Mud, blood and misery must not be forgotten, says Culture Secretary

THE “MUD, blood and misery” of the First World War has been commemorated by MPs as the centenary of the Armistice nears.

Parliament yesterday marked the landmark anniversary of the end of the First World War with a special service of remembrance.

Many MPs and peers walked across the road from the Palace of Westminster in London to St Margaret’s Church, just as their predecessors had done on the first day of peace in 1918.

Prime Minister Theresa May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn sat next to each other for the service yesterday in the 12th century church, which nestles in the shadow of Westminster Abbey.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright also urged MPs to never forget the sacrifice which was made by those who lost their lives during the conflict.

He paid tribute to those who took part in the First World War, including his grandfather who fought in France, and the millions of others who died overseas or “came back terribly damaged, visibly or invisibly”.

Mr Wright said: “They went to fight in what they came to know as the Great War – four years of mud, blood and misery in which humanity found new ways to kill and injure on an previously unimagined scale.

“When the cost and enormity of it could be grasped, they came to call it – in shock, horror and sadly unrealistic optimism – the War To End All Wars.”

The First World War saw 264 MPs serving in the forces, with 22 being killed.

In the Lords, 323 Peers went to war, with 24 dying in the conflict.