Ant Middleton fumes 'I was silenced in UK' as he shares why he left Britain for life abroad: 'No identity!'
CHALLENGE THE WILD/CHANNEL 4
The former SAS: Who Dares Win star and Channel 4 went their separate ways in 2021
Ant Middleton has delved into why he's decided to leave the UK for a new life in Dubai three years on from his Channel 4 departure.
Speaking exclusively to GB News from Normandy where he'd attended the D-Day 80th anniversary event, Middleton opened up on the "sadness" he feels for today's modern Britain - with its "lack of identity", "zero leadership" and "woke" agenda making its way into everyday life.
Middleton fell victim to cancel culture while starring on SAS: Who Dares Wins after he found himself at the centre of controversy over a series of tweets in which he criticised protestors taking part in BLM and EDL demonstrations on the streets of London.
Despite deleting and clarifying his tweets, it wasn't enough to satisfy bosses at Channel 4, with a spokesperson announcing soon after (via the Mirror): "Ant Middleton will not be taking part in future series of SAS: Who Dares Wins. Following a number of discussions Channel 4 and Minnow Films have had with him in relation to his personal conduct it has become clear that our views and values are not aligned and we will not be working with him again."
Being cancelled hasn't hindered Middleton's career, however, as he's gone on to lead SAS: Who Dares Wins in Australia, pen a bestselling book and launch his own podcast among other ventures.
But the cancel culture engulfing Britain is still a subject the 43-year-old passionately opposes, telling GB News: "You can't be passionate because the moment you're passionate, you're pushed on to the extreme right. You're a patriot? You're pushed on (to the right). You can't be that."
SAS Who Dares Wins: Ant Middleton (second from left) was the face of the Channel 4 show
CHANNEL 4
Explaining his decision to leave Britain behind, he continued: "I live in Dubai now and if you'd have said to me two years ago, three years ago, would you ever move? Never would I have left the UK, never in a million years - I've fought for the UK!
"And when I say I've fought for the UK, if we go behind the scenes of what I've fought, that's why I am where I am today and no one's got s**t on me.
"But when I don't agree with the culture and when I do not agree with the layout of the land, then I'm gone.
"I've always said that. I've always said to my children, I've always said to my family that if you don't agree with the culture, don't go to that country. If you don't agree with the lay of the land, then don't go and visit that country.
Ant Middleton has left the UK for a new life abroad since leaving Channel 4
CHANNEL 4
"When both hit me in the UK, I felt like a hypocrite saying it. And I thought I've got to get out and it saddens me."
Despite his departure, Middleton still feels a deep bond to his country: "I still love the UK. The people in the UK are just stuck in a rut.
"I've got the fortunate situation that I've got but the UK is in such a sad state of affairs. It's got university graduates (dictating debate) - I spent 13 years in the military, I've been in the Special Forces... I know how the government works - so get out of the way you spotty p***k, right? I'll tell you how it f***ing works.
"If I had the voice that I had before in the UK to tell you how it works, I'd be shut down.
"My voice is shut down already because they know I'm on to something. And it's the grace of GB News and the likes of Piers Morgan that go against the narrative of the big companies, go against the narrative of the media companies, go against the narrative of whoever pays the funds for these big organisations.
"My voice is unfortunately silenced here in the UK, so I'll go and get it heard elsewhere."
Cancel culture and a loss of national identity are just two reasons Middleton cites for his "sadness" towards his country at the moment - and he made no secret of thinking the current government bears the blame.
"I could honestly step into government and do a better job. And I'm not joking around," he passionately stated. "I could have all the advisors around me and I could go in there and go, 'Right, from a military standpoint, this is what we need to implement, this is what we need to reinforce, this is what we need to do to make Britain great again', and it starts with our children.
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"We need political reform. It's about starting with our younger generation. It's about understanding what we want as a society and the direction we need to go.
"When we lose the identity of our country, we turn around in circles. When we lose the culture of our country, there's no identity.
"British culture is British history. We're a Catholic and a Christian country, we have those beliefs in us. Why aren't we implementing that?
"It seems to be very sad that nowadays the white British male is accountable when everyone else is not accountable. Everyone else can get away with everything - they'll pull the race card, the religion card - and if you're white, British, and heterosexual, then you're accountable.
"I am up for you being who you want, where you want, where you want to be, but we need to pull together. We need to have boundaries, we need to have limitations, and we need decision-making at the moment."
Middleton's patriotism is one of the reasons he became an ambassador for the Armed Forces charity Walking with the Wounded, embarking on a historic expedition from the UK to Normandy to mark D-Day.
Along with fellow organisation Challenge the Wild, Middleton joined a team of veterans and Armed Forces supporters in the French town to show their respects for those soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice eight decades ago.