Ant Middleton vs Sadiq Khan | Britain WILL Reclaim its Culture & Take Back London

25:44So, you know, I tip up and people think I'm either in sniper troop or I'm in recce troop, but, you know, I go to Bravo company in 40 commando. But there were just a different mentality. You know, it's like, you know, you've earned your green beret, you're now one of us, you know, we push you to be better. What do you want to do? It's the elite conventional forces of that and the parachute regiment are the elite conventional forces of the military. And the Royal Marines being the elite conventional forces of the Navy. So they were way more mature. I remember speaking to my officer and he said, Ant, there's going to be a lot on your plate here, a lot of expectations.

26:28From the army to now here, you're cutting around with your wings on, which is going to upset a lot of people, which it did. But you now need to, you know, put your money where your mouth is, basically. And that's exactly what I've done, mate. I kept my head down, went on, done a tour in Sierra Leone on a short-term training team where I was teaching advanced jungle warfare because I'd been to Sierra Leone before. Got back off that and then I deployed to Afghanistan on Opherik 7. And during my time in Afghanistan, I got field promotion to section commander. So within two weeks of being in Afghanistan, something happened to my troop sergeant.

27:12He went, my troop commander stepped up to troop sergeant position and I stepped up as section commander. So I've got, you know, I've got seven men, including myself, eight men under my belt. So this is literally a year of being a Royal Marine. Now, within that year, I got promoted to Lance Corporal. And then, you know, the second year of being in the Royal Marines, go to Afghanistan, I'll get full promotion to section commander. Huge steps. You know, I'm taking these gigantic steps and I embrace the situation. I'm in this leadership position straight away. I'm loving it. You know, you know, don't get me wrong.

27:50People are, you know, people are going, you haven't done your junior command course. And I'm like, yeah, it's fine. It's fine. Listen, I'm going to talk to the men. and I've got the men around. I'm like, listen, I've just been given this position. And when I look around this group and it wasn't being big headed, I'm the right man for the job. I just need your backing, boys. You know, I'm not going to get everything right. But if I don't, then know that, you know, it's not out of me not trying to do my best, not only for you, but for myself, but for the mission. This episode is brought to you by PayPal.

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29:04Plus, it's vegan and cruelty-free. 10 minutes, sensational color, sensational price. With those savings, your next girls' night is basically free. Find your perfect match at Walmart.com or at a store near you. And that's a terrifying position for most to be in, but you speak often about harnessing your fear. Absolutely. And also integrity. You know, a good leader will decision make. They make a decision and they execute it, whether they get it right or wrong. Like I said, if they get it right, good, onto the next mission. If they get it wrong, well, guess what? That's actually a good thing because it's a stepping stone to getting it right.

29:40You know, as long as you can, you know, move forward with the courage of your convictions to go, do you know what? Listen, we all make mistakes. My team, are you good to go? and I'll take you through my field promotion that I got. Two patrols, two or three days later, you know, I've just got this promotion and I'm leading the men and we're walking through and we're in Sangen, DC. You know, IEDs have just gone off. We've just been used as a QRF to go and collect the remains of a soldier, you know, literally putting him on a stretcher and, you know, body parts all over the place. What's that like?

30:18And that sounds absolutely harrowing. Do you know what? You don't know how your emotions are going to take on that situation. And I always say there's three things that control your emotions. There's other people, there's a situation, and there's yourself. Now, with this situation, you don't know how you're going to act emotionally. Psychologically, you can go and block things out. Physically, you can get to A to B and get the casualty out of there. But emotionally, you're at the mercy of the situation, You know, and you've got to rely on your body. Now, this is what's so phenomenal about the human body is it will defend itself at all costs.

30:59You know, you do not realize how powerful, how structured, how amazing the human body is. Every single thing on your body serves a purpose From every hair to every artery to every tendon to every blood vessel Everything on your body is not there just for the sake of being there It's there because it's there to protect you And I find that fascinating I find that there's nothing wasted on my body It's 100 % there for you to use to your advantage Now, what I found in this situation that when I was picking up body parts and putting it on a stretcher to get them out of there and clearing rooms to make sure that there was no further IEDs, booby traps, et cetera, et cetera, my body subconsciously went into this defensive mode, right?

31:54At this stage, I'd never seen a dead body, let alone body parts everywhere. But as I'm clearing these rooms and I'm seeing these body parts, I'm not seeing the body parts. So when I'm picking up body parts, my my my vision isn't homed in on the details of that body part. Right. So I'm picking up a head, for example. I'm not looking at that. I'm not looking at the details that I know it's a head. I can tell by the shape of it. I can tell by the feel of it. You know, that's going on the stretcher because I know we need to get all the body parts back. Like my mind isn't taking those photographic memories of something.

32:34If I was, you know, on a mission and I'm looking at a laptop, for example, I'm looking at pictures, my mind's storing that. That's Intel. Here my body's protecting itself where I know that that's a head. I know it's a shape of a head, but I'm not filing in. I'm not saving those images. So it's almost like, yeah, I know that's a bang, it's down. And my body was subconsciously doing that. It's like when I would go into a target and, you know, I would do what I needed to do. You know, there wasn't a personal element to it. There was never a personal attachment to it. And this is where, you know, and I don't speak for people that have PTSD, but I've spoken to a lot of my friends that do.

33:19It's the personal element, the personal attachment to it that creates that spiral effect, that negative spiral effect. So, you know, whether it was just because I knew my body so well from such a young age, going back to my father's death, right? It's like this man gave me so much. You know, I can't thank him enough. You know, almost that situation, you know, people go, if you could have one thing back, would you bring your father back? And I'm like, no, because I am my father. He made me, you know, it's like, no, I wouldn't do that to him. And I wouldn't do that to me. So it's really strange because my body was defending itself without even knowing it.

33:58And I remember getting back off and an officer came up to me and went, you know, you were carrying a stretcher as well. How are you feeling? I went, fine. I said, let's get back out on the ground, sir. And he was like, no, no, we need to talk. I said, what do you remember? I said, nothing. I said, I remember going in, doing my job and extracting the casualty. And now it's your job, sir, to repatriate him, get him on a plane home. we've got to carry on the mission. You know, that was, it was like bang, bang. They were such vivid memories in my mind and I was just doing my job, but my body is phenomenal.

34:34My body was protecting me at all costs. My mind was protecting me. My emotions were protecting me. That whole element of the human anatomy and how it syncs together when it needs to, to protect you. I can't describe it, mate. It is phenomenal. Do you know what? I'm really glad I asked that question. I know it's invasive and some soldiers don't like to talk about that stuff or certainly be asked, but that was a hell of an answer you gave and a hell of a mindset. It's the mindset of a leader, a leader that we need, and it all sort of comes back full circle to what people in Britain are looking for.

35:09So let me take you back to Afghan because I think you've done three tours of Afghan. I've seen you being interviewed before and people are quite keen to ask you about your body count, how many people you've killed. You can or you can't answer that depending on how you're feeling. But I also want to know how many lives you've saved. I think that's the most important thing out there. I think a better question is, by all means, how many people have you killed? Okay, that's part and parcel of the job. But let's amplify and highlight the amount of lives that you've actually saved. That's the job that's worthy of a medal.

35:43I can't go into my special forces days because I'm bound to the CXC Act, which I dare to, I uphold. I never want to put anyone at risk or national security at risk. But what I can tell you is how I dealt with certain situations. Whether in your mind you can say that was in the special forces or not, that's completely up to you. I won't tell you that. But I can tell you how I dealt with certain situations now. And an officer said to me once, I was in a certain role, and this could have been in the Marines or in the Special Forces. He says, what's your job? And I was point man at the time. I was like lead scout, first man through the door.

36:28He said, what's your job as lead scout point man? I said, my job is to look after myself, look after my muckers and to kill the enemy. And he looked at me and he went, he said, you've got two out of three. I was like, okay. Maybe I'm being a bit selfish saying I need to look after myself. So I was like, to look after my muckers, to kill the enemy and the mission comes first. He went, and now you've got one out of three. He said, you're right at first. Look after yourself by all means. make sure that you are there because you are an asset to your team protect yourself at all costs because you are needed every single man in this team is needed so of course protect yourself your muckers, that goes without saying and he said 100 % he said you protect your muckers he said that's what, they're going to protect you, you're going to protect them do not let a gap in that furlinks happen you cover his arcs, they cover your arcs great I thought, well, surely it's not the last one because I'm there to kill the enemy.

