With the dust barely settled on a seismic, brutal electoral conflict, four of Britain’s political leaders – two making doubtless their last public appearance in the role – joined the Duke of York, senior armed service representatives and bemedalled veterans at a service of remembrance to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the second world war.
In a solemn half-hour ceremony of hymns, prayers and readings at the Cenotaph on Whitehall in London, the newly returned prime minister, David Cameron, the SNP’s Nicola Sturgeon, Labour’s Ed Miliband, and Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats – both of whom, after suffering crushing defeats, had resigned as party leaders barely hours earlier – laid wreaths in memory of the 580,400 British and Commonwealth servicemen and women, and 67,100 UK civilians, killed during the six-year conflict.
In dark blue suits and ties – Sturgeon wore black – and flanked by Conservative heavyweights Boris Johnson, Michael Fallon and Philip Hammond, and by party officials from Wales and Northern Ireland, the four leaders stood side by side through a simple service led by Rev Nigel Stock, Bishop to the Armed Forces, to mark the 70th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day. None appeared to exchange more than a glance with each other, and Clegg was the only one to display any visible emotion after the trio of men stepped forward together to lay their wreaths of red poppies.
After a two-minute silence and the playing of the Last Post, Randolph Churchill read extracts from the speech delivered over the radio at 3pm on 8 May 1945 by his great grandfather, Winston, in which he announced that hostilities would “end officially at one minute past midnight” following “the unconditional surrender of all German land, sea and air forces” in Europe.
“We, from this island and from our united empire, maintained the struggle” against Germany’s “foul aggression” single-handed for a whole year, Churchill said then, before being joined by Russia and later the US. “We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing; but let us not forget for a moment the toil and efforts that lie ahead … Advance, Britannia! Long live the cause of freedom! God save the King!”
Winston Churchill – who was himself soon to be defeated in an election upset as surprising, in its way, as this one – in fact made two short speeches on the day to the huge crowds massed in Whitehall, telling them first: “This is your victory” (to which they replied: “No, it’s yours!”) and then later that evening conducting them in a rendition of Land of Hope and Glory.
The Cenotaph memorial service marked the start of three days of national commemorations of the 70th anniversary of VE Day. An hour after sunset on Friday, a chain of more than 100 beacons will be lit around the country – from Barnsley to Windsor, Doncaster to Poole, and Lowestoft to the Isle of Unst. The houses of parliament, St Paul’s Cathedral and Trafalgar Square, floodlit 70 years ago for the first VE Day, will light up again with V-shaped illuminations.
At 11am on Saturday, churches and cathedrals across Britain have been invited to ring out their bells in celebration of the hard-fought victory over Nazi Germany, while in the evening the BBC will broadcast the Party to Remember, billed as a “spectacular 1940s-themed concert” on Horse Guards Parade, featuring acts including Pixie Lott, Jamelia, Diversity, Chas & Dave and Status Quo.
A national thanksgiving service at Westminster Abbey on Sunday morning will be attended by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall and other members of the royal family, as well as representatives of Britain’s wartime allies, Commonwealth countries and more than 1,000 veterans.
After the service, a parade of 2,000 service personnel, veterans and their guests and carers will march from Westminster Abbey to Horse Guards Parade, while wartime RAF planes including Lancasters, Spitfires and Hurricanes perform a flypast over central London with the Red Arrows display team.
The events, likely to mark the last major anniversary that any significant number of second world war veterans will be able to attend, have been overseen by William Hague after fears by the armed services and veterans organisations that the anniversary might have been overlooked because it fell on the day after the general election.
Schools have been encouraged to mark the occasion, and many have organised picnics or street parties, or invited veterans to speak. Veterans attending the weekend’s ceremonies can apply to a government fund to cover their travel and accommodation expenses.
VE Day in 1945 was a riotous occasion, with jubilant Britons gathering in their tens of thousands around the country. Relief, people who were there recall, was the overriding emotion: after six long years of fear, hardship, loss and destruction – half a million homes had been destroyed – the population was ready to party.
In London, huge crowds gathered to hear Churchill’s radio broadcast relayed over loudspeakers; King George VI and the Queen appeared eight times on the balcony of Buckingham Palace before the cheering throng; and the two princesses – Margaret and Elizabeth – mingled with the crowds. Street parties were held around the country.
