieved 5 December 2016 International Development Minister Rory Stewart concludes Asia visit to promote peace security and prosperity in the region GOV UK 8 September 2016 Archived from the original on 5 November 2020 Retrieved 12 March 2021 Mafita 3 August 2017 UK s Minister for Africa is very happy with what he saw at MAFITA COSDEC in Mando Medium Archived from the original on 8 March 2018 Retrieved 7 March 2018 Bruce British Minister Stewart push trade deals in Uganda Vanguard News Vanguard News 15 July 2017 Archived from the original on 8 March 2018 Retrieved 7 March 2018 Minister for Africa Rory Stewart OBE MP Visit to Gaborone Facebook www facebook com Archived from the original on 8 June 2022 Retrieved 7 March 2018 Oral Answers to Questions Hansard Online hansard parliament uk Archived from the original on 8 March 2018 Retrieved 7 March 2018 Meeting with UK Minister for Africa Rory Stewart Kigali 7 November 2017 Flickr Archived from the original on 8 June 2022 Retrieved 7 March 2018 Tete a tete Rory Stewart Joseph Kabila ce vendredi a Kingakati Le Portail de Barnabe KIKAYA kikayabinkarubi net Archived from the original on 8 March 2018 Retrieved 7 March 2018 UK Minister for Africa Rory Stewart visits Zambia GOV UK www gov uk Archived from the original on 8 March 2018 Retrieved 7 March 2018 UK minister Rory Stewart announces 450 million for development in Tanzania GOV UK www gov uk Archived from the original on 8 March 2018 Retrieved 7 March 2018 Cumbrian MP Rory Stewart meets Zimbabwe s new president News and Star 20 November 2017 Archived from the original on 22 July 2018 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 Archived from the original on 9 November 2020 Retrieved 16 April 2020 Rory Stewart returns from Zimbabwe GOV UK www gov uk Archived from the original on 8 March 2018 Retrieved 7 March 2018 Rory Stewart given new role in cabinet reshuffle News and Star 9 January 2018 Archived from the original on 22 July 2018 Retrieved 16 April 2020 Travis Alan 19 January 2018 Liverpool prison has worst conditions inspectors have seen The Guardian Archived from the original on 7 March 2018 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 Archived from the original on 10 June 2019 Retrieved 16 April 2020 Stewart Rory 17 February 2018 I strongly believe we can improve our prisons and make progress The Guardian Archived from the original on 1 March 2018 Retrieved 7 March 2018 Assaults on police constables 27 Apr 2018 House of Commons debates TheyWorkForYou TheyWorkForYou Archived from the original on 10 May 2018 Retrieved 10 May 2018 I ll quit if jails don t improve minister BBC News 17 August 2018 Archived from the original on 17 August 2018 Retrieved 17 August 2018 Results from the 10 Prisons Project Ad Hoc Statistics PDF GOV UK 22 August 2019 Archived PDF from the original on 15 August 2021 Retrieved 22 September 2020 Secretary of State for International Development GOV UK www gov uk Archived from the original on 17 August 2020 Retrieved 24 July 2019 Department for International Development single departmental plan GOV UK 27 June 2019 Archived from the original on 26 December 2020 Retrieved 11 October 2020 Letts Quentin 7 June 2019 Springtime for Stewart is no laughing matter The Times Archived from the original on 27 November 2020 Retrieved 11 October 2020 Oral statement to Parliament on the Ebola crisis in DR Congo GOV UK 20 May 2019 Archived from the original on 4 October 2020 Retrieved 11 October 2020 Wintour Patrick 7 July 2019 Declare Ebola outbreak in DRC an emergency says UK s Rory Stewart The Guardian Archived from the original on 29 July 2019 Retrieved 11 October 2020 International Development Secretary Rory Stewart visits Jordan in first foreign visit in role GOV UK 4 July 2019 Archived from the original on 18 December 2019 Retrieved 24 October 2019 Clifton Katy 23 July 2019 Rory Stewart confirms resignation from Cabinet after Boris Johnson s victory Evening Standard Archived from the original on 23 July 2019 Retrieved 24 July 2019 Rory Stewart I d bring country together as PM BBC News 2 May 2019 Archived from the original on 6 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 Archived from the original on 8 November 2020 Retrieved 16 April 2020 Commons Confidential The Eurosceptic hackocracy www newstatesman com Archived from the original on 19 August 2019 Retrieved 19 August 2019 a b Elgot Jessica 18 June 2019 This is serious the unlikely rise of Rory Stewart s pitch to be PM The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Archived from the original on 3 March 2021 Retrieved 12 March 2021 The Londoner Rory Stewart is proving to be a master of PR Evening Standard 30 May 2019 Archived from the original on 9 August 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 Archived from the original on 5 January 2020 Retrieved 16 April 2020 Michael Gove admits he was lucky to avoid jail over cocaine use BBC 9 June 2019 Archived from the original on 9 June 2019 Retrieved 9 June 2019 Rory Stewart pledges grown up approach in Tory leadership race Financial Times 11 June 2019 Archived from the original on 19 August 2019 Retrieved 19 August 2019 Full