37:36He said, you're not there to kill the enemy. He said, you're there to preserve life. And I remember thinking to myself, you know, at this stage, you know, quite combat experience. And I thought to myself, I'm there to preserve life. That doesn't make sense because I'm going into these hot situations and, you know, all they want to do is kill us. Surely that should be my job. Anyway, because I was questioning it, questioning that motive, it must have lodged in my head. And a situation unfolded where, you know, we're in the heat of a battle and, you know, something happens and all of a sudden I take my finger off the trigger and there's innocent civilians there.

38:20And, you know, I go from this, you know, hard in combat, you know, soldier to, whoa, this father, which I was, you know, to this, wow, how am I going to preserve life? How am I going to save life? And it was after that mission that I sort of understood, you know, I was in the heat of the battle, heat of the moment. All of a sudden, I come across these people. My finger comes off the trigger. And my thought process is how am I going to save their lives? How am I going to preserve life? So after that mission, I went away and I thought, I get it now. I get it. And then I sort of broke things down.

38:52Now, I was baptized to Catholic, confirmed Catholic. I've turned more to Christianity over the last few years. But, you know, I've always sort of had this religious sort of element in me. You know, I'm not practicing, you know, Catholic. I go to church every now and then. But I remember reading the Bible before I came out and I'd keep hold of certain phrases. I also read the Quran as well, certain phrases of the Quran. But Romans chapter 12, verse 21 really stood out with me. And it says, be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. And I thought, if I can take that into the battlefield with me, you know, and I did all the time.

39:40Don't be engulfed by evil, you know, because when you press the trigger for the first time, you become, you can become like a dog on a bloodlust. You know, it's there, you know, I'm here, you know, that's evil taking over, right? It's like, don't allow that to now be at the forefront of everything that you do when you go through the next door or whatever you do. So I'd always have that verse in my head and I'll get back and I'll be, be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. and then this situation happens where I preserve life, so I get that message that's ingrained, because that came to the forefront.

40:17I forgot about that, but it was lodged there somewhere, so that came to the forefront of my mind. So I remember after this mission, I sat down and I debriefed myself. I go through the thing, what did I do wrong? What did I do right? What could I do better? Blah, blah, blah. And I remember thinking to myself, and again, this religious element hit me. I thought, no one has a God-given right to take life. This is what I truly believe in my head. And this is what I was saying in my head. I think no one has a God-given right to take life. It's so precious. No one's got the God-given right to take life.

40:47However, if you think that you've got the right to take a life, I will simply deny you that right, therefore saving a life. So it didn't matter if I went in and you were the main guy that I needed to go and get. If you were there and you didn't think that you had the right to take life, then there's no way that I was pressing that trigger. But if you, if I went into a situation and I thought that you, you know, you were taking, about to take someone's life, I would simply deny you that right. Go, you haven't got the right to take someone's life. I deny you that right. Therefore, the end goal was always saving a life.

41:32And once I've got that in my head, Liam, once I went on every single mission from those small bits of information, I'm there not there to kill the enemy. I'm there to preserve life. Romans chapter 12, verse 21. Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good. Right. I believe this is what this is from this information, this pool of information. I've now put it in here and I've gone. No one has a God given right to take life. However, if you think you've got the right to take life, I will simply deny you that right, therefore saving a life. And that whole process ended up with me saving a life.

42:06Guess what I can do? I can fully understand that. I can fully process that. You was at peace with it? Yeah, I was. There you go. There you go. Because you was hunting down Taliban commanders. Now, knowing that a Taliban commander is your target, what kind of feeling is that? Is that exciting? because that's the epitome of evil you're hunting. Yeah. And again, you know, there's ways I broke things down on my military journey. You know, I used to think, you know, when people surpass a certain level of evil, do they deserve to walk the planet? Again, you know, I went with that. Then I thought, who am I to make that decision?

42:48You know, but I did go through that phase. Well, you know, go right, bloody hell. This person is, you know, whether we went on that mission This person is responsible for blowing up so many Marines, US and UK. You know, you could go into with the mindset of that dog on a bloodlust, right? And I'm not saying that that's never happened. I'm not saying that, you know, but to be able to process these experiences, again, to look back on them. That's the most important part is when you finish something that could potentially change your outlook on life, could potentially change your life. You have to come back off that situation and give yourself the time to debrief yourself, to process what's gone on and to fully, fully understand it.

43:36And what you do, you almost join up the infinity loop. All right. The infinity loop's complete. And guess what you can do with that infinity loop? You can grab it and go, bang, you chuck it on the peg over there. It's done. Right. That is so important for you to be able to move forward with your life and with everything that you do. Complete that infinity loop. That infinity loop might not be complete, all right? It's not always complete, but that doesn't belong on that hook. That belongs in your fucking pocket now, right? That's here because guess what? It's still there. I'm not overthinking.

44:10I'm not overanalyzing, but in order for me to live with no regrets and to move forward and to move on with purpose, that infinity loop, I need to finish that. And that might happen on the next mission. It might happen on the next personal situation when I'm on R &R, when I go back and, you know, I'm with my kids and I'm with my family. And I go, ah, that's put that infinity loop together, which happened with me when I went into a room and there were women and children there. That meant, whoa, you know, how am I going to preserve life? Talk me through a scenario like that. So red hot mission, you know, the moment you breach the compound, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, you know, all hell breaks loose.

44:50So, you know, you're going from room to room, nothing but badness in there. Then all of a sudden, you know, you're in that mindset, you're in that code red aggression, you're in that mindset of, and I call it extreme undisciplined violence. Now people say that we're super disciplined, but when it's the moment of do or die, you're going to kill me or I'm going to kill you, it becomes undisciplined violence. Now, there's nothing disciplined about me being in that moment for those split seconds where I'm like, I've got to do everything to neutralize you because guess what? You're going to do everything to neutralize me.

45:27It's undisciplined violence. and that's why I don't deal too well with competitive sport i.e. boxing and stuff like that because it's a controlled sport don't get me wrong it's great I love it I love it I support it I support MMA but there's a there's a level of discipline there you know that's that having done what I've done I don't think I could go back to that but it's having that switch to be able to go and you know what that switch was when I'd go into these places and I'd deal with these bad guys in all of a sudden a situation would unfold where could I press the trigger and and justified it?

46:05Absolutely. You know, but it's a case of, you know, being able to flick that switch on and off, you know, but when you can flick that switch on and off between doing what needs to be done and then humanity kicking in, empathy, love, uh, kicking in, that's when you know that you're a good person. This is why I can sit back and I can go, I am a good person. Yes, I make mistakes, but there's no evil there. I'm a good person because I could have justified taking that room out 100 % and gone, right, you know, look, look at where we've just come from. Look at those three rooms. Look at the courtyard we've just done, you know, and code red aggression in that, in that, you know, like a dog on a bloodlust.

46:54But to be able When I realised that I could flick that switch and that I was human and that actually the epitome of humanity is actually there to preserve life, I never want to take it. That takes a hell of a man to walk into a room full of evil and still have the emotional intelligence to spot the little bit of good and then that's the overriding factor. This is the priority here. I'm being swamped with evil, but that little bit of good there is why I'm here. I've done that my whole life, Liam. It's incredible. The magnitude of a negative situation that completely engulfs everything. My childhood, my father passing away.

47:32I found a tiny ounce of positivity within those negative situations. I've been doing it subconsciously my whole life. It's who you are. It's how I survived. It's how I got there. So when I look back and break it down, you just hit the nail on the head. So you're emotionally aware. You've got some mindset on you to be able to identify that, right? Because it's exactly that, you know, to be able to identify the ounce of positivity. Once you identify that, that whole black cloud of negativity goes away. This is the power of positivity. This is the power of good versus evil. This situation could be so evil.

48:12And all I need is an excuse to be a fucking good man. Give me that excuse and I'll be a good man every single time over being evil. because it's not in my body, it does not exist within me. And when I come off operations like that, and again, the importance of the debrief of going, why did I do that? You know, not overanalyzing anything, fucking hell. And, you know, that changed my whole perspective as well. Every single one of these missions, you know, not everyone, but I look back and I go, that's changed me for the better. That's made me a better person. That's made me, yeah. And it's putting yourself in those situations.

