Published in the Daily Express on 22 March 2025.
As a champion of bravery and as a collector of gallantry medals, I believe it’s important to honour our war dead. We must always remember those who have given their lives for their country, for their monarch, for their comrades and for wider freedoms.
However, I also believe it is vital that our surviving war veterans are given the chance to attend major commemorative events whatever their motivation for doing so.
Such men, and women, may want to pay their respects to lost comrades or they may want to enjoy a day in the spotlight at which their service to their nation is recognised.
For many years now, fines from the Libor interest rate-fixing scandal have supported veterans, enabling them to attend significant events around key military dates, including visits to France for the June 6 D-Day anniversaries of the Normandy landings.
Now, sadly, this source of funding for welfare and travel has been exhausted, meaning some veterans who struggle to make ends meet will find it hard, or even impossible, to attend major events this year to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
This is because they cannot afford the necessary accommodation and travel costs involved in attending such commemorations – sometimes in the presence of relatives or carers who are needed because they are old and frail.
It would be a tragedy if these brave men, and women, who have served their country so courageously in its hour of need were to be deprived of the opportunity of attending such events, including those planned in London for the 80th anniversary of V-Day on May 8. V-Day, or VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) as it is also known, marks the end of the fighting in Europe after Nazi Germany was finally defeated.
As an international businessman, I am fully aware that governments, like companies, eventually need to balance their books but I would appeal to our current Labour Government to find the necessary funding for veterans to be able to attend such significant events in 2025.
As a former treasurer and former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, I am not trying to make any political points by making this request.
Honouring our war veterans, along with our war dead, should not be in any way a political statement – it’s much more important than that.
As a result of amassing the world’s largest collection of Victoria Crosses and writing seven books in the Heroes series on bravery, I have been privileged to meet hundreds of war veterans over the decades.
Typically, their courage and sense of duty are matched by a modesty and humility that I find deeply moving. It is these very people and many like them who deserve some financial help if it’s needed. It’s hard to imagine a more deserving cause.
Read this article on Express.co.uk
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