Speaker’s Statement

Lindsay Hoyle Excerpts

Tuesday 18th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Before we continue proceedings, I pay tribute to John “Paddy” Hemingway, the last surviving Battle of Britain pilot, who died yesterday at the age of 105. Mr Hemingway was a teenager when he joined the RAF during the second world war. At the age of 21 he was a fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain, a three-month air campaign in 1940 to protect the southern parts of England and British shipping from large-scale assault by the Luftwaffe. There is no doubt that the courage and overwhelming sense of duty of RAF pilots such as Mr Hemingway helped to end the second world war and allowed us the freedoms that we enjoy today.