48:53but the overall factor which I live with, which why I do things with a fucking full heart is I know that good, my good will always overcome evil. Yeah. If there was a beer in front of us, I'd drink to that and we will win this battle because I do believe it is good versus evil out there now. I think it's so out of control now that good people need to merge and they need to merge quick, fearlessly, unapologetically, and pull together, build your community, raise your own profile, speak out from a place of love, has to be from a place of love, just like you said, and see, even when you're swamped with evil, spot the bit of love in the air, grip onto that, and just build and build and build.

49:37That will fucking light you up like a fucking angel. It's just like, boom. It's like when I look at, I always say to people, if you're in a negative situation, if you look at it with a positive mindset, within that negative situation, you will identify one pin drop of positivity. So we fucking need bang. Boom. That would do me. Thank you very much. Wallop. I can, I can now, you know, pass that on. And again, it's exactly the same with good and evil. And unfortunately, either evil is growing or it's always been there. And there's a lot more evil than we realized previously. So this is another battle that we're fighting.

50:18Never thought of that. Has it always been this evil or is it growing? You mentioned moving forward. So we'll talk about you slipping into Civvy Street now. But how did the military career come to an end? And then what was the transition into Civvy Street? So, again, you know, being bound to the Secrecy Act, I finished off my career in the Special Forces. and when I left, you know, I'd done at this time three tours of Afghanistan, Northern Ireland, Macedonia, Sierra Leone. I'd done everything that I'd set out to do. Mission complete. Mission complete, 100%. And this is why I'm so, you know, people go, oh, Ant, would you join the military?

51:01Would you go back? I'm like, I'm done. I'm content. I'm happy, you know. So, and it's almost, I think there's an element of combat fatigue there. You know, our generation of Iraq and Afghanistan, we're so combat hardened, you know, so combat hardened. And that's exactly what we went into. We went into combat. You know, we never went to war. When people go, oh, we went to war, I'm like, no, we never went to war. Look at World War I and World War II. Those poor fuckers went to war. They were in the trenches with trench fruit. but they're in the trenches not knowing when they're going to get fucking mortified, when they're going to get fucking blown up, when an airstrikes.

51:40Breach those fucking bunkers and make it to the next bunker. They were left with no supplies. That's war. You know, I would never degrade or insult a World War I and World War II veteran by saying that I've been to war. I've been to combat. You know, I've been into combat and heavy combat, you know, life or death combat. but I've never been to war. And again, you know, just that in my head, knowing that as well, it humanizes you, you know, it makes you realize, listen, they fought for our freedom, you know. I fought so nothing would happen in the UK that happened in America. That's what I fought for, okay, but I didn't fought because our shores were going to get breached.

52:30You know, our country was going to get taken over, which is another conversation. But, you know, I left because I was content. But being as mind strong as I am and, you know, when I left I was just like, easy. You know, I'm going to go in, smash City Street, you know. And how old were you when you slipped into City Street? 32. So, but the good thing about it, when I slipped into City Street at 32, I thought I've got a whole new career in front of me. This is great. But then what I didn't realise and what came and bit me in the arse was I'd lost my identity. I'd lost who I was. I'd lost what I knew, which creates when you lose an identity, when you lose your identity, it creates confusion.

53:28You don't know where you belong. You don't know, you know, what group you belong to. You don't know what rules you can adhere to. You don't know where you fit in. And that confusion creates frustration. Frustration creates anger. Anger creates violence. Okay, and this is why it's so important to realise the importance of the people, you know, of individuals, of how the people think and how the people naturally will progress into or spiral into or progress out of or spiral into. And that's what happened with me. I lost my identity. I was jumping from security job to security job. I was frustrated.

54:16I was hanging around with civvies now rather than my military mates. Confused, yeah, where do I belong? You know, things drag me back to the military, but, you know, I'm enjoying civvy life. It's like, and again, that whole process took place and I didn't know it was taking place until it was too late. So that confusion was creating frustration. I was frustrated because, you know, I'd be out with my military pals and, you know, but not in the military. then I'd be out with my civvy mates who were completely different. And you just didn't know where you, I didn't fit in anywhere. You know, for the first time in years, after I'd served such a level of authority, such a level of responsibility, you know, where, you know, I was dealing with lives.

55:03You know, I was playing with lives, if you wish, even though I never went down that road. But if you look at it in that aspect, to being no one. Do you feel lost? Lost. One million percent. You feel lost. You feel lost. I've felt lost before. It's pretty heavy. But that's why your identity is so important. That's why your country's identity is so important. That's why your cultural identity is so important. Because if you do not have an identity, then again, where do you belong? Where's your sense of purpose? And then you will, you will, because it happened to me, you'll fall into confusion. You get frustrated.

55:38You get angry. The next thing that happens is violence. And that's what happened to me when I left. Within a few months of leaving the military, I got into an altercation with a policeman. Did you know he was a policeman? Yes, I did. And it transpired like this. And, you know, there's a lot of press out there about this situation. And I wish someone, I really do wish someone, I wish, you know, you'd have someone, you know, like an investigative journalist, you know, like Tommy's done the last couple of ones that he's done. They've been factual. They've been really good. They would go out and they would go and get the court transcripts because this is exactly how it unfolded.

56:20I was in a nightclub with my pals, drinking away. Don't get me wrong. It's early hours of the morning. We've had a few beers. We're now on the vodkas and Red Bulls. Back in Paramount. Yeah, mate. I'm loving life. This is back in 2012, yeah? So I'm there. And all of a sudden, you know, my pal's running. And there's a situation happening outside. So I come running outside and I see this group of individuals. And I look at them and I'm like, what, them lot? My pal's going, yeah, they're the goblin. I start laughing. I'm like, lads, fucking hell, you know. These groups just, you know, I could tell straight away.

57:01You know, I'm very, you know, I can read people. I know I can read. I'm like, lads, we'll just fucking mow through them. Like, no, get in a fucking taxi, right? So as this group's gobbling off, the policemen are with them. They're gobbling off. So what I do is I take my pals around the corner and I put them in a taxi. I put every single one of them in a taxi, yeah? And then I go back into the club. And I go back into the club. And as I'm walking back into the club, this group of people are still here, right? And they're fucking mouthing off their gobbing off. Now, at this stage, I've trained so many people.

57:40I've also gone through a bit of police training. You know, I've gone through 14 weeks at Hendon. I know to defuse a crowd and to defuse a situation, you get them out of eye shot so they can't see each other. And if you can, get them out of ear shot. So I've done exactly that. I've taken my group away. I've put them all in a taxi. I come back the same group of people with the police officer still there. So as I'm walking back into the guy, you're going to fucking grab. So I walk over there and I go, I go to the police officer, go, the fuck are you doing, mate? I shouldn't have done it. OK, but I'm walking back and I stop and I've turned around and I go to the police officer.

58:18I've just taken my group of people away. You should know to take it, take them around the corner and send them on their way. Why are they still standing here? He obviously didn't like that. But that whole situation was on CCTV. so during my court so when I'm getting charged during my court the judge looks at the CCTV and as he's looking through it he says who's the peacemaker Me, right? He sees me putting everyone in there going, lads, what are you doing? You know, sort of. And he sees me walking into, go out and walk back in the club and he sees me turn around. That's what I should have. I should have just carried.

58:50I should have. Again, hindsight, it's a great thing, right? I should have just carried on walking. But I would say it wasn't a clash of, you know, it wasn't preempted. It wasn't, it was a clash of authority, right? Because I was used to a few months earlier being such, in such a high position of authority and never, never taken advantage of that authority. I've never took advantage of my authority ever. But so, and this is all I can, all I can think of is just a clash of authority. So I shouldn't have turned around and walked back. I was basically telling him to do his job. I've just done this.

59:23You should get them around the corner. And again, it's no excuse. I shouldn't have done it. I shouldn't have walked away. I was intoxicated. I should have just carried on walking. I've done my job. Happy days. And then And I start arguing with the policeman. And he goes, mate, just go home. Bang, bang. And he's like this, go home. And at this stage, I'm just about to sort of walk. And bang, I get this in my chest. And in my head, I'm thinking, walk away. Walk away. This is the next thought process I'm getting. And then he says, I told you to fuck off. And he went, his finger came over again. And in my head, it happened in slow motion.

