Ministry of Defence settles High Court legal claim against Ant Middleton
The department began legal action against the television presenter last October for an alleged breach of contract.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said it has settled a High Court claim against television presenter Ant Middleton after it sued him for allegedly sharing confidential details of his time in the special forces.
The department took legal action against the former Channel 4 SAS: Who Dares Wins presenter in October for an alleged breach of contract.
Barristers for the MoD told a hearing last November that Mr Middleton signed an agreement upon joining the special forces, preventing him from disclosing information about the work of UK special forces, even if the information is not accurate.
They claimed he breached the contract in an episode of the Mike Drop podcast published on YouTube last July, titled Exposing The Quiet Split Between UK And US Forces.
Mr Middleton, who is running to be mayor of London in 2028 as an independent, denied breaching the agreement and said the legal action was “sudden, severe and disproportionate”.
After a further hearing scheduled for earlier this month did not take place, an MoD spokesperson confirmed on Sunday that the claim had been settled.
They said: “We can confirm that legal proceedings have now concluded with a settlement being reached.”
It is understood that Mr Middleton has recommitted to complying with the terms of the agreement as part of the settlement.
At the hearing in November, Mr Justice Garnham issued a temporary injunction blocking Mr Middleton from breaching the agreement until the legal claim was resolved.
Oliver Sanders KC, for the MoD, told the hearing that Mr Middleton served in the special forces from 2008 to 2011 and agreed that he would not disclose information relating to his special forces service without “express prior authority in writing” from the MoD.
The barrister continued that Mr Middleton had not sought or been given authorisation to disclose information on the Mike Drop podcast episode, which lasted almost four hours and has received more than 165,000 views.
It included segments titled “final stages of SAS selection” and “red tape in Afghanistan and the breaking point”.
The court heard that the MoD would neither confirm nor deny whether the statements made by Mr Middleton in the podcast were accurate, but claimed they were covered by the contract regardless.
Mr Middleton, who represented himself at the hearing, told the court that his military service included tours of Northern Ireland, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone and that he now lives in the United Arab Emirates.
He continued that disclosing information that could endanger soldiers was “against everything I have ever known or stood for” and that the information he cited in the podcast was “easily obtained by internet search”.
He also said: “I believe the suggestion that I have revealed military secrets is truly shocking and unfounded.”
Mr Middleton added that some of the information cited came from his time in the Royal Marines, which is not covered by the confidentiality contract.
