Andrew Castle Clashes With White Poppy Campaigner In Heated Remembrance Discussion

4 November 2018, 16:21 | Updated: 5 November 2018, 16:00

Andrew Castle challenges the chairman of the Peace Pledge Union in a heated discussion about the colour of remembrance poppies.

An MP has criticised the "disingenuous" trend for appropriating the traditional poppy colour, as sales of the white poppy have soared by 30%.

The Peace Pledge Union, who makes the white poppy, have said that they were not trying to insult the Remembrance of the British Armed Forces.

Its union chairman, Albert Beale, said that "there are lots and lots of people who are extremely unhappy with the way that the orthodox remembrance ceremonies are operated."

Speaking to Andrew Castle, he said: "People who wear white poppies are not showing disrespect for anybody. What they are trying to do, when I wear the white poppy in remembrance season, I'm trying to show that I care for all the victims of war.

"Red poppies are designed by the British Legion to remember the British military dead. The majority of people who get killed in wars are not the military, they're civilians."

The LBC presenter replied: "The majority of people who wear the poppy just want remember the sacrifice of everybody and understand that war is a terrible thing."

Johnny Mercer, Tory MP and former British Army Officer, said that he did not like "this insinuation that these campaign groups just don't like war so therefore wear the white poppy because the red poppy is a celebration of war. I think it's extremely disingenuous."

“Every soldier I know wants peace. If you want to celebrate those aims, then you could literally pick any other symbol you liked rather than using a symbol that has been used to raised money for injured soldiers and their families for a long time."