1:00:03in my head. I was like, no, because I knew. And as his finger hit me, bang, automatic response. Dink. And then a whole world of pain, right? So getting a big scuffle with him. He's got his cosh out. I end up sort of wrestling with him. I throw him to the ground. And then as I throw him to the ground, I look at my hand and I've got his cosh in my hand. And I'm like that, you know, I've obviously disarmed him in a way, you know, blah, blah. So I've looked at that and I've, you know, I've sort of come to at this stage and I'm like, shit. So I start running off, I ditched the cosh down the drain, whatever, and run off.

1:00:42Anyway, whole situation, I get arrested. And when I look back at that situation, it was definitely a clash of authority. My actions warranted me going to prison. Absolutely. because you've got to look at the actions that I'd done. At no time, and again, this is why I wish people would get the transcripts, at no time did I touch a woman police officer, never laid a finger. Even she says he doesn't lay a finger on me. But I get done with common assault because she was present and she feared for her safety and feared for her colleague's safety. That's common assault. It doesn't do anyone any favours because even though I didn't touch the lady officer, got done for common assault.

1:01:26So I got one month concurrent on top of my sentence. Now, what's really interesting about it is when I went first and saw my solicitor, this is what I talk about accountability. And this is going to be within my mayoral campaign policies. Now, I'm going to be talking about zero tolerance policies. I'm going to be talking about deterrent policies, but accountability policies. Who's accountable? Where did this happen? Who's borough? Who's the councillor? Who's the police HQ here? Who's the commissioner? Right, why is this happening on your turf? Except, you know, accountability just doesn't exist in modern day politics, especially the mayor of London.

1:01:59Look at the mayor of London. Holds himself to account zero times. It's not even a case where he goes, he gets read out these statistics and he goes, you know what, actually, yeah, the crime is up and now I've got to do better. Wow, I didn't know that. But now that I do, I'm going to do something about it. Zero accountability. So I talk about accountability. He lies. Yeah. Listen, look at Keir Starmer. He's lied to get into position of power. everything that he said he's gone against. But the reason why people can go, oh, you've done this, it's because I hold myself accountable. I went to my lawyer.

1:02:29My lawyer was almost, he's smiling. He said, he looked at me and he went, Ant, you've got PTSD. And I went, what do you mean? He said, how many tours of Afghanistan do you do? I said three. How long have you been out in the military? I said months. He said, well, you've got PTSD. So if you say you've got PTSD, we can play this. He said, you won't get sent. I can guarantee you not to get a sentence if we go down that route. That's what lawyers and barristers do. You know, they're looking for a way out, looking for a loophole. And I said this exact word face-to-face, I said, but I haven't got PTSD.

1:03:07And he said, do you want to go to prison? I said, obviously not. He said, well, this will guarantee you an out. And I remember thinking, right, I can go, I can say I've got PTSD, but then I have to go down this route of doing these courses, of living a lie, lying to myself. I said, this is going to end really, really nasty. You know, I'm going to have to live with this whole, oh, he had PTSD and what was it like in this whole victim mentality? And I was like, I haven't got PTSD and I'm not going to say that I've got PTSD. He said, well, then expect a prison sentence. I said, fine. I said, my actions, you know, I'll take whatever it is.

1:03:47didn't kick up a fuss. I could have gone down that route 100%. Didn't kick up a fuss. Yeah, guilty, guilty, guilty. I thought I was pleading guilty to ABH, which was the original charge. I ended up pleading guilty, which I didn't know, to Section 20 GBH. Because I went into magistrate's court to plead guilty, which I thought was for ABH. And then they said, I'll see you in Crown Court. And I was like, that's my bad. My lawyer was just like, don't worry about it. You know, just go along with it. No broken bones, no bruises, nothing, right? So, but talk about accountability. Accountability. And I can remember when I got sentenced, I got sentenced to 14 months, had to serve seven.

1:04:32I ended up serving just over four and I got out on good behaviour first time, straight to a DCAT, you know, no threat, etc, etc. Were you treated well in there? Yeah, yeah, I was treated well at my own cell. I started off mopping the toilets and getting a job straight away, the jobs that no one wanted to do. Then I went on to teaching inmates how to read and write. I'd go around to their cells at night, teach them how to read, teach them how to do basic maths, et cetera, et cetera. Then I worked at the gym orderly towards the back end. I spent two months in Chelmsford and then on the Sheppie Islands, the remaining two and a half.

1:05:10But I remember when I was in court and the hammer went down I felt so much of a relief, even though you said you're doing 14 months, bang. So I knew exactly what I needed to do. I knew exactly what I needed to do. I needed to go in there and I needed to do, be the best prisoner that I can be, which was a challenge to me. I was super excited. I was like, at least I know what I need to do. But here's what I need to do in order for me to get out early. I can get out on tag. It's my first offense. I'm going, you know, I could have gone straight to a DCAT, but they put me in holding in Chelmsford, which is a bee cat.

1:05:46And the reason why I stayed there for two months is because they didn't want to move me because I was benefiting the prison, right? So I was doing all my bits. Doing good work. Yeah, doing good work. Yeah, but that's in my nature. I'm a good person, right? Going back to being a good person. Yeah, it was one of those moments in life that went back like that. And the lesson that I learned from it, mate, from going to prison, it wasn't any hardship. I'd done three tours of Afghanistan. You know, if I could do this, you know, it was the shame. For the first time in my life, I had a family outside.

1:06:18I wasn't providing a roof over their head. I wasn't putting food on their table. I wasn't there for them. I wasn't there to take them to school. I wasn't there for my wife, who was always picking up the pieces. You know, I'd been there throughout my whole military career. He was that one common denominator in my life that gave me the safety and security and the balance to be the person that I am. It was such a shameful experience that the shame killed me. The shame will stop me from ever going back. Not the hardship. There's no hardship in there, you know. The shame, and I looked and I thought, of one situation, not preempted, just the one stupid mistake that I made, I went, do you know what?

1:06:57I did make that mistake. Took so much away from me. So you've done Jow. Who dares wins? We've got to touch base on that. To live the life that you'd lived up until that point, including jail, and then become a household name. You're moving in celebrity circles, extremely popular, great show, loved by the entire country. How did that happen? Some of your favorite experiences. There was one in particular where you pulled a guy in the office for stolen valor. And I really want to talk about that because there's a lot of people that still do that. And they need to understand that there's men like you that have lost friends.

1:07:32and you cannot pretend that you've served when you haven't. That was a big loaded load of questions into one. So just to simplify it, who dares wins? How did that happen? How did you enjoy it? Who dares wins sort of fell on my lap. You know, Channel 4, like, right, we're going to do this series. I don't know if you saw the old series called SAS, Are You Tough Enough? with Eddie Stone and a few people, McAleese, probably about 10, 12 years prior. So we saw this as a new revamped SAS. Are you tough enough? But it's going to be called SAS Who There's Wins. You know, it's been done before. We're just going to put a new spin on it.

1:08:12You know, younger generation, more combat hardened. Don't get me wrong, the older generation, finely tuned, you know, trained to the max, you know, really, really finely tuned. But any sort of old school generation will say that the new school generation, i.e. my generation, is a lot more combat hardened because, you know, our missions were Iraq, Afghanistan, and away we go. We're out the door more or less every single day. So I just thought, yeah, a new revamped version. We had to get it signed off by the military, which we did in the end. And then I remember doing it at the time I was working in Sierra Leone.

1:08:48I was living in Sierra Leone, and I was training their troops out there. Private contract, my own contract. and then this came along I said yeah let's do it you know let's see what it what it what it gives so I go and do this show I'm the chief instructor they love my personality they love you know how I deal with people that that's the whole mechanics of it is is how I'm emotionally aware with people how I can tap into people's mindset how I can really identify if something's wrong going back to that emotional intelligence I spoke about. So we do the show. I fly back out to Sierra Leone to finish off the contract.

