UK can avoid euro but must accept free movement to rejoin EU, says former top Brexit negotiator – UK politics live

Michel Barnier says Britain could avoid having to join the single currency, but free movement is non-negotiable

Nigel Farage is holding a press conference later to formally announce that Angus MacIntyre, an RAF wing commander with a military career spanning 40 years, will be what Reform UK is calling its “shadow armed forces minister”.

That means he’s the party’s armed forces spokesperson. You are only a proper shadow minister if you are a member of the official opposition, which at the moment is the Conservative party. Farage has been criticised for some time for not having a defence spokesperson, and MacIntyre’s title implies Farage is still looking for someone who could be defence secretary in a Reform UK government. The actual armed forces minister is Louise Sandher-Jones, a junior member of the Ministry of Defence’s ministerial team.

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.

MacIntyre is a senior RAF regimental officer with a military career spanning 40 years. He stood down as a commissioned wing commander in the Royal Air Force in order to become the party’s shadow armed forces minister.

His 40 years of military service alone exceed the combined total of Labour’s entire defence team, with just two of their five ministers serving over 31 years between them. They also surpass the Conservatives’ shadow defence team, where five of seven have served for a collective 35 years …