Jonathon Riley | |
---|---|
Born | 16 January 1955 |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/ | British Army |
Years of service | 1971–2009 |
Rank | Lieutenant General |
Service number | 497496 |
Unit | Royal Welch Fusiliers |
Commands | Deputy Commander, International Security Assistance Force Multi-National Division (South-East) 1st Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers |
Battles/wars | The Troubles Sierra Leone Civil War Iraq War War in Afghanistan |
Awards | Companion of the Order of the Bath Distinguished Service Order Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service Legion of Merit (United States) NATO Meritorious Service Medal |
Other work | Defence and Security consultant, author and military historian |
Website | generalship |
Lieutenant General Jonathon Peter Riley, CB , DSO (born 16 January 1955) is a retired British Army officer and military historian. [1]
Riley joined the British Army as an officer cadet in 1971, [2] and was commissioned into the Queen's Regiment in 1974. [3] He was promoted to lieutenant on 9 March 1976, [4] to captain on 9 September 1980 and, [5] having attended the Staff College, Camberley, in 1987, he was promoted to major at the end of the year. [6] During this time he saw active service in Northern Ireland. [1]
Promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1993, [7] Riley undertook a tour as an instructor at the Staff College, Camberley, that year. He was deployed as commanding officer of the 1st Battalion the Royal Welch Fusiliers to the Muslim enclave of Goražde in 1995 under a mandate to ensure the Serbs did not violate the NATO ultimatum. The Army of Republika Srpska attacked the town without warning, capturing 33 soldiers under Riley's command and several hundred other fellow United Nations peacekeepers in May. Having halted the initial Serb attack, the battalion handed over the defence of the enclave to the Bosnian 81st Division. During the siege that followed, protocol was broken when, first, the Director of Military Operations, then the Chief of the General Staff, and, finally, Prime Minister John Major telephoned Riley to be briefed on the situation. [8] The enclave was successfully defended and unlike Srebrenica and Zepa it never fell to the Serbs; the 33 Fusiliers and fellow UN peacekeepers were later rescued safely. [9] Riley was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for gallantry and distinguished services in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia in 1996, [10] and promoted to full colonel in July 1997. [11]
Promoted to brigadier on 31 December 1998, [12] Riley became commander of the 1st Mechanised Brigade in Bosnia in 1999 and commander of the UK Joint Task Force in Sierra Leone in 2000. [13] He was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service for his service in Sierra Leone. [14] He became Deputy Commandant of the Staff College and Director of the Higher Command and Staff Course in 2001. [15]
Riley was deployed as Deputy Commanding General of the Coalition Military Advisory and Training Team in Iraq in May 2003 and then became Commanding General Multi-National Division (South East), Iraq and GOC British Forces in November 2004 with promotion to major general. [16] In 2005, he was awarded the United States' Legion of Merit for his service in Iraq. [17]
Riley served as Colonel of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, from 2006 to 2007. [18] [19] On 18 December 2007, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and appointed deputy commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. [20] [21] He was awarded the NATO Meritorious Service Medal by the Secretary-General of NATO and, having been appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 2008 New Year Honours, [22] he transferred to the reserve on 15 September 2009. [23]
On 14 December 2009, Riley gave evidence to The Iraq Inquiry, in which he stated that British troops had not expected to be faced with an insurgency and also defended the decision to disband the Iraqi Army after the invasion. [24] Then, in February 2011, he gave evidence at the trial of Radovan Karadžić at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague on the incident in May 1995 when his troops had been held in captivity. [9]
Riley was appointed Director General and Master of the Royal Armouries, Britain's national collection of arms and armour, early in September 2009. [25] Subsequently, he was appointed Visiting Professor in War Studies at King's College London. [26]
Riley joined the UK Independence Party (UKIP) in 2012. He said he "believed passionately that we had to regain our national sovereignty, the control of our laws and our borders, and escape the unelected, unaccountable tyranny of the EU Commission." [27] He later left the party, arguing it had "lost its way" and stating that he disagreed with the views of those who had taken charge at the time. [27]
Riley is on the advisory board of Veterans for Britain, an organisation with the aim "to put forward the Defence and Security arguments for the UK to vote to leave the European Union" and following the referendum to "Support Her Majesty's Government in the task of restoring full sovereign control to all aspects of the defence of the Realm in accordance with that mandate of the people." [28]
On 19 January 2021, Riley re-joined UKIP, [29] [30] and was selected as the lead candidate for UKIP for the Mid and West Wales region of the Senedd for the 2021 election. [31] He was not elected to the Senedd, although he received 3,731 votes. [32]
Riley has written and edited a number of books on military history, including:
The Royal Welch Fusiliers (Welsh: Ffiwsilwyr Brenhinol Cymreig) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, and part of the Prince of Wales's Division, that was founded in 1689; shortly after the Glorious Revolution. In 1702, it was designated a fusilier regiment and became the Welch Regiment of Fusiliers; the prefix "Royal" was added in 1713, then confirmed in 1714 when George I named it the Prince of Wales's Own Royal Regiment of Welsh Fusiliers. In 1751, after reforms that standardised the naming and numbering of regiments, it became the 23rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Welsh Fuzileers). In 1881, the final title of the regiment was adopted.
