A South London MP has been charged with using “racially aggravated” language against a man after an incident in Belgravia last year.
Bob Stewart, Conservative MP for Beckenham, has been charged with two counts of public order offences, including using “threatening or abusive” words towards an individual.
Police said in a statement on June 5 that the offence was “racially aggravated”.
The 73-year-old MP was charged with a second offence for using threatening words likely to cause “harassment, alarm or distress”.
Police said in their statement that the second offence related to the same incident and was included to “allow the court discretion on the racial element”.
The police said in a statement: “On Sunday, December 18 2022, police received an online report from a man alleging he had been verbally racially abused.
“The allegation relates to an incident in Belgravia, London, SW1, on Wednesday, December 14 2022.”
The police said they started an investigation following the complaint and sent a file to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Mr Stewart has represented the Beckenham constituency since 2010. He previously served as an Army officer for 26 years, in both Northern Ireland and Bosnia, before leaving in 1996 and working as a consultant.
The MP has sat on a number of parliamentary committees including the House of Commons Defence Committee and the Select Committee on Northern Ireland. He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, July 5.
