Baroness Twycross
Main Page: Baroness Twycross (Labour - Life peer)Victory in Europe and Japan: 80th Anniversaries
Baroness Twycross Excerpts
Lord Wallace of Saltaire (LD)
My Lords, I welcome this Statement. I encourage the Government to make as much as possible of this, as an opportunity to explain to our younger generation and educate them on the implications of what we were fighting for in the last war.
Like others, I have taken my grandchildren to the Imperial War Museum, and I was happily surprised to see pictures of my parents-in-law in uniform in the display on Bletchley. I will be taking them to the Western Front at Easter, where we will walk over the areas where in 1918 my father, as an 18 year-old in the Highland Division, fought. It is ancient history for our grandchildren, but it is highly relevant to them.
I hope the Government will make this very much a commemoration of an allied effort. In our commemoration of World War I, I felt that the then-Government tried too much to make this Britain versus Germany. We had Polish squadrons in the RAF. We had Belgian squadrons in the Bomber Command. We recruited Caribbean people who served as ground crew. We had Polish divisions. I have had many conversations in Saltaire with elderly Poles who fought in the Eighth Army, who then came to Britain after the war. We had French divisions on British soil. We had a Czech brigade. We had people who went back to work in the resistance in Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, and elsewhere. We had Poles and Ukrainians who came here in large numbers as displaced persons and refugees after the war, whose grandchildren have almost forgotten about that. We also had 2.5 million people in the Indian army. We underplayed that in our commemoration of World War I. Many of their descendants now live in this country and are British citizens, as indeed are many of those who volunteered with the RAF from the Caribbean during the war. All that needs to be explained to the younger generation, in all its diversity.
I hope the Minister has already got her tickets for the Parliament Choir concert. I hope that all other Members of the House—those who will not be singing—will be there on 7 May for an excellent concert, for which we are already rehearsing.
We also need to educate our younger generation on the parallels between where we are now and where we were then. The Russian attack on Ukraine is motivated partly by a claim to be able to defend Russian minorities in other countries. That is what the Germans were doing in Czechoslovakia in 1938. We might even wish to remind the public that steps towards European integration after the war, in which Ernest Bevin and Winston Churchill played a large part, were absolutely part of preventing war again in western Europe. We need a sober recollection of the dangerous world we live in, the changing threats we face, and the values which we and our democratic neighbours must defend.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Twycross) (Lab)
My Lords, it is really positive that we can have a united voice on what will be hugely significant anniversaries, not least because, as the noble Lord, Lord Parkinson, outlined, very sadly, this will be one of the last significant anniversaries where we have veterans who fought for our freedom still alive. [Interruption.]
The Deputy Speaker (Viscount Colville of Culross) (CB)
My Lords, the House will adjourn until this chaos calms down.
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
I had started going through some points around unity within your Lordships’ House, which I think has continued despite the interruption. As noble Lords will be aware, the Government have announced exciting plans to mark the 80th anniversaries of VE and VJ Day with a series of events and celebrations, which I am delighted to discuss with your Lordships’ House.
The noble Lords, Lord Wallace of Saltaire and Lord Parkinson, outlined a number of points around our shared commitment to ensuring that we mark these anniversaries with the right amount of respect, while mindful of the fact that our veterans are, very sadly, coming towards the end of their lives in many cases.
As noble Lords will be well aware, Victory in Europe Day—VE Day—takes place on Thursday 8 May later this year and marks the Allied victory in Europe. The news resulted in millions celebrating the end of the war with street parties, dancing and singing across the country. The war in the Far East did not end until 15 August 1945 with victory over Japan, and, as the noble Lord, Lord Parkinson, outlined, we are all very mindful of the events that led to that victory over Japan.