160th (Welsh) Brigade or Brigâd 160 (Cymru), is a regional brigade of the British Army that has been in existence since 1908, and saw service during both the First and the Second World Wars, as part of the 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division. It is a regional command responsible for all of Wales. The Brigade is also regionally aligned with the Eastern European and Central Asian regions as part of defence engagement.
Field Marshal Sir Gerald Walter Robert Templer, was a senior British Army officer. He fought in both the world wars and took part against the Arab Resistance in Palestine. As Chief of the Imperial General Staff, the professional head of the British Army between 1955 and 1958, Templer was Prime Minister Anthony Eden's chief military adviser during the Suez Crisis. He is also credited as a founder of the United Kingdom's National Army Museum.
Captain Frederick Barter VC MC was a British Army officer and a Welsh recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Evelyn Francis Edward Seymour, 17th Duke of Somerset, styled as Lord Seymour between 1923–1931, was a British Army officer, landowner, peer, and for eight years Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire. He was also a baronet.
Air Chief Marshal Sir James Milne Robb, was a senior Royal Air Force commander. After early service in the First World War with the Northumberland Fusiliers, Robb joined the Royal Flying Corps and became a flying ace credited with seven aerial victories. He was granted a permanent commission in the Royal Air Force in 1919 and commanded No. 30 Squadron RAF in the Iraqi revolt against the British. In 1939, Robb travelled to Canada to help establish the Empire Air Training Scheme, a massive training program that provided the Royal Air Force with trained aircrew from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Southern Rhodesia. He commanded No. 2 Group RAF of RAF Bomber Command and No. 15 Group RAF of RAF Coastal Command.
Sir Geoffrey David Inkin was a commanding officer of the Royal Welch Fusiliers and a lay member of the Judicial Appointments Commission.
General Sir Geoffry Allen Percival Scoones, was a senior officer in the Indian Army during the Second World War.
General Sir Frank Douglas King, was a British Army officer who served as General Officer Commanding of the British Army in Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles. He held a number of other senior posts in the British Army, having begun his military career in the ranks during the Second World War.
General Sir Hugh Charles Stockwell, was a senior British Army officer most remembered for commanding the Anglo-French ground forces during the Suez Crisis and his service as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO from 1960 to 1964.
Lieutenant-General Sir George Norton Cory, KBE, CB, DSO was an American-born Canadian soldier who served with the British Army in India, South Africa and Canada and during the Boer War, World War I and World War II.
Squadron Leader William Miller, was a British flying ace of the First World War, who was credited with six aerial victories. Miller worked in the Royal Air Force Educational Service between the World Wars. He returned to service for the Second World War, rising to the rank of Squadron Leader.
Captain Charles Chaplin Banks was a World War I flying ace credited with thirteen aerial victories. He scored a pioneering night fighter victory on 31 May 1918, when he shot down a German Friedrichshafen G bomber.
Lieutenant General Sir James Benjamin "Jim" Dutton, is a retired Royal Marines officer and former Governor of Gibraltar. He held various staff positions in his early career, before commanding 40 Commando. As a brigadier, he held two high-level staff posts—the first at the Ministry of Defence in London, as Director of NATO policy, and the second as a British liaison to The Pentagon shortly after the September 11 attacks, where he was involved in the planning for the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan.
Richard Morgan Llewellyn, is a retired senior British Army officer. He was general officer commanding, Wales District from 1987 to 1990, and chief of staff at HQ Land Forces from 1990 to 1991. Upon retirement the army, he was ordained in the Church of England and is currently Welsh Vice-Patron of the War Memorials Trust.
Lieutenant General Sir Nicholas Robert Macrae Borton,, is a retired British Army officer, who served as commander of NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps from 2021 to 2024.
John Meredith Hulton was an English first-class cricketer and British Army officer.
Lieutenant General Sir Ian John Cave,, is a British Army officer who was Commander Home Command from June 2021 to September 2023. He now serves as the UK Military Representative to NATO and to the European Union.
Michael David Parker is a British Methodist minister and military chaplain. He is the current Chaplain-General to His Majesty's Land Forces.
Napoleon as a General.