New Tory MP Rory Stewart appears to be a Throwback to 19th century Tory politicians.
His CV reads as much.
Educated at Eton and Balliol College Oxford he is reported to have flirted with the Labour Party as a teenager.
But after a brief period as an officer in the British Army on a gap year (I kid you not)commission (to the Black Watch), Stewart joined the Foreign Office where he seems to have joined the Arabist grouping that the FO is famous for).He served in the British Embassy in Indonesia from 1997 to 1999, working on issues related to East Timor independence, and as the British Representative to Montenegro in the wake of the Kosovo campaign. From 2000 to 2002 he walked across Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, India and Nepal, a journey of 6000 miles, during which time he stayed in five hundred different village houses.
After the coalition invasion of Iraq, he was appointed the Coalition Provisional Authority Deputy Governor of Maysan and Senior Advisor in Dhi Qar, two provinces in southern Iraq. His responsibilities included holding elections, resolving tribal disputes and implementing development projects. He faced an incipient civil war and growing civil unrest from his base in a CIMIC compound in Al Amarah, and in May 2004 was in command of his compound in Nasiriyah when it was besieged by Sadrist militia. He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his service in Iraq at the age of 31. While Stewart initially supported the Iraq War, the Coalition's inability to achieve a more humane, prosperous state led him in retrospect to believe the invasion had been a mistake.
Though this may have something to do with the plans he had for his Political future.
This I suppose is impressive but also is indicative of the Old Tory paternalism who believe they were born to govern the Empire as well as the rest of us.
In the last election he was elected to the safe Tory seat of Penrith and the Borders, "
So how does he show his true colours?
By an interview in the Scottish Sun he claimed that parts of his constituency are "primitive" and that some residents hold up their trousers with string.”
In a short sentence he has shown what the Tories really think of the rest of us and earns him a nomination of Tory Toff Twit (TTT)
Other contenders for this years TTT are Michael, Grove and Jacob Ress Mogg. I’m sure that there will be many more before I announce the winner in January.
1 comment:
Pity about his comment, though I don't doubt many MPs, including Labour ones, make similar put-downs about their own constituents. Not all put-downs need to be nasty either, the current YouTube rap video about Newport is full of cliches and is down with compassion.
In any case, at least he has a more interesting and varied CV than most MPs - Labour ones seem almost always to be PR or media types or from some third sector grouping. This man has lived and I'd prefere that than some smug nobody who's done nothing than spend other people's money.
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