A FORMER head of the SAS has quit the army after criticising the government for risking soldiers’ lives by failing to fund troops and equipment.

Brigadier Ed Butler, one of Britain’s most experienced and decorated special forces soldiers, is the most senior of three key commanders to have resigned in the past year amid widespread anger over lack of funding.

News of his resignation comes in the same week that General Sir Richard Dannatt, head of the army, called for better treatment for the forces and more money to be spent on defence.

In a statement issued through the Ministry of Defence (MoD), Butler said he was leaving for “a number of factors and reasons” and singled out difficulties faced by service personnel.

He praised the “extraordinarily brave men and women” who repeatedly did their job well in the face of “constraints and restraints”. He said the country owed them “a huge debt of gratitude”.

The MoD said it was “not a protest vote”. But close friends said Butler was disappointed that the government put soldiers’ lives at risk by failing to pay for sufficient troops and equipment.

“He was very frustrated at the cuts going on in the army at present,” one close associate said. “Sadly, many of the concerns held by senior officers have not been resolved and, across the armed forces, there are a lot of officers and soldiers who are not happy.”

Butler, 48, was widely expected to become the next director of special forces, friends said.

He led the first British deployment to southern Afghanistan in 2006 and said in his statement that his decision to quit came “after a great deal of discussion and deliberation over the last six months”.

Six months ago the board of inquiry into the death of Captain Jim Philippson, the first British soldier to die in action in Helmand province, cited Butler’s criticism of the failure to provide troops and kit and blamed “political machinations” for his death.

Butler was highly critical of John Reid, then defence secretary, for keeping troop numbers low and of the failure of the Treasury under Gordon Brown to fund equipment.

Lieutenant Colonel Rick Williams MC, another commanding officer of the SAS, resigned last July after being criticised by senior officers for spending too much time on the front line with his men.

He was followed in November by Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Tootal, commanding officer of third battalion, the Parachute Regiment.

Butler’s special forces career during the 1991 Gulf war, in Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Sierra Leone, Iraq and Afghanistan had him marked down for great things.

He is the grandson of Richard “Rab” Butler, the former Tory foreign secretary and chancellor.

He was mentioned in dispatches in Northern Ireland, awarded the Distinguished Service Order twice, in Iraq and Afghanistan, and was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his time in Helmand.

He is currently the commander of Joint Task Force Headquarters which is based in the UK and contains a strong special forces element.

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