In preparation for today, and very much in line with the theme of letters to loved ones, remembering and people having conversations with family members, I spoke to my mum this morning. She is 85, so she was five at the end of the war. At the time she was in Kirkwall in Orkney and remembered both that the cinema burned down—a slightly random five year-old’s fact to remember—and that there was a parade of armed forces not just from the UK but mainly from the United States, and she and her fellow five year-olds went up to the American soldiers and asked them for chewing gum. That was her main memory. She said it was the first time she had had chewing gum—she is still not a fan.
Eighty years on, very few veterans remain alive. That is very poignant, because very many of those first-hand accounts, like that from my mother, are becoming less common. I am sure all noble Lords will join me in taking this opportunity to pay tribute to Group Captain John “Paddy” Hemingway, who sadly died earlier this week. He was the last surviving pilot of the Battle of Britain. For his bravery, selflessness and resilience during one of the darkest times in our history, I think we are all truly grateful. He was a true hero whose service leaves a lasting legacy that will continue to inspire generations to come, and our thoughts are with his family at this time.
The noble Lord, Lord Wallace, mentioned parallels to the current day, including the need for alliances, and that the Second World War was not just a binary conflict but one that brought together people from across the world in our attempt to win it. My personal recollection is of the very many Polish friends my parents had when I was growing up, including someone who went on to become a journalist in this country, having come over as a young man and been a pilot in the RAF. It will be recognised that it was a collective effort, and that is particularly appropriate today. Those who fought from across the Commonwealth will also have their place; we will remember them, as we do others, during the celebrations and commemorations.
Five years ago, the 75th anniversaries of VE and VJ Day were profoundly poignant occasions, overshadowed by the Covid-19 pandemic. As the world faced an unprecedented global crisis with social distancing and lockdowns in place, the commemorations became a moment of reflection about the crisis we faced as well as one of gratitude to the Second World War generation. I think the late Queen spoke for the nation, and that we had a moment of unity across our country. This year, while the focus remains on remembrance, we have the opportunity to come together, gather in our communities and honour the legacy of those who fought so hard and gave up so much to protect the freedom we cherish today.
A truly inclusive national engagement programme will complement the series of events for VE and VJ Day 80. There are many ways that everyone from across your Lordships’ House, and members of the public, can get involved. In answer to the noble Lord, Lord Wallace of Saltaire, I have not yet got my tickets for the choir event that he mentioned, but I will do so.
The Government are introducing a general call to action for people from across the country, called Tip Top Towns, where the public are encouraged to get their towns, villages or cities ready for VE Day. Whether this be through putting up bunting, litter picking or crocheting bonnets for postboxes, everyone is invited to get in the spirit of the commemorations. We are encouraging street parties up and down the country on 5 May, mirroring the celebrations that took place in 1945. The Big Lunch has developed street party packs to support these, and the National Lottery is making its Awards for All fund available to support celebrations across the UK.
We are working with brilliant creative organisations to deliver a wide-reaching programme of activity. This includes Arts Council England, which will provide funding to arts centres, libraries and museums across the UK to celebrate and reflect on the 80th anniversaries of VE Day and VJ Day. The National Theatre is creating a brand new short film, “The Next Morning”, which will focus on the hopes, dreams and ambitions of young people. The Imperial War Museum has launched a national call-out, Letters to Loved Ones, for schoolchildren and their families to look for letters from the Second World War. The public will be invited to explore the important history of the Second World War, and to share their personal stories, as part of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s For Evermore tour, which will have the torch of peace at its heart—the torch is currently in Portcullis House.
The value of these commemorations lies in their ability to connect generations. It is vital that our young people understand the impact of the Second World War, and that they have the opportunity to hear first hand the stories of our living Second World War veterans and others who lived through the war years, before it is too late. The Government, in partnership with the Royal British Legion, the Imperial War Museum, the National Theatre, Atlantic Productions and the Together Coalition, are developing a school resource to enable young people to engage with veteran testimony. Our shared story will provide schools with learning resources for each key stage, focused on the end of the Second World War and what this means for us today.
