Angus MacIntyre

Reform UK’s Shadow Armed Forces Minister. 🇬🇧

[Angus MacIntyre @AngusReform]

I will end the unjust prosecutions of our veterans in my first 100 days in office.

If I fail, I will resign.

[Sarah Pochin MP @SarahForRuncorn]

Welcome to @reformparty_uk, Wing Commander Angus MacIntyre.

Angus brings 40 years of military service, more than Labour’s entire defence team or the Tories’.

The established parties have neglected and degraded our Armed Forces and persecuted our veterans, while prioritising foreign aid, net zero madness and the welfare of migrants.

We will rebuild our Armed Forces and stand by those who have served our country. 🇬🇧

[Nigel Farage @Nigel_Farage]

Britain is broken because it's run by useless, career politicians.

Angus MacIntyre, our new Shadow Armed Forces Minister, has served our military for 40 years.

If you want to fix Britain, join Reform today.

[Angus MacIntyre @AngusReform]

I joined the Army in 1986 and then the RAF Regiment in 1999. I served in Northern Ireland, Arctic Norway, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia.

In that time I watched successive governments decimate our armed forces, and now even prosecute our veterans.

That’s why I’ve given up my job as Wing Commander to join Reform and fight for our armed forces.

[Angus MacIntyre @AngusReform]

From one mission to the next.

[Nigel Farage @Nigel_Farage]

Watch LIVE as I launch our new Shadow Armed Forces Minister. https://t.co/tytIeKuW8X

[Angus MacIntyre @AngusReform]

My article in the Daily Mail. 👇

https://t.co/mq2PSn5efy

[Angus MacIntyre @AngusReform]

Serving in the British Armed Forces has been the single greatest honour of my life.

During my 40-year career, I have been posted all over the world, from Sierra Leone to Mogadishu, going from one extreme to the other – conducting Arctic warfare in -30C conditions one minute to undergoing months of gruelling desert training in sweltering 50C heat the next.

There have been hairy times, such as a six-month tour in the IRA stronghold of Crossmaglen, one the most dangerous postings for the British Army during The Troubles.

There have also been extremely tough times.

In Afghanistan, I was among the body-recovery team for RAF Nimrod, which crashed near Kandahar following a catastrophic mid-flight fire, killing 14 service personnel.

The devastation I saw will stay with me to my dying day.

But undoubtedly the most challenging aspect of military life has been enduring the way in which successive governments have treated our Armed Forces.

To politicians, we are almost an afterthought, which is why they fail to provide the equipment, funding and resources our brave men and women need.

Meanwhile, we see the disgraceful treatment of our veterans, who face prosecution from activist lawyers and the political establishment merely for doing their jobs under extreme pressures.

Which is why I have chosen to leave the military and join Reform UK as its first Spokesman for the Armed Forces.

I can no longer stand by and see service personnel being expected to operate in increasingly demanding and dangerous circumstances, often separated from their families for long periods and putting their lives on the line, while time and again being left feeling undervalued, under-resourced and forgotten.

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, defence spending has dwindled to unworkable levels. When I signed up in 1986 aged 18, the Armed Forces had 330,000 service personnel.

Today, the combined personnel of the Army, Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force stands at 148,000 – barely enough to fill two Premier League football stadiums.

Watching the decline over the past five years from inside the Ministry of Defence has been particularly difficult.

Each year budgets have shrunk and every time we have asked governments the same questions: What do you want us to cut? What is it that you think we no longer require?

The answer from Whitehall has always been the same: That’s your call.

What made matters worse was when we looked around and saw where taxpayer money was going. Britain spends £330billion on welfare compared to just £60billion on defence.

Andy Burnham insists national security cannot come at the expense of our social security – but how can you have one without the other?

As for procurement, it has become a byword for waste, delay and indecision.

Troops are promised world-class equipment but years later, those same projects are often running late, are significantly over-budget or have failed to deliver the capabilities originally pledged.

Equipment for Ukraine can be sourced, tested and delivered in less than eight weeks.

The same process for British defence would take ten years, when the world has never been more dangerous in my lifetime.

This is because our system has to be totally risk-averse and decision making is managed through huge committees.

All this indecision has now come back to haunt us.

While long-term defence modernisation remains essential, the immediate priority must be ensuring that the Armed Forces are equipped and resourced to respond effectively to a crisis at short notice.

This means urgently expanding our current supplies and producing more kit quickly.

Make no mistake, Britain must prepare for the possibility of a major conflict. The threat from Russia over the next five years remains very real.

I have zero belief that the old parties will fix this. Reform is the only organisation I trust to make the changes we desperately need.

[Angus MacIntyre @AngusReform]

The party believes in bringing into politics people with high-level experience to run departments, rather than career politicians.

Away from the front line, I have worked with the United Nations and the Somali National Army, spent a year in the Pentagon and was assistant head of Taskforce Spirit, the MoD body that works to support the long-term capabilities of Ukraine’s military.

On my watch, I will ensure our Armed Forces receive both the backing and the respect they deserve.

We at Reform would rapidly boost defence spending, committing to spending 3 per cent of GDP by 2030 and then 3.5 per cent by 2035.

And you can be certain too that we will look after our troops. Soldiers who risk life and limb for their country should not be paid less than workers in an Amazon warehouse.

We will provide our veterans the support they require.

Within 100 days we will pardon veterans convicted for simply carrying out orders, terminate ongoing prosecutions and bar further prosecutions of soldiers – save for the explicit consent of the Secretary of State for Defence.

Ex-soldiers should not spend their retirement wondering whether the very country they swore to defend will stand by them. We will have their backs.

I am under no illusions about the difficulties we would face in making the changes required to get our troops shipshape and battle ready.

But I have spent my career asking other people to step forward when it was hard.

It would be a poor kind of officer who then declined to do the same, because our armed forces deserve better.

Britain deserves better.

[Nigel Farage @Nigel_Farage]

Over 14 years, the Tories destroyed our armed forces. They left them with 50,000 fewer personnel than they started with.

Our army hasn’t been this small since the 1790s. It’s underfunded and those who serve are treated as an afterthought.

Wing Commander (Retd) Angus MacIntyre, our new Shadow Armed Forces Minister, spent 40 years keeping the British people safe.

I can’t think of anybody better to rebuild our military and end the persecution of our veterans.

[Reform UK @reformparty_uk]

The Tories ran our armed forces into the ground over 14 years.

Our Shadow Armed Forces Minister, Angus MacIntyre, will use his 40 years of military experience to work towards reversing the damage and strengthening our national security. 🇬🇧

[Angus MacIntyre @AngusReform]

I have spent the past 40 years in the military.

My career has taken me all over the world, from Northern Ireland to Afghanistan to Iraq to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Somalia.

Today marks the next step in my mission to keep Britain safe.

From one mission to the next.

[Reform UK @reformparty_uk]

Angus MacIntyre is Reform UK’s Shadow Armed Forces Minister.

Angus stood down as a commissioned Wing Commander in the Royal Air Force last week to reverse the damage successive Tory and Labour governments have inflicted on our Armed Forces.

Tune in at 2pm to hear more about the experience Angus brings to this role and his plans to rebuild our Armed Forces.

[Angus MacIntyre @AngusReform]

I have decided to stand down as a RAF Wing Commander and bring my experience to the role of Reform UK’s Shadow Armed Forces Minister.

Our armed forces have been decimated by successive governments.

Rebuilding them is a national challenge that I am committed to deliver as part of Reform UK.