Bob Stewart recounts military career and Ukraine torture testimony

Colonel Bob Stewart, the former British Army officer and MP, has given a wide-ranging broadcast interview about his military service, his time in Parliament, new books and his recent trip to Ukraine.

Stewart said he served in the Army for 28 years and left at 45 as a full colonel. He said he loved the work and regretted leaving, but believed his time was up. He described his service in Bosnia as very tough and traumatic, although he noted that people are no longer dying there. He also said he had operated in Ireland with female colleagues in civilian clothes and that women carried arms on the front line despite public claims that they did not.

After leaving the Army, Stewart went into business, which he said he was pretty bad at, before becoming a politician. He was an MP for 14 years and said he enjoyed speaking in the House of Commons most, though he never gave himself more than seven out of ten. He did not stand in the 2024 election and has retired from Parliament.

Stewart has written two books with the historian and author Quentin Drummond Anderson: Both Feet In, a memoir, and Courage, a collection of stories about people he considers courageous. The Courage book includes a chapter on his wife, Claire, who appears on the cover and worked as a delegate; she has only recently allowed some of her experiences to be mentioned. It also profiles figures including the First World War nurse Edith Cavell and a French nurse. Stewart and Anderson host a podcast called Standing Ground and run a project called History Heard, which aims to take military and modern history into schools.

In the interview, Stewart returned repeatedly to the theme of ordinary courage. He recalled a moment when he decided to clear a minefield so that about 2,000 people could cross front lines. As he walked towards the minefield, two soldiers aged about 18 or 19 joined him and refused to let him do it alone. Stewart said he felt like a fraud when he received recognition, because being in command gave him courage while young soldiers had only their own. He said soldiers and women in the armed forces often did not get the credit they deserved.

Stewart also said he had just returned from Ukraine. He said he had spoken to people who had been tortured, particularly members of the 12th Special Forces Brigade who were at Mariupol and were captured. He said a female soldier was among those tortured. He praised what they had endured.

Stewart said two of his children are in the armed forces, one in the Royal Air Force and one in the Marines, and that he is very proud of them.