Leytonstone councillor RoseMary Warrington allegedly told former soldier Alastair Martin he was at a Remembrance Sunday memorial service to “glorify war” after he called her a “disgrace” for laying a white poppy wreath, reports Marco Marcelline
A Green Party councillor allegedly told an army veteran he was at a Remembrance Sunday memorial service to “glorify war” when he challenged her for laying a wreath of white poppies.
Captain Alastair Martin, who served in the Royal Anglian Regiment in Bosnia and Northern Ireland, said he approached councillor RoseMary Warrington as she prepared to lay a wreath of white poppies at the Harrow Green cenotaph in High Road Leytonstone.
White poppies remember all victims of war including civilians and are worn as a pacifist symbol, typically alongside a traditional red poppy, which honours the fallen.
Martin said he told the Leytonstone councillor: “You are being deeply disrespectful in what you’re doing. I’m hoping that you’re ignorant and you don’t realise what you’re doing.”
When Cllr Warrington continued to lay the wreath despite his protestations, Martin told her: “You’re a disgrace”.
In response, Cllr Warrington allegedly said: “Well, you’re only here to glorify war.”
Speaking to the Echo following the incident, the veteran maintained that the white poppy was “disrespectful”.
Martin continued: “The white poppy is a political symbol, the red poppy is a symbol for the fallen – there is no politics involved with the red poppy at all, so for councillors to taint the day with their politics is wrong.”
Calling the wearing of a white poppy on Remembrance Day “an act of sabotage”, he said it should only be worn at “an appropriate time” such as International Peace Day, which is observed worldwide on 21st September.
According to a recent YouGov survey of 8,024 adults across the UK, just 15% said they thought the wearing of a white poppy during the remembrance season was unacceptable, with 64% saying it was fine.
The white poppy was created by the Peace Pledge Union, founded in 1934. Its stated mission is to “resist everyday militarism, promote active nonviolence and educate for peace”.
The organisation has challenged military visits to schools, is opposed to the celebration of the army on Armed Forces Day and has campaigned for the UK’s military budget to be spent on tackling the causes of war instead of on weaponry.
Members sign a peace pledge which renounces war as a crime against humanity, and commits them to work for the “removal of all causes of war”.
Cllr Warrington declined to comment on the incident.
Fellow Green councillor Peter Richardson, who was also at the Remembrance Sunday service, said: “Like many other elected figures, faith groups and communities across London, we chose to include the white poppy on the Green Party wreaths as a respectful call for peace and a remembrance of the civilian casualties of war.
“In Leytonstone, the notion of peace and civilian loss at Remembrance was shared through sermons and hymns in the service.
“The white poppy was created almost 100 years ago to symbolise a hope for the end of all war, and as we remember the catastrophic loss of life through conflict this is a hope we must hold onto.”
You can learn more about the white poppy and the Peace Pledge Union here
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