Reform UK has unveiled Wing Commander Angus MacIntyre as its defence spokesman, an appointment political commentator Jonathan Saxty argues gives Nigel Farage's party a chance to build credibility on a critical national security issue.
Writing from Taiwan, Saxty said he views the island as the likely centre of any future global conflict, arguing that the geopolitical consequences of a Russian war have not been as profound as feared since 2022. Beyond energy price rises and calls for more defence spending, he asked whether the world had been dragged into any global economic and military meltdown, answering that it had not.
Taiwan, he argued, is a different proposition because it is the world's semiconductor leader and sits in the middle of the 'first island chain', a network of Western allied island countries that currently block China from projecting power into the Pacific.
MacIntyre's criticism of the old parties
On his appointment, Wing Commander Angus MacIntyre said: “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. Only Reform UK can fix and rebuild our Armed Forces.”
Saxty noted that Japan and the Philippines directly host US troops, and argued that China has no option but to control Taiwan if it wants to make good on leader Xi Jinping's pledge to achieve full geopolitical parity with the US. He added that Beijing is likely to make use of its North Korean and Pakistani proxies, with India, Japan and Korea likely to get involved as well.
A chance to build credibility
The commentator argued that defence and foreign affairs are areas where Reform can build credibility, and that while attention has been focused on Russia, the party has a chance to address what he describes as the bigger threat of an expansionist China. He noted that the Tories have in their foreign affairs head a man who has made a name as a China hawk, and that Reform will not want the Conservatives to get ahead on the issue.
Saxty said Reform can point out, as with immigration, crime and the economy, that the Conservatives and Labour have failed and cannot be trusted to look after national defence, whether on spending or on looking after veterans.
With Wing Commander MacIntyre in place, he concluded that Reform is looking more credible in areas beyond its core strengths, and that the party now needs to develop a coordinated policy on what he suspects will be the biggest and most urgent geopolitical question of the next few years.
