THIS INSULT TO OUR SONS
Grieving families’ fury as Blair and Corbyn are invited to opening of new war memorial – but THEY miss out
GRIEVING families reacted with anger yesterday after it emerged that Tony Blair had been invited to an Iraq and Afghanistan memorial unveiling but they had not.
The former prime minister and Jeremy Corbyn, the current Labour leader, are among 2,500 politicians, dignitaries and members of the Armed Forces invited to today’s service.
The Queen will be joined by other members of the Royal Family including Afghanistan veteran Prince Harry at the monument dedicated to the 300,000 Britons who served in the first and second Gulf wars and in Afghanistan.
It is for the soldiers, sailors and airmen who served in the wars between 1990 and 2015, of whom 680 lost their lives.
Last night the office of Mr Blair – who was accused of having ‘blood on his hands’ after he took Britain into Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003 – would not confirm if he had accepted the invitation from the Ministry of Defence.
But family members of the war dead said it was a ‘disgrace’ he had received an invitation when they had not.
Mr Corbyn, who was chairman of the Stop the War coalition for four years until he became Labour leader in 2015, has accepted and will be attending, his spokesman confirmed.
Reg Keys, whose son Lance Corporal Tom Keys, 20, was one of six Red Caps murdered by an Iraqi mob in an ambush weeks after the invasion in 2003, said: ‘I would not have thought Tony Blair would have been a welcome face at such a service given we were misled over the Iraq war.
‘I’m sure his ego will not allow him to stay away from it. A lot of families will not welcome his presence and after such a short space of time following the publication of the Chilcot report [into the second Iraq war]. Had I been invited I would have gone to honour my son, but nobody invited me.’
Bob Wright, whose son Corporal Mark Wright, 27, died in a minefield in September 2006 in Afghanistan, said: ‘Jeremy Corbyn does not support the Army. Why has he been invited before the families?
‘Tony Blair is the man that started the ball rolling and we lost a lot of lives needlessly because of him. You would not have expected him to have been invited.’
John and Marilyn Miller, whose son Corporal Simon Miller, 21, was slaughtered in the same incident as Tom Keys, said they were ‘disgusted’ they were not invited.
Mr Miller, of Washington, Tyne and Wear, said: ‘ Tony Blair has been invited but military families have not. It is an absolute disgrace. How can that be right? We were totally disgusted that we had not been invited. Of course we would have wanted to go, it is a memorial for our son as well. We are so angry and Marilyn is really, really upset.’
Created by sculptor Paul Day, the memorial, in the Victoria Embankment Gardens near Westminster, honours twin themes of ‘duty and service’.
It features two huge stones, one representing Iraq and the other Afghanistan, united by a doublesided copper medallion.
Yesterday Theresa May was forced to reject claims that hundreds of bereaved families who had lost loved ones had been denied seats at the ceremony.
During Prime Minister’s Questions, Lib Dem leader Tim Farron called for her to apologise for the ‘careless oversight’ that had left families without tickets.
He said: ‘Inviting a relative of each of those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan would have taken up fewer than a third of the 2,500 seats at the event.’
The Prime Minister responded: ‘No one from the bereaved com- munity has been turned away and everyone who has applied to attend has been successful.’
Mrs May said charities and groups representing the bereaved were asked to put forward names of attendees. ‘We look forward to welcoming them so we can publicly acknowledge the sacrifice that their loved ones made on our behalf,’ she added.
‘I’ve been reassured that if there are any bereaved families who wish to attend then the Ministry of Defence will make every effort to ensure that they are able to do so.’
She said more than half of those attending were current or former members of the Forces. The Min- istry of Defence said it asked the War Widows’ Association, the military charity SSAFA, and a bereavement group to ask families if they wanted to attend.
Ten per cent of seats – about 250 – were allocated for family members and those involved with bereavement groups. All those put forward by the organisations were accepted, and the MoD stressed those who wanted to attend should be able to.
A spokesman said it was contacting those who have expressed concerns about not being asked to invite them personally.
‘We are ensuring all groups are represented, including bereaved families,’ the spokesman added.
‘His ego will not allow him to stay away’
‘An absolute disgrace’