The noble Lord, Lord Parkinson, asked about engagement with veterans. As was noted, this year will be one of our last opportunities to thank our veterans and to hear their stories first hand, so it is important that we not only thank them for their service but ensure that their legacy lives on to inform future generations. We are working with the Royal British Legion, which has done a recent call-out to veterans, to ensure that veterans who are able to take part in the commemorations can do so as much or as little as they would like. The welfare of veterans will be central to all VE Day and VJ Day commemorations. Every young person will have the opportunity to engage with the stories and testimonies of the Second World War generation.
The Government hope that the programme will bring the whole country together in remembrance and celebration. We must ensure that the stories of those who lived through this war, or who made the ultimate sacrifice, live on, not just in books or on paper but in the hearts and minds of future generations. The noble Lord, Lord Parkinson, is right that, when we see intolerance and antisemitism on the rise, this feels particularly important this year.
Lord Stirrup (CB)
My Lords, I welcome the Statement, but one of my regrets about the commemoration of the centenary of the First World War was the lack of focus on the immediate post-war period and the political and diplomatic failures that set the conditions for the later, even more damaging, conflict. This is in direct contrast to what happened in 1945, when it was recognised that enduring peace is not a natural or spontaneous phenomenon but requires sustained international commitment, co-operation and effort. That message is surely as relevant today as it has ever been, so can the Minister reflect on how that particular theme might be woven into this year’s commemorations, particularly with regard to education?
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
The noble and gallant Lord makes a really important point. The first part of that discussion will be on the point that only by learning about our past and seeing how it relates to our present will we genuinely pay tribute to those who died and made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. The schoolwork will play a particular role in that. All of us are mindful of the very fragile place the world is in—it is even more fragile than a year ago—so that very present understanding of how we need to work together across national borders to secure peace, and the recognition that we cannot take it for granted, have to run through our commemoration of these events.
Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)
I congratulate my noble friend the Minister on not just her excellent Statement but her calmness during the interruption. Like me, she has lots of connections all around the United Kingdom, and she knows that men and women in the Army, the Navy and the Air Force from all parts of the United Kingdom protected this country during the war. Therefore, it is very important that all the celebrations take place in every part of the United Kingdom. She elaborated on some of them so far, but can she extend that and tell us what more is being done, particularly in co-operation with the devolved Administrations in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland?
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
Discussions are taking place with the military around the country, with devolved Governments and with local government; close official engagement has taken place, and they are fully aware of our plans for VE Day and VJ Day. In Wales, a VE Day event will take place at the Senedd on 8 May, and the Scotland’s Salute concert at Usher Hall will take place on 6 May. There is one project that I am most enthusiastic about—it is important that it will be not just in London but in communities, and the Imperial War Museum North will play a central part. On 7 May, in the Imperial War Museum North, some letters submitted by the public will become part of a public performance coproduced by the National Theatre. So if noble Lords take one thing away from this it should be that, if they know people who have letters or remarkable stories that their families would want to share, they have a chance for their stories to be included if they share letters through the Government’s website before 14 April.
Lord Howell of Guildford (Con)
My Lords, I know that we may be a little uneasy about the current American leadership, but the American nation is quite a different thing. It played a vast part in the victory at the time, as, indeed, did the Russians. Would it not have been wise to have put that in this Statement? There is no mention of America at all. Is it not important to get the message over to the younger generation that when the great powers serve the rest of the nations, rather than pursuing their own internal interests, we make far greater progress, and will in the future?
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
We are clearly talking to all our allied partners in this respect. Although this perhaps was not mentioned explicitly in Stephanie Peacock’s Statement, I note that I specifically mention American forces. It would be remarkable if they were not also part of the commemorations—I make it clear that they are commemorations—and government departments are working to make sure that that happens.
The Lord Bishop of St Albans
My Lords, can the Minister say a little more about VJ Day? Outside St Albans Cathedral is the peace obelisk given by the people of Japan because of the courageous witness of the then dean, Dean Thicknesse. Each year, on 6 August, we have an ecumenical act of witness and prayers there. What is being done specifically to educate people about the dreadful carnage caused by atomic bombs and how we can build today a world that does not need to use them in the future?
