First World War: Centenary

Lord Popat Excerpts

Monday 4th March 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Clark of Windermere]

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to commemorate the centenary of the First World War.

[Lord Popat]

My Lords, because the noble Lord’s Question for Short Debate will now be taken as last business, the time limit for the debate becomes 90 minutes rather than 60 minutes. Speeches should therefore be limited to three minutes, except for those by the noble Lord, Lord Clark of Windermere, and the Minister, which remain limited to 10 and 12 minutes respectively.

[Lord Clark of Windermere]

My Lords, it is a privilege to lead this debate on the Government’s proposals for the commemoration of World War I. It is a war which came to epitomise carnage and human sacrifice. Many in this House will have had grandparents and occasionally parents who participated in that conflict. My own grandfather left the pits of County Durham to mine under the German lines. I remember a photograph on the mantelpiece of my other grandfather handling horses with the border regiments.

There was a terrific response to the war and to patriotism. Even as late as the 1950s when I worked in Cumbria, there were still many who had fought in World War I. The interesting thing was that very few of them ever spoke about it. About 20 years later, when I was doing some research into the early years of the Labour movement in Britain, I met a great many other individuals who had taken the opposite point of view. Many had been conscientious objectors who opposed the war—not usually on religious grounds but on political grounds. Their opposition was not upheld by the tribunals and most of them ended up in prison. Indeed, they were very strange jailbirds. However, one thing was clear: both sides respected the other over the years and both groups of individuals were very brave. One must accept that.

I found preparing for this debate quite difficult. I am not a pacifist. For five years, I was the principal spokesman for my party as the Shadow Secretary for Defence. I was a member of the political wing of NATO for nearly 20 years and I had the pleasure of leading the British delegation for more than five years. However, I must admit that in studying World War I, at times I have found it very difficult to justify. World War I was divisive then and it is now, in both its justification and especially, probably, in its conduct. The latter continues to divide our society, which has been one of the challenges for the Government and Dr Murrison MP as he tried to outline a plan of approach. I think that basically he has got it right.

The phrase, “lions led by donkeys”, so aptly used by another former Member of the other House, Alan Clarke, still resonates today. The stories of hampers from Fortnum & Mason and the approximately 200 British generals driving their Rolls Royces behind the lines really did not go down well when those soldiers returned to the land fit for heroes.

In a sense, it was not only the beginning of the war that was divisive but the aftermath as well. I believe that every one of us in this House will agree on one thing; namely, the bravery, courage and valour of the men who suffered the horror and deprivations of that war. Life in the trenches was hell. With that we can all agree. I think that that is a rallying point for us tonight. One realises that more than 1.2 million allied servicemen lost their lives and double that number of Germans lost their lives in that conflict. Overall, 10 million people died.

Even today, going into the fields of Passchendaele you are told that there still are 100,000 bodies unaccounted for. In one day at the Somme, 200,000 British military personnel lost their lives. As the Prime Minister said when he launched the Government’s commemoration, of the 14,000 parishes in England and Wales, only 50 did not lose any parishioners during World War I. In Scotland and Northern Ireland, not a single community could boast even that.

I checked very quickly up the road from where I live in Grasmere, and 25 people in a very small village lost their lives in World War 1. Tragic as it was, only two lost their lives in World War 2. The scale of the carnage is clear for all.

The Government have recognised these sensitivities. Correctly, they have ruled out any talk whatever of celebration, and the emphasis is on commemoration and remembrance, and that is correct. They appear to have the tone right, although I trust that over the four years of the commemorations there will be flexibility in which we can adapt to what is needed. The Prime Minister identified the objectives when he said on 11 October last year that the commemoration was,

“to honour those who served; to remember those who died; and to ensure that the lessons learned live with us”.

That is absolutely right.

World War I was a turning point not only for us here in Britain, but for the whole of Europe. Initially, volunteers flocked to fight for king and country. That slogan began to lose its appeal fairly quickly and conscription had to be introduced. What began as a war between three conflicting empires headed by three monarchs—three cousins—quickly changed and the consequences for the class structure throughout Europe were certainly challenging.

What began as patriotic fervour ended by laying the groundwork for democracy and freedom across the continent and a growing awareness of internationalism. Those are three things that we should not shy away from. As we commemorate what those brave men fought for, it was for democracy, freedom and a better way of resolving international problems than going to war.

The effect shook the Government. Some 8.4 million women were given the vote in 1918. Hurrah to that. All men were given the vote, because prior to 1918, only just over half the men had the vote. Many working men did not have a vote and that was put right. It was a major step towards democracy.

We must make sure that the commemoration of which we speak flows across the nation and through local communities. There will be the great national events, with the Imperial War Museum providing the lead. Other national institutions such as Westminster Abbey, the British Library, the Armed Forces, the Royal British Legion, the BBC, the War Memorials Trust, the Woodland Trust and many others will all have their parts to play. But most of the activity will be at community level. This will underpin the activity and ensure that the commemoration is a success and long lasting.

The Government’s plan for every secondary school and a teacher to be able to go out to France, Belgium and further afield is very much to be welcomed. I understand that that will be paid for by a special government grant. However, the demand in the localities of the local history libraries and county archives will be very strong. We must make sure that people are not disappointed and I therefore ask the Government to make sure that adequate money is not only provided nationally but at a local level as well.