results of the Conservative leadership election round 1 The Guardian 13 June 2019 Archived from the original on 7 June 2020 Retrieved 13 June 2019 Dominic Raab refuses to rule out suspending Parliament to push through no deal ITV News 16 June 2019 Archived from the original on 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 Archived from the original on 26 September 2019 Retrieved 16 April 2020 Rory Stewart out of Tory leadership race BBC News 19 June 2019 Archived from the original on 19 June 2019 Retrieved 19 June 2019 LIVE Raab eliminated as Johnson wins second leadership contest ballot Sky News 18 June 2019 Archived from the original on 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 Archived from the original on 19 June 2019 Retrieved 19 June 2019 Campbell Alastair Stewart Rory 27 April 2022 Biggest snakes Basic Instinct and meeting Miley The Rest Is Politics Podcast Acast Archived from the original on 8 June 2022 Retrieved 5 June 2022 Lyons Kate Rawlinson Kevin Sparrow Andrew Perraudin Frances 4 September 2019 Boris Johnson to table motion for election after failed vote as it happened The Guardian Archived from the original on 4 September 2019 Retrieved 4 September 2019 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 Archived from the original on 4 September 2019 Retrieved 4 September 2019 Whips Parliament uk Archived from the original on 22 July 2019 Retrieved 4 September 2019 Stewart Heather Walker Peter 3 September 2019 Boris Johnson to seek election after rebel Tories deliver Commons defeat The Guardian Archived from the original on 3 September 2019 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 Archived from the original on 5 September 2019 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 Archived from the original on 8 September 2019 Retrieved 11 September 2019 Walker Peter 4 October 2019 Rory Stewart resigns from Conservative party The Guardian Archived from the original on 4 October 2019 Retrieved 4 October 2019 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 BBC One Have I Got News for You Series 58 Episode 6 bbc co uk Archived from the original on 18 April 2021 Retrieved 12 March 2021 Jarvis Tom 11 February 2020 WATCH Rory Stewart s bizarre campaign trick trending on social media The National Archived from the original on 31 August 2021 Retrieved 31 August 2021 RoryStewartUK 11 February 2020 Today I m launching ComeKipWithMe asking Londoners to invite me into their homes and show me the city through their eyes I want to know your concerns and your ideas And I promise to bring a sleeping bag and a box of chocolates Tweet Retrieved 31 August 2021 via Twitter guardian 14 February 2020 ComeKipWithMe 2 000 Londoners take up Rory Stewart s offer Tweet Retrieved 31 August 2021 via Twitter Irish musicians angry at being called minor gangsters by Rory Stewart The Irish Times 26 October 2019 Archived from the original on 29 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 Archived from the original on 7 April 2020 Retrieved 7 April 2020 Stewart Rory rorystewartuk 25 October 2019 I am very sorry towards the guys and towards everyone else I was wrong Tweet Retrieved 12 March 2021 via Twitter Coronavirus English local elections postponed for a year BBC News 13 March 2020 Archived from the original on 8 May 2021 Retrieved 15 April 2020 Rory Stewart pulls out of contest for Mayor of London The Guardian 6 May 2020 Archived from the original on 6 May 2020 Retrieved 6 May 2020 Lydall Ross 6 May 2020 Rory Stewart quits race to become London Mayor saying coronavirus crisis made it impossible to campaign Evening Standard Archived from the original on 6 May 2020 Retrieved 7 May 2020 EU vote Where the cabinet and other MPs stand BBC News Online 22 June 2016 Archived from the original on 3 October 2017 Retrieved 20 June 2018 Cowburn Ashley Rahim Zamira 17 June 2019 Conservative leadership race live Boris Johnson dodges hustings despite ridicule from Jeremy Hunt for ducking TV debate The Independent Archived from the original on 8 June 2022 Retrieved 10 February 2021 Chotiner Isaac 12 June 2019 Rory Stewart Insists that Brexit Is Different from Trump The New Yorker Archived from the original on 8 November 2020 Retrieved 10 February 2021 ON BREXIT Rory Stewart 29 November 2018 Archived from the original on 15 February 2019 Retrieved 15 February 2019 Behr Rafael 19 June 2019 May s Brexit deal is not dead and only Rory Stewart will admit it The Guardian Archived from the original on 19 May 2021 Retrieved 12 March 2021 Stewart Rory RoryStewartUK 5 December 2020 The Customs Union option was the best available the only way of achieving the substantial separation desired by Brexit voters while remaining close to the EU diplomatically and economically Tweet Retrieved 12 March 2021 via Twitter Woodcock Andrew 28 May 2019 Rory Stewart Tory leadership contender unveils proposal to break Brexit deadlock The Independent Archived from the original on 13 June 2021 Retrieved 12 March 2021 Rory Stewart has said he wants to set up a Citizens Assembly to thrash out a Brexit compromise with the Archbishop of Canterbury as mediator Statement on Brexit Rory Stewart 5 July 