As bereaved mothers, we are heartbroken by Blair title.We beg Your Majesty to revoke it

Gut-wrenching cry from five parents who lost their sons in Afghanistan

FIVE mothers who lost their soldier sons during the war in Afghanistan have written to the Queen urging her to strip Tony Blair of his knighthood.

The ‘heartbroken’ mothers claim the former prime minister caused ‘untold misery’ when he sent British troops to fight in Helmand Province and Iraq ‘on a bed of lies’.

In a desperate letter to their ‘beloved’ monarch, Carol Valentine, Hazel Hunt, Caroline Whitaker, Caroline Jane Munday-Baker and Helen Perry, pleaded with her to overturn the decision to give the 68-year-old the top gong.

‘We beg you to revoke his knighthood which we believe tramples on our sons’ sacrifices,’ they said.

The mothers – whose sons were aged between 21 and 29 when they died – say Sir Tony has soldiers’ deaths on his hands and should face a war crimes trial instead of receiving an honour.

Some of them even threatened to send back the Elizabeth Crosses bestowed onto them by the Queen in national recognition of the sacrifice borne by their families.

In the open letter, the women say: ‘As mums, we were destroyed by the loss of our children at war, but now we are further

‘Mockery of our children’s lives’

devastated to learn that the man responsible for sending them to their deaths is to receive the highest honour in the land.

‘It makes a mockery of our children’s lives, and we are struggling to cope.’

The mothers say they believe the Queen – herself a ‘devoted’ mother and grandmother – ‘will understand our plight’.

They continue: ‘We are all struggling to understand how a man who has caused so much worldwide upset and devastation could be given such a privileged award.

‘He has caused untold misery while making himself a multi-millionaire at the same time. We do not view him as a man of peace – on the contrary, we maintain he has the deaths of all our soldiers on his hands.

‘This has left us all enraged, bewildered, and heartbroken and we beg you to revoke his knighthood which we believe tramples on our sons’ sacrifices.’

The letter emerged as Sir Keir Starmer insisted his predecessor ‘deserves the honour’ – despite nearly 600,000 people signing a petition calling for it to be rescinded.

The Labour leader also went on the attack, saying Boris Johnson had not ‘earned the right’ to be knighted and that there was a ‘world of difference’ between the two PMs. Sir Keir, who marched against the Iraq War in 2003, added: ‘I understand there are strong views on the Iraq War. There were back at the time and there still are.

‘But that does not detract from the fact that Tony Blair was a very successful prime minister and made a huge difference to the lives of millions of people in this country.’

But Mrs Valentine – whose son Sgt Simon Valentine, 29, was killed while trying to clear land mines near Sangin in 2009 – said she hoped the Queen ‘slips with her sword and cuts his bloody head off’. She added: ‘Tony Blair should not be rewarded for taking our sons from us. He deserves nothing less than a war crimes trial.

‘The troops always referred to our Queen as “the boss” and now I feel so let down by this knighthood.’

Mrs Hunt, whose son Private Richard Hunt died aged 21 following an explosion while on patrol in Musa Qala, said she would give back her Elizabeth Cross in ‘disgust’.

‘I will never call him Sir no matter what happens. He’s not fit to lace our soldiers’ boots,’ she added.

and mrs munday-Baker, who lost her trooper son James munday at the age of 21 when his vehicle blew up, said the gong was a ‘travesty’.

She added: ‘Blair should have his head bent, alright, but in shame, not to receive a knighthood. He should be made to walk through a field of IEDS like our children did.’ mrs Perry, who lost her military police officer son michael Pritchard, 22, to a ‘friendly fire’ incident, said she ‘nearly choked’ when she heard about the honour.

and mrs Whitaker, whose 29-yearold son Sgt Gareth Thursby was shot dead by an afghan policeman in 2012, said the bereaved mothers were members of a ‘club’ none of them wanted to belong to.

‘on the days i can’t hold it together they pick me up and i do the same for them when they fall,’ she said. ‘i can’t get my head around this decision to knight Blair. our sons may have been cannon fodder to him, but they were our flesh and blood.’

The Prime minister’s official spokesman yesterday refused to comment on the issue, saying that knighthoods were a matter for the

Queen. However he pointed out that ‘every former prime minister before Tony Blair has received the order of the Garter or Thistle’.

asked whether mr Johnson believed the petition’s signatories were wrong, the spokesman said it was ‘a matter for the Queen’.