Veterans angry at PM’s EU ‘in’ video
MILITARY veterans turned on David Cameron last night for using Second World War heroes to make the case for staying in the EU.
A video made by Britain Stronger In Europe, the official “Remain” campaign group for the EU referendum, yesterday featured a string of former soldiers who fought against the Nazis warning against breaking ties with Brussels.
The short film was released on the internet to coincide with a speech by the Prime Minister suggesting an EU exit would endanger peace in Europe.
But ex-military commanders attacked the video as “scaremongering” and accused Mr Cameron of having a poor grasp of history. Major-General Julian Thompson, who led British forces in the recapture of Port Stanley during the Falklands War, said: “I think Cameron is wrong to put around this scaremongering.
“I respect them [the former soldiers] hugely, they’re the guys who bought our freedom, they fought for us and we should respect what they think, but I’m afraid they’re wrong because the world’s moved on.”
Horrific
He added: “He [Cameron] talks about isolationism. Britain was not isolationist before the Second World War. I’m afraid he has forgotten his history.”
Colonel Richard Kemp, who commanded British forces in Afghanistan, accused Remain campaigners of “putting words in their mouths”.
He said: “It looks to me as though they have had words put in their mouths, which I think is a shame because they’re all highly distinguished soldiers who we owe a huge amount to so I was surprised to see them put in that position.”
A spokesman for Veterans for Britain, which supports an EU exit, said: “It’s horrific that people who served their country are being wheeled out and the question is: Do they know fully that they are signing up to a project that undermines the autonomy of the UK’s Armed Forces?”
Four veterans in the pro-Brussels video, who include former Armed Forces chief Lord Brammall, 92, Harry Leslie Smith, David Meylan and Patrick Churchill, claimed Britain should stay in the EU to maintain peace and security.
Lord Bramall, former Chief of the Defence Staff, said in the video: “We would be going backwards not forwards in what we set out to cure after the terrible tragedies of the Second World War.”