Coronavirus pandemic: Gareth Davies, MP for Stamford and Bourne, talks about VE Day in his latest column

MP Gareth Davies talks about the importance of celebrating VE Day in his latest column:

On this day 75 years ago, people all over the Western world celebrated the formal acceptance of the Nazi’s surrender of its armed forces. Over a million people took to the streets to mark the end of the war in Europe after several long hard years living in worry and danger. The streets of Stamford filled with people as crowds cheered and shook hands.

Although planned public street parties and celebrations have sadly been cancelled owing to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, I know many are planning on celebrating in their living rooms, on their doorsteps and back gardens instead. These past weeks of social distancing have been hard, and so I think we all just want something to celebrate. I understand there has been a boom in bunting and beer sales as we all settle in and raise a toast to thank those who gave so much. As Winston Churchill said on this day: “This is your hour. This is not victory of a party or of any class. It’s a victory of the great British nation as a whole.”

Lincolnshire is of course known as Bomber County, and we have a proud military past. 76 years ago, some of the first servicemen to land in France on D-Day took off from North Witham, at a point when we had over 50 military airfields - more than any other county.

Some have claimed that we should ‘move on’ and ‘ditch the nostalgia’, but of course this does not just insult the families of those servicemen who lost their lives in battle during that terrible war, it seriously misjudges and underestimates the pride most British people feel about overcoming such a colossal common enemy. In a world which is so divided, where tensions often run high, it is important to remember that we have a shared vulnerability. While we sometimes forget this, our latest enemy may not have a face or a flag, but its threat and ability to unite us is very real.

We need days like today to remind us of our collective resilience and shared vulnerability, something often forgotten in politics. However, as I said in my Maiden Speech in the House of Commons in March: “Nobody ever asked if a fallen serviceman was Labour, Conservative or Liberal. They were simply British heroes.”

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