I totally agree with John Mercer on this.
Johnny Mercer MP
✔@JohnnyMercerUK
White poppies are attention seeking rubbish. Ignore the wearers of them. If you don’t want to wear a poppy don’t bother; they fought and died so you could choose. But don’t deliberately try and hijack it’s symbolism for your own ends. Well done @BrianWoodMC
White poppy: How is it different from the red remembrance symbol?
The 2018 poppy appeal has launched, and for two weeks many people will wear them to remember British soldiers who died in wartime.
Many will stick to the traditional red paper flower for this period of remembrance, but other colours may catch the eye - white poppies, or perhaps even purple.
More people than ever before are wearing white poppies, says the group which makes them.
Red poppies began being used as a symbol in 1921 to help to remember those who fought in war.
The flower was chosen because it grows wild in many fields in northern France and Belgium - where some of the deadliest battles of World War One took place.
The Royal British Legion, which sells the red poppy, is clear that it is not a sign of support for war and death.
Instead, the RBL stresses it is a symbol for remembrance and hope and should not be seen as a symbol of religion or politics.
Nonetheless, some people feel the red poppy has become political, and that politicians use it to help justify war.
Meanwhile, white poppies are distributed by the Peace Pledge Union - the UK's oldest secular and pacifist group.
Created in 1933 - just 12 years after the red version - many people wore white poppies to stress the "never again" message, which emerged after World War One, and which pacifists feared was slipping away.
Like the red poppy, the white badge also symbolises remembrance for victims of war.
The Peace Pledge Union says the white poppy also represents a lasting commitment to peace and the belief that war should not be celebrated or glamorised.
It says the white poppy remembers "all those killed in war" - while the Royal British Legion says it "advocates a specific type of remembrance connected to the British Armed Forces".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45971456
Johnny Mercer MP
✔@JohnnyMercerUK
White poppies are attention seeking rubbish. Ignore the wearers of them. If you don’t want to wear a poppy don’t bother; they fought and died so you could choose. But don’t deliberately try and hijack it’s symbolism for your own ends. Well done @BrianWoodMC
White poppy: How is it different from the red remembrance symbol?
The 2018 poppy appeal has launched, and for two weeks many people will wear them to remember British soldiers who died in wartime.
Many will stick to the traditional red paper flower for this period of remembrance, but other colours may catch the eye - white poppies, or perhaps even purple.
More people than ever before are wearing white poppies, says the group which makes them.
Red poppies began being used as a symbol in 1921 to help to remember those who fought in war.
The flower was chosen because it grows wild in many fields in northern France and Belgium - where some of the deadliest battles of World War One took place.
The Royal British Legion, which sells the red poppy, is clear that it is not a sign of support for war and death.
Instead, the RBL stresses it is a symbol for remembrance and hope and should not be seen as a symbol of religion or politics.
Nonetheless, some people feel the red poppy has become political, and that politicians use it to help justify war.
Meanwhile, white poppies are distributed by the Peace Pledge Union - the UK's oldest secular and pacifist group.
Created in 1933 - just 12 years after the red version - many people wore white poppies to stress the "never again" message, which emerged after World War One, and which pacifists feared was slipping away.
Like the red poppy, the white badge also symbolises remembrance for victims of war.
The Peace Pledge Union says the white poppy also represents a lasting commitment to peace and the belief that war should not be celebrated or glamorised.
It says the white poppy remembers "all those killed in war" - while the Royal British Legion says it "advocates a specific type of remembrance connected to the British Armed Forces".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45971456