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
Our country contributes to nuclear non-proliferation. The type of ecumenical reflection the right reverend Prelate mentioned is clearly appropriate to commemorate the devastating way in which we reached VJ Day. We will make sure that both the VE and VJ Day anniversaries are appropriately commemorated. The specific commemorative event for VJ Day will be a service at the National Memorial Arboretum. Further details of our VJ Day plans will be shared more widely as the year progresses.
Baroness Fraser of Craigmaddie (Con)
My Lords, popular thinking about VE Day is of parties and celebration. As the noble Baroness said, this will be the last opportunity we have to thank the veterans. But there were many who did not grow old as those who were left grew old. Particularly given the parallels at the moment, during these VE celebrations it is important that we ensure that we do not forget the cost and the sacrifices that were made. How are we going to ensure this? When I asked my father for his memories of VE Day, he said that the family did not really celebrate it because his 19 year-old brother had been killed on 26 April 1945. The family had just received the telegram—which was the second, because his elder brother was killed in the Arctic convoys in 1944. Can we ensure that our younger generation—who may be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice one day—understand the ultimate sacrifices that were made by those people?
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
The noble Baroness makes an important point. I am clear that when we talk about people making the ultimate sacrifice, we need to make sure that children and young people understand what that means. I sincerely hope that we never get to the stage where our young people today have to make the same sacrifice. I am also clear, from talking to a number of people about their own families’ memories of that time, that there was not unadulterated joy. As well as relief that the war was over, there was significant sorrow as well.
Baroness Falkner of Margravine (CB)
My Lords, does the noble Baroness agree that it was ideology in the form of fascism that posed the danger then, and it is ideology in the form of neo-imperialism in both Russia and China that poses the danger to us now? I welcome the Statement but, while we rightly cover all the angles that noble Lords have mentioned, I hope that consideration will also be given to educating the overall public—not just younger people—about the threat we will face due to events in Indochina, and to celebrating the role of our allies there, as well as warning of what is to come through China’s ambitions in its neighbourhood.
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
As a Government, we are clear that we want to tackle ideologies that undermine our democracy and freedom wherever they are. I believe that the public are fully aware of the fragility of our world order at the moment. I would find it very odd if that did not come through in a lot of the commemoration of those events.
Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Con)
My Lords, many of the people who fought on after VE Day used the phrase “the forgotten army”, so can we make sure that we emphasise the sacrifice and real hardship that many of the prisoners of war experienced from Japan? If I might just gently say to the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Albans, the brutal truth is that, had the Americans not been involved and not used their nuclear weapons, hundreds of thousands of people would have died needlessly. It was a horrible thing to do, but that nuclear deterrent played an important part in giving us the freedom which those people who interrupted our proceedings today enjoy.
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
We value our relationships with the Americans now, as then. The noble Lord makes a powerful point. It is vital that we do not simply focus on VE Day but look at VJ Day as well. The commemorations around VE Day will have a different tone, and there will be more community-engaged street events, and so on. We are clear that the sacrifices made by those who served across Asia and the Pacific will be at the heart of the commemorations.
Lord Cryer (Lab)
My Lords, I welcome everything that the Minister has said. However, a few noble Lords have mentioned that the events of World War II and the Holocaust are slipping from memory into history. It strikes me that that gives impetus to revisionist historians and Holocaust deniers to peddle their poison and chip away at its integrity. Does not this mean that these celebrations have to be more striking than in previous years in order that the memory is collectively imprinted on younger generations?
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
I reassure my noble friend that we are determined that that will happen. He noted the rise of antisemitism; it is a deplorable form of hate crime which the Government are committed to tackling, as well as to ensuring that everyone is able to worship and protest freely, to wear religious clothing and go about their lives in safety and security, irrespective of their background, faith or other characteristics.
