| There is an unwarranted assumption that the war was about keeping the British Establishment going and that war heroes are always going to be right-wing reactionaries such as David Stirling or Ian Smith. If this is true, then all we were fighting the Nazis for was a clash between two different Empires.
What is worth fighting for in Britain is its very tolerance, even though that sometimes comes at a risk to our own safety, as when Karl Marx felt free to write in the British Library, or when today we build a multi-cultural society.
It was the British fighting men and women who booted out Churchill in 1945. And it wasn't only right-wing politicians who had served with distinction in the war. Examples of others include: Edward Heath, Denis Healey, Jim Callaghan, Clement Attlee (in WW1), Tony Benn (trained as a pilot but just too young to see action), Wing Cdr Ian Gleed (homosexual fighter ace) and my particular heroes, Leonard Cheshire VC (a pro-European Union Catholic), and (from WW1) the socialist "Mick" Mannock VC. |