MP And Ex-Soldier Says He "Was Kind Of A Torturer" During Troubles

A former soldier and MP has said he was a "kind of torturer" when serving as a soldier during The Troubles in Northern Ireland

Conservative MP Bob Stewart said he had used techniques that were legal at the time, although they were later banned.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, he said:

"So, in a way, technically, as you look at it today, I was a kind of a torturer... Of course, it was acceptable then - it's now unacceptable and now it's defined as torture."

Col Stewart said he had "hooded" and "spread-eagled" detainees in techniques now regarded as illegal.

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Following comments by US President Donald Trump, who said he believed torture "absolutely works", the former Army officer said:

"We don’t like torture. No one likes torture. Not even Trump likes torture." 

"The fact of the matter is, as we both accept, sometimes it might work, and sometimes it might be justified."

"In circumstances where a great number of people, or indeed one person, is going to be killed, you have to think very carefully about what pressure you can put on people in order to give that information to stop peoples' lives being lost."

"A certain amount of persuasion might be justified if someone, for example, had the knowledge about where a nuclear weapon that was going to explode in London was."

However, following suggestions by Trump that the controversial practice of waterboarding could be re-introduced, Col Stewart said he did not agree with its use.

But he added:

“When you argue that torture never works, that is wrong. Torture can work and sometimes one has to wonder whether we might have to use hard persuasion, what I mean is minor torture, to get information to save a great number of lives.”

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