1:09:30And then, you know, lo and behold, just before it starts, Channel 4 say, Ant, the press are loving this comeback. We need to, they want to interview you. They want to know who Ant Middleton is, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. First series, first episode of the series comes out. I think it's one of eight episodes. And it blows. It just blows overnight. These new generation special forces guys, you know, we haven't seen them since your Andy McNabs and your McAleases and your Eddie Stones, you know. You know, I come out, I've got a nice glossy beard, you know, I've got the tight tops on, you know, all the lads do.

1:10:11We hit that generation of, you know, when social media was getting, you know, getting all the hype and, you know, just at the start of it really. Yeah, perfect timing. So it's perfect timing, mate. So, you know, it booms. And the thing about it, the moment that it boomed, you know, from filming the first series to the second series, you know, my whole life had changed. It was a case of, don't get me wrong, it was a bit of a slow burner, but then we do the second series, you know, and it flows again. And all of a sudden I'm being asked to do, you know, reenact a mutiny on a bounty from 1789, you know, which I go and do.

1:10:48I give my everything. You know, I lose 21 kilograms on that show. You know, it's real life for me. I've given a lot to Channel 4 at this stage. Third series, third series comes along, smash out the ballpark, viewing figures are through the roof. Then I go and do Extreme Everest. I go and climb Mount Everest for Channel 4. You know, I nearly die on Mount Everest. You know, I'm doing these raw, authentic, you know, that mutiny on the bounty, 60 days long, I lost 21 kilograms. you know, I put my everything in. It took me a long time to get over that. And then as the series are rolling, I'm jumping into these, you know, other sort of adventurous stroke survival sort of formats and commissions that I'm getting.

1:11:33And then it was really strange, mate, because that whole first three, four, five series, you know, it's like Hank Middleton, the role model, you know, he's a mindset guru. look how he treats people he can get into the hearts and into the minds of these individuals change their lives and it was from the recruits that used to come off the back end of it we used to change them I never say that I can change someone's life because that's down to you to change your life so when people say you've changed my life I said no, you've done that you've had to make that consistent decision to change your life I've given you the tools along the way and all of this was coming out and it's just like, wow, this is amazing.

1:12:17And all of a sudden, overnight, all this sort of Me Too movement came in. The whole woke mindset fucking started. You know, that just happened overnight, didn't it? Yeah. And it was just like, whoa, you know, and this whole council culture and this woke movement came into play. So all of a sudden I went from being this, you know, this role model for young people, this, you know, this mindset guru. at this stage I've written three books all number one bestsellers First Man In has sold over a million copies The Fear Bubble that I've done when I talk about harnessing your fear and making it work for you then my third book, Zero Negativity about the power of a positive mindset these books they've sold over two million copies and they've been able to change lives the feedback that I was getting from it and then all of a sudden that whole woke movement came in And we started introducing females onto the course.

1:13:17I'm not saying it's a cause of this, but then, you know, but I'm not treating the females any different to the men. So I'm going, yeah, blah, blah, blah, blah, I get it. And it's like, oh, Aunt Middleton's screaming at women. Oh, Aunt Middleton's putting men against women when they're boxing. So all of a sudden, this whole woke movement that came on board, the production started to change. Now, the production, you know, they started putting some really weird people in charge that knew nothing about the military, that, you know, this whole sort of pride element came in, didn't it? And we were getting these production managers and these producers.

1:13:54I can see it slowly happening. And all of a sudden they're like, we've got to do this. We've got to do this with the program. We've got to do that. You know, we need women at the end. You know, but I'm like, well, the course doesn't work like that. You know, I run a course, you film it, and the channel will turn it into a show. The moment we compromise that course mentality into a show mentality, you're going to compromise the recruits. They're going to go, oh, it's a fucking show. Ant's just up there screaming and shouting. I get them into a course mentality. You're on a fucking military course, okay?

1:14:25They forget about the cameras very, very quick. Yeah, you didn't sign up to be an actor. No, and I made it clear from the beginning. I run a course. You film it. The production company film it. Between the production company and the channel, you can turn it into a show, okay? Because I know they can't manipulate it because I'm being raw. oh, I'm being real, I'm running it as a military course. And then they started, right, now that we've got women involved, we need three women at the end or two women at the end. We need, you know, we need, it started getting all fucking weird. They slipped VI into it.

1:14:58Tickboxing before capability and performance. I get the, you know, capability, performance, I get the tickboxing at the end. I get, if I've got, you know, I can tick that box at the end. However, when you put tick boxing in front of capability and performance before it even starts, you're scripting a show. Fancy slipping DEI into a show like that where it's all about kill or be killed. There's no time for that nonsense. It went bad because the production thought that they knew how to run this format. Only I know how to run this format. Was it heartbreaking when you saw that happen with your own eyes?

1:15:33Yeah, yeah. I'd done a series and I was like, I'm gone. and it was really bad. I'm not doing it anymore. I made the mistake of telling someone that I was going to leave. So ultimately what they'd done, they pushed me before I could jump. The whole thing, it was a power play. Is Ant Middleton bigger than SAS or is SAS bigger than Ant Middleton? Right. So when this all happened, and it was heartbreaking, mate, because I put so much time and effort not only into SAS Who Dares Wins but into Channel 4. I put my heart and soul into Channel 4. I'd done The Mutant and Bounty, which killed me, nearly killed me.

1:16:13Extreme Everest, which nearly killed me. That was insane, by the way. If you've not seen Ant Middleton climb Everest in the most severe conditions ever, you must YouTube it and watch that. Fucking hell. And never once did Channel 4 come up to me and go, pull me into the office and go, Ant, what's going on here? the production company saying this, this and this about you. What's your take on it? What's your view on it? And especially with everything that I'd done for Channel 4, you know, the authentic, real, raw, gritty TV that I gave them from my heart. You know, they didn't have, when all this kicked off and I said, I'm going to leave and they said, you know, never did they pull me into the headquarters and go, Ant, what's this all about?

1:16:57We appreciate that you've done this, this and this and this and this. Let's hear your side of the story. That never happened. So that's my gripe with Channel 4. I don't hold grudges, and I don't. But that I thought to myself, wow. But then what was really strange, and which I suppose saved my credibility, you know, on understanding, oh, did Aunt Middleton really get sacked by Channel 4 or the production company, is I'd filmed the last series. Between me filming the last series and it airing, I was supposedly sacked between that. So the day that I was sacked, a couple of months later, they aired the series that I'd filmed and I was still in the series.

1:17:39So if it wasn't a power play, if it wasn't, Ant Middleton's going to leave, shit, we better push him before he could jump. And it was something serious or even semi-serious, anything that, you know, they would have to have pulled the whole series, but they didn't. I was still in it. And that's when people started to wake up. They were like, oh, wow. but not only that you know when I came out and I said yeah it was you know going a bit bit woke it was going you know it just didn't feel right it wasn't what the show was originally with what I first done to the former I wrote the first two three series literally on the back of a cigarette packet you know the next series that aired normal not the celebrity version the normal version which only lasted one more series after that before it got shit canned because the viewing figures were really bad which again And I did have a little smile on my face, but it did break my heart at the same time because I put so much effort into it.

1:18:33When the next series, the very next series aired without me as chief instructor, without me in it, four women got to the end. Two women pass. One's white, one's black. So it just solidified my explanation on why I wanted to leave because of that whole DEI being pushed in, the whole woke narrative being pushed in. So not only did they do me a favour by airing my series after they'd supposedly sacked me, but then the next series, everything that I said why I wanted to leave came into fruition. You know, that whole pushing that narrative of, you know, there's a certain colour here. I don't give a fuck what colour you are, what gender you are.

1:19:20If you're capable and you perform well, you'll get to the end of the course. You might not pass it, but you get to the end of it. If you are super capable, and I think you've got the attributes of a soldier to pass the course, I don't care if you're black, white, pink, you know, transgender, I don't get, you'll pass the course. Okay. So that was the whole thing. So those two things done me a huge, huge favor within the TV world. And when you look and you dig back on it and you break it down, it's obvious that it was a power play. Proved your point completely. Proved my point completely. And this is why I still carry on and do what I do.

1:19:59Then went over to Australia. Same thing. Not the same thing happened, but let me run my course. Let me run my course. Let me run my course. Production companies step in. You know, self and safety think they run the show. Right. You know, that didn't go as well as last. Well, why do you think that is? Why do you think that this series where I don't take full control of the course didn't go as well? because you didn't take full control of it. Correct. We move forward. We do move forward. But one more question, because I want to move on to culture. You said a couple of things to me off camera, but before I get to that stage, when Stolen Valor, the guy that put on his CV that he was a para, and you pulled him in the office and you gave him a fucking good grilling, shut the fuck up, screamed in his face, rightly so.

