Nigel Farage appoints Troubles veteran who braved ‘most dangerous posting for British Army’ as Reform’s defence chief

Mr MacIntyre will now join Robert Jenrick, Richard Tice, Zia Yusuf, Suella Braverman and Lee Anderson on Reform UK’s frontbench after ending his 40-year military career.

The senior RAF Regiment officer stood down as a commissioned Wing Commander in the Royal Air Force to become the party’s armed forces spokesman.

Mr MacIntyre began his career in the British Army and his service included attachments to the Royal Marines and Parachute Regiment.

He was deployed in Arctic Norway, Northern Ireland and Brunei.

GB News also understands Mr MacIntyre was posted to Crossmaglen during the Troubles.

The town, which was known as “Bandit Country”, was a stronghold for the Provisional IRA throughout the conflict and widely considered the most dangerous place for the British Army in Northern Ireland.

Mr MacIntyre, who is the first Reform UK spokesman without any known links to the Tory Party, said: “Earlier this year, Nigel said he wanted people from outside of politics with real-world experience to come and help Reform UK fix broken Britain.

“Last week I ended a 40-year military career to answer that call. I can think of no better way to continue my service to our great nation than by standing alongside Nigel Farage and the Reform UK team and explaining why, despite the current state of our country and her armed forces, our best days still lie ahead.

“The two old-guard parties have left our armed forces under severe pressure. The cuts during the Brown and Blair years took chunks from the ranks of all three services.

“The Conservatives promised to fix it, but over their 14 years in Government, they oversaw a further decline in our military power. Neither can be trusted.”

Mr Farage insisted the party would unveil key spokesmen at Reform UK’s annual conference in Birmingham after coming under fire from both Labour and the Tories.

Speaking about Mr MacIntyre’s appointment, Mr Farage said: “Having someone of Angus’ stature and calibre speak for us on defence shows how seriously Reform UK takes protecting the interests of Britain’s military.

“Angus has more experience than the entire Government defence team combined.

“He is representative of our drive to bring into politics people with high-level and real-world experience – as opposed to career politicians – to run Government departments.”

Labour and the Tories had ramped up their attacks on Mr Farage over calls for the Reform UK leader to appoint an armed forces spokesman.

Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge said earlier this week: “We hear he [Mr Farage] may finally be appointing one [a defence spokesman] this week, subject to final clearance from the Kremlin.”

Meanwhile, Defence Secretary Wes Streeting took aim at Reform UK last month.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Streeting said: “It is simply irresponsible, not to mention inaccurate, to say that the UK is incapable of defending the Falklands.

“We are perfectly capable of doing that. We had a very visible demonstration only recently.

“Maybe if Reform had a defence spokesperson, they might have noticed.”

Mr MacIntyre, who completed operational tours to Afghanistan, Kuwait, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Iraq and Somalia in the RAF, also spent a year negotiating between the UN and the Somali National Army.

Reform UK is expected to make further frontbench announcements.

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