Former intelligence officer hoping to ‘take ownership’ of stammer after live TV broadcast led to online bullying

A former army intelligence officer has sought to “take ownership” of his stammer after struggling to speak live on television, leaving him at the mercy of online bullies.

Forbes McKenzie, 46, originally from Hawick, Scotland, first noticed he had a stammer when he was around seven-years-old after he was bullied by children at school and they would mock his speech difference.

The chief executive of McKenzie Intelligence Services, an insurance technology company based in central London supporting businesses and individuals through global conflicts and natural disasters, he went on to spend 10 years in the British Army from 2001 to 2011.

He completed two tours in Northern Ireland, one in the Balkans, one in Iraq and two in Afghanistan and while working in the Intelligence Corps, he would be asked to give daily presentations to his team, which he felt “anxiety” around.

Forbes was diagnosed with an adjustment disorder after returning home from his first tour of Afghanistan in 2006 due to being in fight or flight mode “at all times” during active service, which later prompted him to turn his focus to building his company from the ground up in 2012 to the multimillion-pound enterprise it is today.

With his background in intelligence services, Forbes is often invited to provide comment to the press on conflicts and natural disasters, most recently the Israel-Hamas war and Hurricane Milton in Florida.

In 2022, he appeared on Sky News for six months from April to October where he gave daily news briefings about the war in Ukraine.

On October 10 that year, he struggled to get through one particular segment which he said was “paralysing”, prompting online trolls to circulate the video clip on TikTok and bully him – but Forbes is hoping to more raise awareness of speech differences.

“Speaking out about my stammer is a very personal thing and I want to take ownership of it and push myself out there,” Forbes told PA Real Life.

“A stammer is something people carry with them throughout their lives and there’s a certain stigma attached to it.”

Describing his stammer, Forbes added: “I get a really tight feeling in my chest when I’m talking about my stammer.

“I trip over certain sounds and syllables – words like ‘engineering’ or ‘intelligence’ are tricky, which is ironic considering it’s the name of my company.

“It’s only been later in life where I’ve mapped the correlation between points of anxiety and my stammer.”

Forbes said he was around seven-years-old when he first realised he had a stammer.

“I first noticed it when I got bullied at school, I didn’t know I had a stammer and the first time I was told about it was from the other kids,” he said.

After finishing his education, going to the University of Glasgow to study geography, he undertook military training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on September 9, 2001 – two days before 9/11.

“It was a very different experience to the army we all thought we were joining two days beforehand,” he said.

While at Sandhurst, Forbes said the cadets were selected to report a daily roster to a staff member, which he said “absolutely terrified” him.

“People who stammer often worry about speaking if they know they’ve got to say one particular word – you’ll get to that word, you’re so frighted to say it that you bypass it and then you end up going down a rabbit hole,” he said.

“In that situation at Sandhurst, it was impossible to replace a word because you’ve got a set script of things to report and if you screwed it up, everyone would know, and you couldn’t change or substitute words.

“I never actually did it in the end but I was terrified about that at Sandhurst.”

After finishing his training, Forbes went on to spend 10 years in the British Army, working in the Intelligence Corps as an intelligence officer.

He completed two tours in Northern Ireland, one in the Balkans, one in Iraq and two in Afghanistan, but found his stammer worsened towards the end of his service as “the anxiety got higher and higher”.

“You’re supposed to do one tour every three years but I’m not complaining as it’s made me who I am today,” he said.

“In 2008 when I went to Iraq, I was the intelligence officer for my brigade and part of my job was to speak to everybody once a day.

“I soon started to dread having to do a presentation as my stammer was getting worse at this particular point because I wasn’t getting enough sleep.”

Forbes was diagnosed with an adjustment disorder after returning home from his first tour in Afghanistan in 2006 where he found it difficult to relax and “feel safe”.

“On operations you’re in fight or flight mode at all times – mostly fight mode – and coming home you’re not feeling relaxed or safe,” he said.

“It took around nine months when I moved into that safe space and settled in London until my stammer started to sort itself out again.”

He turned his attention to building his company, McKenzie Intelligence Services, from the ground up in 2012.

“We’re a little company of 30 people looking after 250 trillion US dollars worth of physical assets,” he said.

“I’ve always worried that I’ll do a presentation and stammer and people will think there’s something not quite right but some people say it’s endearing and it humanises me a little bit.”

Due to his background in intelligence services, Forbes is often invited to speak to the press about conflicts and natural disasters and he has most recently offered to comment on the Israel-Hamas war and Hurricane Milton in Florida.

In October 2022, Forbes was finishing a six-month stint on Sky News where he delivered around 60 live briefings about the war in Ukraine.

He said he delivered five briefings on October 10 with no issues but one particular segment was a struggle to get through.

“I was giving a three to five minute presentation and behind me, the slides were not with what I was saying – I turned around and I’d been talking about something completely different,” he said.

“It just threw me, I had a block in my throat and I was not able to fix it – it was quite paralysing.”

Forbes said one individual on the internet started to circulate a clip of the moment on TikTok, leaving him at the mercy of online trolls.

“It’s frustrating because it’s not a fair representation, I’m pretty good at my job, and whoever that person was, they were just being really mean,” he said.

In an act of defiance, Forbes donated £5,000 to Stamma, a charity helping to support those with speech differences, and £5,000 to Combat Stress, a mental health service for veterans.

“It was just really important to say to whoever that was, that’s not cool, and to own it,” he said.

“I’m proud it was something I did to stand up to some bullies.”

Forbes is hoping raise more awareness of speech differences and to “take ownership” of his stammer.

“Everybody’s story is very different,” he said.

“I wanted to push myself out there but for anyone struggling, I would make Stamma a first port of call.”

For more information, visit: stamma.org.