Lord Hussain (LD)
My Lords, I hope the Minister will agree that the role of the British colonies and the British Empire needs to be recognised. Our younger generation needs to be reminded of the role played by people from the British colonies, particularly the Indian subcontinent. I speak as somebody whose family member—my father’s elder brother—went to serve in the British Army. He left my father, aged 15, to look after the family and never came back. That is the kind of example from among those of us from those colonies who have settled in Britain. The new generation needs to be reminded of that.
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
Absolutely; the noble Lord’s point is well made. All our activities and events will focus on both the UK and Commonwealth experiences at the end of the war, ensuring that these commemorations resonate across the whole of the Commonwealth. We are engaging with the Commonwealth Secretariat to ensure that Commonwealth experiences are represented. We are actively engaging with embassies throughout the Commonwealth and collaborating closely with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission on a global tour to honour and share the stories of those who fought in the Second World War. Colleagues in the FCDO and MoD are working closely with us on these plans. This will also be an important aspect of how this is addressed in schools and with young people so that all our pupils and young people recognise their own shared history, wherever their families were during the war.
Lord Kerr of Kinlochard (CB)
My Lords, I agree with the need to involve allies. I would like to say a word about the need to involve former enemies as well. My uncle was shell-shocked and injured at Kohima. My father was one of the first Army doctors to go into Bergen-Belsen; I think he was the first. They would have said that it is very important that commemoration should also be mingled with reconciliation. It is important that, on VE Day, the Germans are fully involved, as the Japanese should be on VJ Day.
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
We are trying to involve all nations appropriately. One of the clearest indications of how we work with those countries that were previously our enemies is shown in the steadfast allyship particularly of Germany in relation to conflict in Europe.
Lord Balfe (Con)
My Lords, I remind the Minister that many people from other countries came to help in Britain. My father came from Ireland to serve and help to defeat Hitler, and there were many people from Poland, of course, and from all over the place, including the huge contribution from the Indian army and the African armies, not to mention Canada, which joined us from the start. Not wishing to be sour about it, I think it is worth remembering that the United States did not declare war on Germany; Germany declared war on the United States. Roosevelt declared war only on Japan.
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
It is really important when we have these commemorations not to drag over some of the old issues and enmities but to move forward. In previous answers, I have completely recognised the role of Commonwealth soldiers across the military, as well as those from other nations, and we will make sure that all nations are involved appropriately.
Lord Berkeley (Lab)
My Lords, one of the forgotten parts of the last two world wars was the role played by the railways in supplying logistics to the front. We spent a long time bombing them when we were attacking, but of course the Germans tried to bomb us as well. My father was in the Royal Engineers and spent a lot of time repairing the railways in France and Belgium. There is only one book produced about that—it was written by Christian Wolmar—but my main point in speaking today is that this is still the case in Ukraine. I commend Network Rail and my noble friend Lord Hendy, who was in his place, for giving so many spare parts and other help to Ukraine to keep the railways there working. It is just as important now as it was in the previous war.
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
I thank my noble friend for that point, and wholeheartedly agree. I have mentioned my family, and my great-uncle was also in the Royal Engineers and would have carried out similar roles during the war—so I shall look out for that book with interest.
Lord Craig of Radley (CB)
My Lords, as one of probably quite few Members of today’s House who was a teenager during the Second World War, I add my commendation to Group Captain Hemingway. He was born in Dublin, as was I, and very many Irishmen served in the Second World War with great distinction, who should not be forgotten.
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
I thank the noble and gallant Lord for that point. I hope that, from the short debate that we have had today, noble Lords have understood how much we want to involve and recognise the role of all nations, including not least our Irish neighbours. We shall have an opportunity in your Lordships’ House to debate this—I am not sure whether the date of the debate has been put forward in the diary, but I know that there are plans for us to have a debate in the context of VE Day, and I look forward to having a discussion with noble Lords again then.