Rory Stewart finally responds to that incredibly awkward stare towards fellow Newsnight guest

Former MP Rory Stewart might be in need of a neck brace soon enough if he keeps swivelling his head at such high speeds.

In wake of the footage of his bizarre behaviour on Newsnight going viral this week, he has now issued a response in regards to the intense stare he gave journalist Ailbhe Rea.

He explained that he has been avoiding social media 'under strict instructions from his family' since becoming a meme overnight - before then re-enacting the awkward moment on camera once again.

Stewart, 53, left Newsnight viewers feeling quite unnerved last Friday (18 September) due to his antics during an appearance on the BBC programme.

He sat down with host Matt Chorley alongside former Labour leader Neil Kinnock and the New Statesman’s political editor Ailbhe Rea to discuss current affairs and the artificial intelligence race.

After chewing the fat over this topic, Stewart finished his sentence and then nearly gave himself whiplash while turning to face Rea.

The Rest Is Politics podcaster rapidly swivelled his chair and jerked his head sideways towards his fellow guest, but the sheer speed of his mechanical-style movement left those watching stunned.

To make matters worse, Stewart then gave Rea a wide-eyed stare while she shared her thoughts.

Footage of his strange on-screen antics quickly started doing the rounds on social media, spawning hundreds of memes and a host of questions about what Stewart was up to.

Interestingly, Newsnight host Chorley claimed that in real life, the interaction wasn't as intense as it appeared to be on TV - and he revealed he had actually encouraged his guests to create a 'viral' moment if possible.

Chorley told The Guardian of the 'funny moment': "I didn’t notice Rory looking particularly intently at anyone during the course of the programme."

The broadcaster said he had jokingly told the panellists before going on air: "Anything that can be used to go viral, maybe a punch-up or whatever, a tiff at the table, if you want to do that, that’d be great."

Chorley reckoned that Stewart would be 'used to' being the subject of a viral conversation, given that it is 'not the first time that something he’s done has gone wild online'.

"I think he was genuinely probably just intently listening to what Ailbhe had to say," he added. "But there was something about the camera angle and his very direct look."

Stewart himself has now broken his silence on the unwavering stare that he gave Rea.

In a video shared by Newsnight on social media, the ex-MP said: "I'm afraid, as you can see, I'm just coming back from abroad and I've missed almost all of this as I was on an army base and then I've been away.

"Under strict instructions from my family I disabled all social media on this phone.

"But you know, I really don't know what to say...Thank you? And I guess all I can do is this..."

Stewart, who appeared to be in the back of a taxi while filming his response video, then performed the dramatic head swivel once again, before intently staring off into the distance for a few seconds.

Although social media users were glad to finally hear from him, the majority of people thought his explanation was lacklustre, to say the least.

One person wrote: "Not much of an explanation as to why he did it, it was bizarre."

Another added: "'Don’t know what to say'...how about an explanation?"

A third agreed, commenting: "But he’s not even explaining why on earth he did it?"

Others were a bit more sympathetic towards Stewart, with one person saying: "Good for him. At least he’s taken it in good humour."

Rae also shared her thoughts on the now-notorious Newsnight moment with Stewart in a post on X earlier this week.

She comically shared a gif of the footage while plugging a new piece she has written and captioned the post: "And by the way, I would please like attention levels like this on my latest interview."