1:20:50Just how insulting is that? Just to clarify, and then how did that little scenario end? To be fair, I lost my shit. Unprofessionally lost my shit that day where I shouldn't have, but I did. That was just a natural burst. I remember just thinking, I hadn't settled down because I did. I tore him a new arsehole. And, of course, it's insulting. You know, I couldn't help that reaction. I wish I would have been a bit more disciplined with it. but I didn't teeter into that extreme anger. I was like, whoa, to the point where I could have, but I didn't. And it's the whole thing, isn't it? I've picked up body parts, repatriated friends.

1:21:35I've buried multiple friends, all for the greater cause of protecting our country, protecting our people. And at the time, the Queen. I was serving the Queen. I was serving the country. I'm super proud to do that and then you're trying to take that away from us we don't ask for anything we're not heroes, we're just doing a job I don't ask for tea and medals I don't want a fucking medal I'll have a cup of tea as long as it's English breakfast tea then I'll have it but I don't want fucking medals we're not heroes and then you trying to fucking take that status trying to fucking get jobs for veterans that leave and can't get jobs.

1:22:20You've taken one job away from someone that deserves that job, that probably needs that job. That job is probably going to save their life, going to save their family. One person, that's an example of one person. How many people out there do it? And you just think to yourself, you haven't bled for that. You haven't stood shoulder to shoulder with me to warrant that title, to warrant that reputation of what people will think about you. This episode is brought to you by PayPal. You know how a mom's bag has everything? Sunscreen? Snacks? A stapler? The new PayPal app is like that, but for your money.

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1:23:45Find your perfect match at walmart.com or at a store near you. Let me tell you a story and tell me if you think I've done the right or wrong thing. The right or wrong thing, should I say. I had a guest come on over a year ago. He blew up on the internet for doing some real savagery, is the only thing I can describe it, in someone's kitchen. Managed to bump into him as luck would have it or bad luck would have it. Anyway, he claimed that he was a sergeant major in the military. He was a para. He had the wings tattooed on him. He had the sergeant stripes tattooed on him. Making me go back to my SAS Who Dares Wednesdays.

1:24:24Yeah, so he talked the talk. He looked like a para. I mean, he was built like a brick shithouse, fit as a fiddle. He had the tattoos on him, and he told me that he was a para. So we arranged to do the podcast. It was in my home at the time. You could see that he was, I would say, probably psychotic. But as I'm interviewing him, now I used to do my due diligence during the interviews because it felt more organic to me. Now I do a lot of research before we sit down because I think it honours the guests more. But as he's telling me about his war stories, I knew pretty quick that he's lying to me.

1:25:01And it blew my mind because of the tattoos, the shape, the stories. and he's exaggerating these stories to the point of, well, this is like an Arnold Schwarzenegger film. You may as well be telling me that you're hanging off the fucking wing of an aeroplane. But I let him continue. And I've got a habit of doing this. If I feel someone's bullshitting me, I let them believe that I'm believing them so that they carry on. And I see just how far they're going to push the bullshit. So I went along with it and pretended that I believed him. Now, I shelved that interview for maybe two months. and I said to him, are you sure you want me to air that?

1:25:36Are you happy with the way that went? Are you definitely sure you want me to publish that interview for the world to see? Absolutely. He was keen as mustard. He was desperate for me to publish that interview. So I did. I put it out there for the world to see that it was complete fabrication to the point where certain people thought that I was buying into his bullshit because that's how convincing I was being. I knew down well it was a lie. We watched it back. Stringing him along. It was just mind-blowing. But I thought, you know what? If you're going to walk the streets and try and take credit for something you haven't done and other men have, I'm going to air you out to dry.

1:26:15I've never done that with another guest. I'm not here to shit on people. And I did give him the option to bail out. We don't have to publish this. I still didn't say to him, I know you're lying. Yeah, yeah. But I just gave him the option. I think I'd done the right thing. you may think actually you shouldn't have. No, give him enough rope. Listen, adults. Was I right to publish that? Yeah, absolutely. Listen, especially because you gave him the option. And he got called out real bad. Yeah. It's like with adults, and this is what I say, you've got adults acting like fucking kids nowadays, kids acting like babies, right?

1:26:49It's like you're an adult. Hold yourself accountable. Yeah, listen, there's the rope. There's the rope. Yeah, trip up on it, which he did, which he went, you sure you want me to do this? and he knows he's lying or take it and go and fucking hypothetically hang yourself. You know, that's exactly what he'd done. Listen, fucking hold yourself accountable. Accountability is fucking huge with everything that I do. Because when I hold myself accountable, I can go, do you know what? Yeah, I can move on. And listen, probably the best lesson in accountability. But what a fucking why? This is what I don't get.

1:27:25Why? Just insane. I think he learnt a valuable lesson because he then asked me to pull it down afterwards. And I said, no. I said, you went out of your way to sit there and lie to me for two hours and insult soldiers, men that have lost their lives and their friends. I said, it's staying and you can take the backlash. Don't read the comments if you don't like it. But what you've done was unforgivable because you've got all these groups on social media now that call out Walter Mitty's. Yeah, that's it. And that's the definition of a Walter Mitty. It's someone that tells you that they've done a certain military career and they haven't.

1:27:56Let's move on to you making the capital great again, safe again. But there's a few things you said to me. So we had dinner on Saturday after the London demonstration. And you said to me, they're my people. They're my people. What did you mean by that? And we're talking about three million proud British men and women in the capital of our country. And you said to me, Liam, they're my people. I think if anyone can say that they're my people, it's me. Because I fought for my people. I fought for my country. I fought for my queen. And I always mention the queen because I remember signing and swearing on the oath.

1:28:42And, you know, queen and country and the queen bits stood out on me. And, you know, and for the people as well. And for the people standing next to me. so when I say it I mean it I'm not saying my people it's coming out because I look at those flags I look at the pride I can feel it like I said on the day I don't see the culture I feel it and it's my people it's the people that bring the culture alive the energy, the motivation that bring it alive and they're my people because it's in my DNA. I know that they're my people because I can feel it. I can't explain it to you, but they're my people.

1:29:30I've served my people before. I've served my country before. I've served my queen before. And I very much see this as a revisit to service. I truly believe, and when I spoke to my wife about this, she's like, Ant, we've got a lovely life. Are you sure you want to go back and do this? I support you if you do. and she could see it in my eyes. And she said, I haven't seen that look in your eyes since you deployed to Afghanistan. She was just like, so I know that I'm not going to tell you not to do it, but just think about it, you know. And I said to her, I said, I was born to serve. So this mayor of London role is going, I'm going back, not fighting outside of my country to protect my people in my country.

1:30:21I'm coming in to fight for my country from its capital to serve my people. It's a calling that I cannot ignore, Liam, as much as I fucking want to ignore it. And I want to fucking go and live my life and I'm financially stable. beautiful family, kids loving life. My moral compass won't allow me to do that, knowing that I can do the job. Now, I don't want anyone else to do that job because I know that I want to do it. I need to do it. There's no one that can do that job better than myself. And it takes me back to when I was point man in the military. I didn't want anyone else to take that position because I knew they'd take it because they would step up.

1:31:17My men would step up. But I knew that they didn't love it and I was obsessed by it. And that, you know, fucking took in every single moment of it like I would. I was the man to do that job. You know, that's fucking hell. Yeah, we're going into an IED area before we hit the target. Bang. And fucking hell, you got a mind sweep before you put me in. This is my fucking job. A sense of pride, a sense of fucking purpose, a sense of belonging. And it's exactly the same feeling. It's igniting me again to go back in, to serve my people, to serve my country, and to put them at the forefront of the neglect, the decades of neglect that they've witnessed, that they've had to endure that I've seen.

