Barney White-Spunner

Lieutenant General Sir Barnabas William Benjamin White-Spunner, KCB, CBE is a former British Army officer who is currently Executive Chairman of the Countryside Alliance and Director of the Countryside Alliance Foundation.

Military career
Educated at Eton College and the University of St Andrews, Barney White-Spunner was commissioned into the Blues and Royals in 1979. He was appointed Commanding Officer of the Household Cavalry in 1996 and in that capacity was deployed to Bosnia. In 1998, he was promoted to colonel and became Deputy Director of Defence Policy at NATO and in 2001 he took charge of an operation to disarm Albanian insurgents in Macedonia.

He was given command of the Kabul Multinational Brigade in 2002 and then became Chief of Joint Force Operations for the national contingent in the Middle East in 2003.

By 2005 he was Chief of Staff at Land Command and in 2007 he was appointed General Officer Commanding 3rd (UK) Mechanised Division. In February 2008 he deployed with elements of 3rd (UK) Mechanised Division to Iraq where those elements formed HQ Multinational Division (South East). He went on to be Commander of the Field Army in 2009.

He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2002 and Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2011 Birthday Honours.

On 7 January 2010, White-Spunner gave evidence to the Iraq Inquiry regarding the Battle of Basra.

He retired from the British Army in December 2011 and was appointed Executive Chairman of the Countryside Alliance and Director of the Countryside Alliance Foundation in January 2012.

Literary career
White-Spunner started his literary career writing for The Field in 1992. He became editor of Baily's Hunting Directory in 1994. He is also the author of a history of the Horse Guards.

Honours and Awards