MPS’ service remembered as Britain honours the military

BORIS JOHNSON is to lead tributes to MPS who served in both world wars, including a soldier killed in battle after avoiding a trip on the Titanic and an officer who inherited the red phone from Hitler’s bunker.

In a video to be released by the Conservative Party on Remembrance Sunday tomorrow, the Prime Minister will pay tribute to the MP for his own constituency, Charles Mills, who died at the Battle of Loos in 1915, while serving on the Western Front.

Mr Mills, who like Mr Johnson attended Eton College, became the youngest serving MP at the age of 23. He narrowly missed death on the Titanic in 1912 when he chose to stay in England because his father had become ill.

“Charles was killed in action on October 6, 1915, and he has no known grave,” Mr Johnson will say.

“We will remember him.” Anthony Mangnall, the MP for Totnes, will honour the memory of his predecessor Sir Ralph Rayner, who is thought to be the first Allied officer to have entered Hitler’s Fuhrerbunker at the end of the Second World War.

He kept Hitler’s red phone – described as the most destructive weapon of all time – in his home before it was sold by his family in 2017.

“At the end of the war, he took leave from the Army and rejoined as a Member of Parliament and served out his time in Westminster,” Mr Mangnall will say.

“I think it’s a moment and opportunity to pay tribute and to reflect on those who came before us who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom, our liberties, and our way of life.

“It’s important that we always pay

‘It’s important that we always pay tribute to them and remember their sacrifice for our existence’

homage to them and remember their sacrifice for our existence.”

John Howell, the MP for Mr Johnson’s former constituency of Henley, will tell the story of Valentine Fleming, the father of the James Bond novelist Ian Fleming.

“Valentine was a great leader of men, and he displayed that in the Army,” he will say. When they sent him up to the front, the action really started and sadly he was killed and was buried out on the Somme.”

Mr Fleming’s obituary was written by Winston Churchill.