MAYOR DAN JARVIS' CAMBRIDGE UNION SPEECH

Published 11 November 2020 at 12:00am

Madam President;

Honourable Members;

Ladies and Gentlemen.

Thank you. It’s a shame we can’t be together in person this evening but we can be together in spirit. Madam President, it is a great privilege to be invited to address your Union again.

Any nervousness you might detect is in part due to the fact I’m reliant on a patchy internet connection in my parliamentary office. This building was constructed at the time of William the Second’s reign – it sometimes feels as though the broadband was installed then too!

Madam President, you have invited us – on the eve of Armistice Day – to reflect:

on the relationship the poppy has with our past;

it’s meaning to the Britain of today;

and its relevance to future generations.

Let me begin by making my beliefs clear:

I’m don’t come here tonight to question anyone’s right not to wear a poppy.

The battles 75 years ago were fought precisely to defend those eternal freedoms that we cherish –

the right to speak our minds and make our own choices,

free from fear or persecution.

So, wear a poppy, don’t wear a poppy, that is your right.

But if you are asking me, if I think you should wear the red poppy, then my respectful answer is yes.

Not in celebration, but in the spirit of commemoration.

And for reasons of remembrance, respect and hope.

Let me say something about each of those themes.

First, remembrance.

The red poppy is a timeless symbol that ensures we never forget our shared history.

I am in a building tonight that was damaged during the last world war and has stood here through countless other conflicts that have shaped generation after generation.

None more so than the First World War: the conflict that gave birth to the concept of Remembrance as we know it today.

In 1914, there were 16,000 towns and villages across Britain. Only 53 – the so called ‘thankful villages’ – would make it to the end of the War without having lost someone.

Every community has its own story to tell – including my own.

In Barnsley, we have square dedicated to the Barnsley Pals battalions.

These were the men who responded to Lord Kitchener’s famous recruitment poster.

Miners, glassworkers, stonemasons, clerics – many of them friends and neighbours.

They joined up together, trained together, went to war together, and ultimately, many of them died together.

A few years ago, I travelled to Serre in northern France, where the Barnsley Pals fought at the Battle of the Somme.

I walked over the ground on which they had fought that inspired the Canadian medic John McCrae to write:

‘Flanders fields where the poppies blow,

‘between the crosses, row on row…’

‘That mark our place; and in the sky

‘The larks, still bravely singing, fly…’

Standing over the graves of the Barnsley Pals was an incredibly sobering experience.

It felt like they were a long way from home.

Some believe they died in a battle that – though appalling – was necessary and needed to be fought.

Others argue their sacrifice was futile, in a war that achieved nothing, and that could and should have been avoided.

Many other conflicts that have claimed the lives of our servicemen and women have sparked similar differences of opinion.

Regardless of your opinion about any one of them, my argument is the same.

No matter what we think of the political decisions that have sent our soldiers into conflict down the ages, we have a duty to support our Armed Forces and bear witness to their sacrifice.

The moment the poppy becomes a symbol for one set of ideas over another, is the moment it loses its power.

We wear it because it rises far above the disagreements that divide us. And because it unites us in a collective expression of gratitude to those who have put themselves in harm’s way in service to our country.

My life has been shaped by my service in the British Army.

Now I serve here in the House of Commons.

And I have contributed to debates, and voted in the lobbies when it has been asked to consider matters of war and peace.

And I can tell you – hand on heart – that however history judges those decisions, they are always better taken when our decision-makers are made to remember the cost of peace and consequences of war.

The poppy is an important part of that.

The second theme I’d like to turn to is respect.

Above all, the poppy is rooted in our Armed Forces Community.

Our lives are incredibly fast-moving and full of distractions.

There are few things more poignant than when an entire country falls silent together.

That’s why tomorrow – as we do on every Armistice Day –     we will come together – this year in spirit rather than person – and remember:

those who sacrificed their lives for us;

the veterans whose lives have been changed by conflict;

and the families whose loved ones did not come home.

When we buy a poppy each November, we’re not just supporting the vital work of the Royal British Legion.

It is a totem of something deeper –

A sign to those veterans and their families that we are thinking of them.

We can’t ever know what they’re going through but we can show that we stand with them.

I am acutely aware of the growing discomfort some people have with wearing the poppy. I too, am loathed to see the far right appropriate Remembrance and the cause of our Armed Forces community.

Not just because their beliefs are anathema to me but also because I am reminded of the sacrifice made fighting against that same toxic ideology 75 years ago.

I say to those who feel that way: I get it, but please don’t concede the poppy, its meaning and its importance to these dangerous opportunists.

For me, the poppy stands for respect, decency and solidarity. It is these ideals – and not triumphalism, militarism or glorification – on which Remembrance was founded.

That brings me to my third point – why I believe the poppy is also about hope for the future.

To those who say that the poppy only stands for bloodshed, division and suffering, let me offer you this reflection.

It’s a story from Northern Ireland – where I served some two decades ago.

I saw the tensions in divided communities – some of which still linger today.

For many, the red poppy was seen as a symbol of Britishness.

Many Irish nationalists never wore it.

But in 1997, a nationalist named Alban Maginness became the Lord Mayor of Belfast.

Alban attended his city’s service for those who perished in the trenches and laid a wreath at the memorial.

And did so wearing a red poppy.

It was not a symbol of his tradition but he wore it to show he was offering the hand of friendship to the unionist people of Belfast.

It was a powerful display of unity in a county ravaged by decades of division.

And it shows why we shouldn’t ignore the role that the poppy has played in making peace.

If an Irish nationalist can wear a red poppy as an act of respect, then perhaps we can understand how the poppy holds the potential to bring us closer together, and remind us of the value of reconciliation.

That is how we will build a more just and peaceful future.

So tonight, on the eve of Armistice Day, let us remember those who came before us, who fought and died to protect and build the Britain we live in today.

And let us wear the poppy in remembrance of them.

In respect for the fallen;

In solidarity with their loved ones;

In support for those who serve us still;

And in enduring hope for a more peaceful and prosperous future.

That is the case we on the side of the Opposition present to you tonight. And I very much hope you will support us.

Thank you.