1:32:16And the thing about myself, Liam, and you know this, I almost see myself as the mediator between the people and the politicians, the politicians that no one can relate to, the politicians that don't fucking walk their fucking constituencies, that don't walk their cities, the politicians that have gone to all of these high universities that the people on the ground cannot relate to. there's such a gap I see myself honestly as filling that gap and being mediated between the two you put me on the street with a tramp I'll sit down and eat some chips with him you put me in the houses of common with MPs or with presidents or vice presidents which I've spoken to I'll put on a suit I can feel those gaps but my ear is close to the ground I hear the fucking cries I hear the cries mate and I can't fucking sit on my hands I can't sleep at night when I can hear these cries because my ear is fucking on the ground.

1:33:14My boots are on the ground. I can feel the vibrations through my fucking body. I know that I need to do something. When you said those words, Liam, they're my people, I watched. I was there. I felt the energy. I saw the love. I was drowning in the atmosphere. And when you said, Liam, they're my people, I saw that those people looked at you as their person. Yeah. That happened. Yeah. In real time. And I witnessed it. So it doesn't matter what the mainstream media report, because they're always going to want to belittle the patriot movement, which is where politicians have gone so wrong for so long.

1:33:54They're not boots on the deck. Well, so detached. Completely not detached. And we've now got someone that's completely attached. and emotionally invested and he's for the people. And I just, I'm very excited about what's to come. I mean, you know this anyway, and there's no point in me trying to pretend I'm on the fence and this is a non-biased interview. I'm just thrilled that we can get behind someone that's going to make a change. And I can't wait to read the comments because I'm telling you, you have got an army behind you. You've got every self-respecting British man and woman in your corner.

1:34:30and I've seen it with my own eyes. You also said something to me, which I want to kickstart the whole mayor campaign off. You spoke to me about the cultural umbrella. Can you define that in your own words for the audience? Yes. Confusion, frustration, anger and violence. That's what our people are feeling right now. They're going through that process. I've been through it. Do you know why? Lack of identity. Our culture is our identity. British culture is British history. You know, we've got such a rich history, proud history. That is our, that's intertwined with Christian values, morals and principles.

1:35:10Okay. Doesn't mean you have to be religious or you have to practice that faith to know that Christian beliefs, values and morals actually work. They're just, they're fair. They've worked for the last thousand odd years. They are up to 20 years ago when we started to really collapse and our culture started to get suppressed. Therefore, we started to get suppressed. Our identity started to get suppressed. And I say to people, they say we're a multicultural country. It's being indoctrinated into our schools, that language. We're a multicultural country. We're a multicultural country. We're a multicultural country.

1:35:43Boom, boom, boom. Well, if we are a multicultural country, if we are of all cultures, that means we are cultureless, okay? And this is done by design. If we're cultureless, that means we have no identity. When we have no identity, what happens? Confusion, frustration, anger, violence. We're probably at the anger right now. So what's really, really important is the preservation of our identity, the preservation of our culture. Christianity, whether you like it or not, or let's call it Christian beliefs, values and morals, whether you're religious or not, are intertwined in our justice system, then to join in our calendar year, all the way from Easter holidays to Christmas holidays to having Sunday off, going to church.

1:36:29What happens when something gets suppressed is a takeover starts or a replacement thereof, which we are in that replacement phase. Over the years, look at our school assemblies. I mentioned it briefly on the rally. Look at our school assemblies. I remember being in a school assembly and used to sing Christian hymns. I didn't know that at the time. I sat next to, you know, Johnny, who we had one book between us. We'd pull the book and mess around and, you know, someone behind you singing louder than everyone else. And we'd all be laughing. But it brought us together. It brought a sense of community, a common denominator.

1:37:03It brought our identity together. Our identity, our British culture was being ingrained into us without us even realising it. And this was from the soldiers of World War II, the soldiers of World War I. You know, when they came back and they just thanked God that they were alive. You know, and we rebuilt on these Christian, we rebuilt our modern day society where it was thriving up to 20 to 25 years ago on Christian values, morals and belief. That's our identity. So we're not of all cultures. We are a British cultured country. It's in the title, Great Britain, accepting of multiculturalism or with a multicultural society.

1:37:44OK, if we are of all cultures, then what culture, what values, what morals, what principles do we adhere to? What law and order do we adhere to? You might be in your culture. It might be OK when a young girl comes on her period and you say, oh, right, she's, you know, she's ready to have a baby. What, a 12, 13? That's not in our culture. That's not in our principles. It doesn't sit within our moral compass. No, it's not right. and what it does and this is what I say to people when I go a bit deeper about the British cultural umbrella it shelters now that shelter provides you safety or it's meant to provide you safety it doesn't anymore huge part of my policies the first one safety and security of the people but it's meant to provide you safety it's meant to provide you security it's meant to treat everyone fairly you are innocent until proven guilty that comes under the British cultural umbrella So talk about fairness.

1:38:42But then either side, you have the boundaries of this umbrella. This umbrella will provide and shelter you from, it'll give you protection, like I said, fairness. It's there to serve you. But there's boundaries with this umbrella. The rain falls either side of this. That's our way of life. That's our law and order. These are our rules and regulations, our boundaries. You step outside of them, you're going to feel it. You need to remain within those boundaries. So what it does, it gives us structure. It gives us structure on what we have built to a thriving modern day society up to 20 years ago.

1:39:15Okay. You take that away. What happens? Frustration into anger, anger into violence. This is what's happening at the moment. So it's really, really important that we reinstall our British culture, i.e. our British identity. that gives us boundaries, gives us purpose, gives us drive, gives us fairness, gives us a safe and secure environment to work in. We need to reestablish that. By all means, come in, practice your religion, practice, you know, do what you need to do. However, you must respect and adhere to our British cultured umbrella, the rules and regulations, the boundaries that are set there.

1:39:58If you don't, this isn't the country for you. If you don't respect it, this isn't the country for you. If you're hostile against it, even if you're a British citizen, you might have been born here, you know, even if you're a British citizen, if you're hostile against our British culture, you do not belong here. Go somewhere where you agree with and embrace their culture. Go there. And I've always been taught that. I will not go to a country where I don't respect the culture and where I don't respect the rules and regulations. If I don't do that, then I won't go there. And I've always been taught that.

1:40:34And that's why it's so important to reestablish and to preserve our culture. And in turn, we preserve British lives. And this is the really important thing. We're preserving our children's lives, which are fucking being taken away from us fucking on a daily basis. We're preserving our women's lives and we're preserving our citizens' lives. We're preserving my people's lives. This is the importance of establishing. This will solve so many problems if we can re-establish and reinstall our British identity. And you see what you've just said there so perfectly? We need to normalise those words, those sentiments, that meaning.

1:41:15That needs to echo through the land. No longer can those words be considered taboo. No. It's going to lead us to destruction. If we fear saying those words, if we tiptoe around those words, bring back British culture. Let's end this on a real high. Let's go, mate. Let's go. Let's end this on one almighty high. What people can look forward to when you do become the mayor of London. We know, you know, the duty of a mayor, transport, ULES, policing, infrastructure. How are you going to make London safe again? and then we'll just skim through a few things that you're going to do that Sadiq Khan has failed to do.

1:41:58First and foremost, how are you going to make London safe again? First and foremost, I am running for Mayor of London. I have got a really good political barrister who signed me off. He said, yep, you're good to go. There's nothing stopping you from running for Mayor of London. Hence why I'm running for Mayor of London. Safety and security, it's going to be some tough pills to swallow, zero tolerance policies. I'm going to have to bring in some zero tolerance policies that if any normal citizen adheres to the law, they go, these are great. Zero tolerance policies on certain crimes, knife crime, gun crime, sexual harassment, rape, paedophilia, whatever you want to say.

1:42:36I've got, there's 15 of them that I've got in my chart so far. But they come hand in hand. So the idea is to action these zero tolerance policies, which will in turn act as deterrent policies. Super important deterrent policies. If you do this, this will happen. Right, I will think twice about doing it. Deterrent must be there. That comes from our police force. Having the right police force, I will go with quality over quantity and I will provide our police force with the top cover that they need so they can carry out their duties to protect and serve the people to the best of their ability. No two tiering or no, I call it double standards, no double standards.

1:43:22Along with, so you've got the zero tolerance policies. This is safety and security, the deterrent policies. And then there's the accountability policies. So the accountability policies, and I'm going to lay it out as an example. There's been a fatal crime that's happened, a fatal stabbing that's happened in a certain borough. Who am I going to? As Mayor of London, I'm going straight to that borough, straight to the council leader. And I'm going, why is this happening on your patch? But not only that, I'm not only going to him or her. I'm then going to the police HQ of that borough. And I'm going up to the inspector and I'm going, why is this happening on your patch?

