Women must ‘earn’ place on SAS course

Former Royal Marine Ant Middleton has said women have to “earn” their place on selection to have a right to join the SAS.

And the SAS: Who Dares Wins instructor suggested there might be an all-female version of the Channel 4 show in the future.

Responding to a previous comment, in which he said he did not think there was a place for women in the special forces, Mr Middleton told Lorraine Kelly on her TV show: “It’s not that I don’t think women could ever join. I think there’s a process. You have to earn your place on selection.”

Mr Middleton added: “Most of us are experienced Royal Marines or from a parachute regiment … We’ve done multi- 0 SAS: Who Dares Wins instructor Ant Middleton ple tours of duty and we earn our place for selection. We shouldn’t just put someone in there because there’s no women and go, ‘Right, let’s see how they get on’.”

Headded:“theroyalmarine training process and the parachute training process is now open for women … if they can do it then let’s do it.”