2016 Archived from the original on 8 April 2019 Retrieved 15 February 2019 the decision is made and we should be energetic and optimistic about it Butterworth Benjamin 4 September 2019 Tory rebels Full list of 21 MPs to lose the whip over Brexit vote from Ken Clarke to Nicholas Soames i Archived from the original on 15 January 2021 Retrieved 10 February 2021 Wilkinson Michael Prince Rosa Gosden Emily 14 July 2015 Fox Hunting Will my MP vote to repeal it The Telegraph Archived from the original on 12 June 2021 Retrieved 16 April 2020 General Election candidates Our views on fox hunting News amp Star 31 May 2017 Archived from the original on 28 August 2021 Retrieved 4 October 2019 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 Archived from the original on 14 February 2020 Retrieved 7 April 2020 Thring Oliver 9 October 2016 Florence of Arabia tamed by a toddler The Sunday Times ISSN 0956 1382 Archived from the original on 8 June 2019 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 Archived from the original on 7 April 2020 Retrieved 14 March 2021 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 Archived from the original on 19 May 2021 Retrieved 14 March 2021 Stewart Rory 30 October 2019 Rory Stewart s Diary Running for London mayor life in a gang and getting coached by Dominic Cummings NewStatesman Archived from the original on 12 January 2020 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 Archived from the original on 12 April 2021 Retrieved 12 March 2021 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 Archived from the original on 6 May 2019 Retrieved 6 May 2019 No 57315 The London Gazette Supplement 12 June 2004 p 23 Ondaatje prize Archived from the original on 5 March 2018 Retrieved 5 March 2018 Livingstone Medal rsgs org Archived from the original on 5 March 2018 Retrieved 5 March 2018 Ness Award Archived from the original on 22 September 2020 Retrieved 1 October 2020 British Academy Scotland Awards Winners in 2012 www bafta org 22 May 2014 Archived from the original on 13 June 2018 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 escoces Rory Stewart gana el Premio de Literatura de Viajes Camino del Cid con su libro La huella de Babur www caminodelcid org in Spanish Archived from the original on 6 March 2018 Retrieved 5 March 2018 Graduating Stirling students reap their rewards University of Stirling 23 November 2009 Archived from the original on 18 July 2011 Retrieved 8 January 2010 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 Archived from the original on 5 March 2018 Retrieved 5 March 2018 Honorary Fellowship FRSGS rsgs org Archived from the original on 1 April 2019 Retrieved 3 May 2019 King Ceri 3 May 2019 Business transacted at the Privy Council held by the Queen at Windsor Castle PDF Privy Council of the United Kingdom Archived PDF from the original on 12 April 2021 Retrieved 12 April 2021 This day Rory Stewart OBE was by Her Majesty s command sworn of Her Majesty s Most Honourable Privy Council and took his place at the Board accordingly Books EditThe Places in Between Picador 2004 ISBN 0 330 48633 0 US edition HarperCollins 2006 ISBN 978 0 15603 156 1 Occupational Hazards My Time Governing in Iraq Picador 2006 ISBN 0 330 44049 7 Published in the USA as The Prince of the Marshes And Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq Harcourt 2006 ISBN 0 15 101235 0 Can Intervention Work Amnesty International Global Ethics Series co authored with Gerald Knaus W W Norton amp Company 2011 ISBN 978 0 393 08120 6 The Marches Border Walks With My Father Jonathan Cape 2016 ISBN 978 0 22409 768 0 Published in the USA as The Marches A Borderland Journey between England and Scotland Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2016 ISBN 978 0 544 10888 2 Politics On the Edge A Memoir from Within Jonathan Cape 2023 ISBN 978 1 787 33271 3External links Edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rory Stewart nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to Rory Stewart Personal website Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom Contributions in Parliament at Hansard Voting record at Public Whip Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYouParliament of the United KingdomPreceded byDavid Maclean Member of Parliamentfor Penrith and The Border2010 2019 Succeeded byNeil HudsonPreceded byJames Arbuthnot Chair of the Defence Select Committee2014 2015 Succeeded byJulian LewisPolitical officesPreceded byDan Rogerson Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs2015 2016 Succeeded byTherese CoffeyPreceded bySir Desmond Swayne Minister of State for International Development2016 2018 Succeeded byHarriett BaldwinPreceded byOffice created Minister of State for Africa2017 2018Preceded bySam Gyimah Minister of State for Prisons2018 2019 Succeeded byRobert BucklandPreceded byPenny Mordaunt Secretary of State for International Development2019 Succeeded byAlok SharmaAwards and achievementsPreceded byDavid Lammy British GQ Politician of the Year2019 Incumbent Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Rory Stewart amp oldid 1180319399, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.