People will be asked to eat fish and chips and sing I Vow To Thee My Country around a chain of beacons to mark the 80th anniversary next year of the end of the second world war in Europe.
But the plans for 8 May, which are likely to involve the royal family and local councils, have failed to win the support of the government and the Royal British Legion, who have different – and arguably less traditional – ideas about how the day should be commemorated.
Bruno Peek, the pageant master who has organised royal and national celebrations for more than 40 years and is behind the plans for VE Day, is frustrated that the government has distanced itself from his idea.
“I would like the prime minister of the UK to help lead [I Vow to Thee My Country] at 9.30pm on 8 May,” Peek said. “I’m hoping that Sir Keir Starmer will stand up and sing with us.”
The government has so far declined to commit to working with Peek or to endorse the plans for people to eat fish and chips, which is a nod to the fishermen who braved German U-boats and mines, and the farm workers who ensured that the national dish was among the few foodstuffs not rationed during the war.
Instead, the government and the Royal British Legion are working with other veterans’ representatives on their own, separate, £10m plans to celebrate and commemorate both VE Day, and VJ (Victory over Japan) Day in August.
Peek has challenged Keir Starmer and MPs to work with him and to come out to support his plan for people to sing the hymn, which is about love and sacrifice and derives from a poem by Sir Cecil Spring Rice, set to music by Gustav Holst.
“If I was Keir Starmer, I’d be on the phone to me right now, because I’ve got 43 years of experience of organising,” Peek, 73, said.
The full details of the government and Royal British Legion’s plans have not yet been revealed but it is understood they are concerned about making remembrance more relevant to younger people and those from non-white backgrounds, as the number of armed forces families and those with direct links to the 1939-45 conflict decline.
The legion is using VJ Day to support a campaign for a national memorial to the 2.5 million members of the British Indian Army, the biggest volunteer force in history, who served in the second world war.
Philippa Rawlinson, the legion’s director of remembrance, wants to encourage people from Asian backgrounds to trace their own family histories of relatives who fought in the Indian Army.
“Our challenge is that the armed forces community is getting smaller and society is changing. So we need to make sure that we are sharing stories that are relevant to wider society,” she said.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) declined to say whether the prime minister and officials would endorse Peek’s chain of beacons, fish supper and hymn plans. Earlier this summer, Rishi Sunak supported Peek’s efforts to mark D-day’s 80th anniversary.
A DCMS spokesperson said: “The 80th anniversaries of VE and VJ Days will be moments of huge significance for our country, and the government is committed to commemorating the occasions appropriately. That is why we have announced more than £10m for events.
“We will announce the government’s plans to mark the occasion shortly.”
Peek, who plans to retire after next year’s events, has often worked independently of government at previous national celebrations but is unimpressed. “This is why I get frustrated,” he said. “There are too many egos getting in the way.”
“I’ve got all the parish, borough, and district councils working with me – the heartbeat of their local communities,” he said.
He hopes that a boy and a girl, both aged eight to reflect the eight decades that have passed, will light the main beacon at the London Eye and added that his plans also reflect a multicultural Britain. “That hymn is one anyone who is proud of their country – any country – can sing, whatever their race, creed or colour,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Royal British Legion said: “I think we really need to be clear about what our plans are before we decide to work in partnership with anyone.”
• This article was amended on 17 November 2024. An earlier version said that VE Day on 8 May marked the end of the second world war instead of the end of the war in Europe.