1:44:03Now, you two, between you, you fucking better sort this out and this better not happen again. However, I want a full report on why you think this has happened and what we can do to prevent this from happening. accountability. I will turn up at their office door and I will be relentless. So what needs to happen as well for the accountability policies to happen is for automatic investigations to be triggered. So if there's a fatal stabbing on your patch, an automatic investigation will be triggered into the council, into the borough and into the police HQ. These are forms of policies that I'm working on for safety and security, which I think is super, super important to keep the people safe.

1:44:46Because if you feel safe, then you start to trust. And when you start to trust, you start to build communities. When you start to build communities, you start to build towns. When you start to build towns, you start to build cities. When you start to build cities, you start to build countries. So it's got to start. This is why I want the London position so badly, because it's the heartbeat of England. It's the crown jewel of our country. And if we can get it right and set the example there, then we'll be free sailing. So safety and security is hugely, hugely important. And it's something that I know.

1:45:19I'm an expert in that field. It's something that I know, but also the police, we need to really strip them down to the formidable force they once were. I had a police officer I was speaking to him and I walked past Parliament the other day. There was a police officer on the other side of the gate. And I was speaking to him and he's like, I hope you get in. And I said, I really, really do. And I said, you guys haven't got the top cover. I said, you're petrified of, you know, doing your job because, you know, you're going to lose your job. I said, I get it. You're going to lose your job. You're going to lose your family.

1:45:55You're going to lose your pension. I said, it's just not worth it. I said, I get it. I said, because you've got no top cover. You've got no top cover for someone to go, no, actually, yeah, you might have made a mistake or she might have made a mistake. but I've got you. Okay, go back to work, keep busy, you know, and then, you know, of course there's going to be some bad eggs, but, you know, you should give people the top cover so they can carry out their duties. Police officers will do it to the best of their abilities, bar the DEI programme. I'm not saying all of them, but the majority of them, you know, we need to sort that out.

1:46:24This police officer, before I left, he said to me, and I can't wait for you to become Mayor of London. He said, because the moment that day happens, our hands will be untied we will be able to do our job of service and protection this is what he said to me and I was just like I grabbed that and I thought you want me to untie your hands well this is what needs to happen this episode is brought to you by PayPal you know how a mom's bag has everything? sunscreen snacks a stapler The new PayPal app is like that, but for your money. Shop, pay, manage your account, and earn rewards all in one place.

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1:47:50What about cultural events that the mayor has power over, like Notting Hill Carnival, for example? murders, stabbings every single year. I want people to celebrate their own culture, but it's got to be policed and managed. Would you change the approach? Would you shift the direction of that? Would you have it somewhere like Hyde Park, for example, policed correctly? If you install the law and order, the umbrella, you watch everything fall into place. And then I talk about you preserve that, you preserve life. And that has a huge, huge knock-on effect. but Christmas for example you know talk about our culture slowly being taken away from us and I talked about the schools about the the school assemblies being gone the Christmas nativity play taken out of our schools you know they're slowly and I talk about suppression of culture until you become culturalist because no identity then the takeover happens we need to reinstall all of this that's why I say to people we should walk past the church that's why you're here the freedom why you can walk around the street Go into the church, speak to the priest or the pastor, donate a couple of quid.

1:48:59Now, that's our culture. They keep it alive. We've taken our eye off the ball. Not anymore. We cannot afford to take our eye off the ball. Christmas. Why isn't our capital city lit up with Christmas lights, Christmas trees everywhere, presents everywhere? Same with Easter. No more Easter bunny. No more Easter, you know, schools when they go and do Easter egg hunts. Where's that gone? You can't even call them Easter eggs anymore. What are they called in shops now? Chocolate eggs, festival eggs, whatever. All of that stops. We've taken our eye off the ball. We've allowed it to happen. It's death by a thousand cuts.

1:49:34We are close to the final fucking cut. And this is where I come in, mate. No more. I want to preserve my culture. I want to preserve my people. And I want to preserve my country. And I will do it no matter what. Once I step foot into this political space, mate, I'm here. It's a new career, like my media career. I'm here for 20 to 25 years. I'm 44 years old. Once I start campaigning, that bridge is burnt, that media bridge is burnt. I cannot never go back to that. That's what politics does. Would you allow Ramadan to take so much limelight as it has been taken over the years under Sadiq Khan when Christmas is being suppressed and Ramadan's being celebrated on a huge level?

1:50:17I would prioritize Christian culture. However, of course, Ramadan, come and celebrate. But the priority is our culture. The priority is our identity, which is intertwined in our very foundations, and that's Christianity. It must be predominant. It must be celebrated over everything, and it must take center of pride over the whole country. By all means, come in and celebrate. but fit into this umbrella, celebrate what you want because we're going to preserve you anyway. We're going to protect you anyway. And any normal, you know, practice, religious practicing individual would see that these boundaries are just.

1:50:59They're fair. They've worked for the last 1 ,000 to 2 ,000 years. The only reason why they're not working now is because that umbrella, that British culture umbrella, is close to collapse. I'm going to get that. Do you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to fucking go to town and repairing that. And to ensure that you as an individual, that you feel safe within your own capital city. And we talk about ULEZ and transportation. And housing as well. Who would you prioritise there? But listen, again, you structure that umbrella. It's very obvious who we prioritise. The answer's the same once the umbrella's in place.

1:51:38Preserves everything, mate. Preserves everything. But also, you know, when people say, what are you going to do about transport and logistics? I'm like, I'm going to open up London to its people. I will open up London to its people so they can enjoy their capital city, so they can enjoy the crown jewel, the energy, the motivation that I'm going to put back into our capital city. They can enjoy all of that because guess what? It belongs to them above anyone else. So I don't spoil the flow. I normally ask people where can they find you, but I'm going to put all of your social media links in the description.

1:52:15So that's that covered. Plus, I'm sure most people know exactly where to find you if they've not found you already. But my final couple of questions. Who is Ant Middleton and why do people need to get behind you? I'm a patriot. I'm a soldier. I can never get rid of that. But I'm here to serve. I'm a servant. I'm a servant of the people. No matter which way you look at it, I've always served the people. I've always served my people. And if you'd asked me 10 years ago, if I'd have said I was running from here of London 10 years ago, people would have gone, shut up and carry on with your TV work.

1:52:58But because my identity has been suppressed and because my people have been treated as second-class citizens over predominantly people that don't belong here, that don't deserve to be here, that don't fit in, that don't integrate. What the fuck is going on? Not on my watch. So who is Ant Middleton? I'm a servant of the people, my people. And before I thank you for your service, have you got a final message to the masses? Be proud of your roots. Learn about your history. Learn about who fought For you to sleep under your blanket of freedom Dig deep into our heritage Dig deep into the foundations of this country Because guess what?

1:53:52When the shit hits the fan And everything collapses around you We always revert back to our foundations And our foundations are Christian principles, values and morals be proud of that look for it identify it let's not take our eye off the ball now let's not be complacent I will be your voice and I will be there to take anything on my fucking shoulders that I can to make you safe and make you feel that sense of pride and make you feel that you belong in your own country well I hope you enjoyed that conversation I didn't pretend to be on the fence I'm very much in favour and supportive and if you are to follow him on all his social media platforms.

1:54:38Follow the journey. It's going to be a hell of a journey. Like and subscribe to this channel too. It doesn't take you two seconds and it's free of charge. And we can keep having these fearless conversations that the mainstream will want suppressed from you. That's the main thing. And the message of today is we need to get our country back and starting with the capital city. I believe Ant Middleton is the man for the job. I've never sat here and promoted anybody since I started this podcast journey. I'm thrilled to be able to get behind somebody and I will do with gusto. And if you feel the same, like the page, follow and stick with us.

1:55:14We're going on a journey. We're taking our country back, starting with the capital. And thank you for coming today, sharing all of the time, the conversations we've had offline, the friendship we've built, and most importantly, your service, sir. Long will it continue, my man. Cheers, Liam. Yeah. God bless, brother. Thank you.

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