The UK National Defence Association (UKNDA) is a pressure group campaigning in support of Britain's Armed Forces and calling for an increase in the UK defence budget. It is Tri-Service (

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

). Formed in 2007 by Admiral

Lord Boyce Admiral of the Fleet Michael Cecil Boyce, Baron Boyce, (2 April 1943 – 6 November 2022) was a British Royal Navy officer who also sat as a crossbench member of the House of Lords until his death in November 2022. Boyce commanded three sub ...

, RAF Marshal Lord Craig and former Foreign Secretary Lord Owen, its Patrons are Field Marshal Lord Guthrie, Admiral Lord West and Lord Campbell (former

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties See also *Liberal democracy *Lib ...

leader). Its Founder-President was Winston S. Churchill (grandson of former Prime Minister Sir

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

) and Vice-Presidents include Sir Richard Dearlove (former head of the Secret Intelligence Service), Major-General Patrick Cordingley (commander of the

Desert Rats The 7th Armoured Division was an armoured division of the British Army that saw distinguished active service during the Second World War, where its exploits in the Western Desert Campaign gained it the ''Desert Rats'' nickname. After the Muni ...

in the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

), Colonel Tim Collins (commander of 1st Royal Irish Regt in the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...

), and Colonel Bob Stewart (commander of

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

forces in Bosnia). Its former

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

(CEO) was Commander John Muxworthy. Its current Director, CEO Quoted in and spokesperson is Andy Smith. Under the alias AVR Smith, Smith was a former member of the Federation of Conservative Students and the

Conservative Monday Club The Conservative Monday Club (usually known as the Monday Club) is a British political pressure group, aligned with the Conservative Party, though no longer endorsed by it. It also has links to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Ulster Unioni ...

, becoming director of the

Western Goals Institute Western Goals Institute (WGI) was a far-right pressure group and think-tank in Britain, formed in 1989 from Western Goals UK, which was founded in 1985 as an offshoot of the U.S. Western Goals Foundation.''Labour Research'', November 1988, p. 2. ...

in the late 1980s (where he hosted visits of French National Front leader

Jean-Marie Le Pen Jean Louis Marie Le Pen (, born 20 June 1928) is a French far-right politician who served as President of the National Front from 1972 to 2011. He also served as Honorary President of the National Front from 2011 to 2015. Le Pen graduated fro ...

and South African hardliner

Andries Treurnicht Andries Petrus Treurnicht (19 February 1921 – 22 April 1993) was a South African politician, Minister of Education during the Soweto Riots and for a short time leader of the National Party in Transvaal. In 1982 he founded and led the Conse ...

to the UK), becoming good friends with WGI founder Gregory Lauder-Frost. He later became a member of the

British-Israel-World Federation The British-Israel-World Federation (also stylized as the British-Israel World Federation) is a United Kingdom-based organization that promotes British Israelism, a pseudohistorical belief that the people of the British Isles are direct desce ...

, who believe "all those of Anglo-Celto-Saxon descent" are direct descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.'' Private Eye'' (817) Pressdram Ltd. 9 April 1993; The UKNDA's 2008 policy paper, ''Overcoming the Defence Crisis'', argues that the shrinking of the Defence budget from 5% of the UK's

Gross Domestic Product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is oft ...

in the 1980s to barely 2% in 2008 has left Britain's Armed Forces chronically under-funded and over-stretched. It calls for UK Defence policy to be "threat-driven, not budget-driven". The organisation says it is politically neutral. However, in the 2015 general election, Smith spoke in favour of the

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...

and the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party's policies of spending "at least" 2% GDP on defence, criticising Britain's two major parties (

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

and the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

) for not having such a commitment. In 2016, Smith warned of an EU-controlled military force, saying that such a prospect was "a cause for great concern and one that should play heavily on the minds of British people as they ponder the choice before them in the

EU referendum This is a list of referendums related to the European Union, or referendums related to the European Communities, which were predecessors of the European Union. Since 1972, a total of 48 referendums have been held by EU member states, candidate st ...

on 23 June".

References

{{Reflist

External links

UK National Defence Association
Political advocacy groups in the United Kingdom 2007 establishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 2007 Military of the United Kingdom