Poppy sellers must be ‘fully protected’, says Grant Shapps

The Defence Secretary has called for poppy sellers to be “fully protected”, as police said they had no reason to believe volunteers were at risk of being targeted.

In a statement published on Thursday morning, Grant Shapps urged protesters to “put politics aside and come together as one nation to remember those who have sacrificed everything in service of King and country”.

“To do so, Remembrance services must go ahead without the threat of desecration or disruption and memorials, poppy sellers and services must be fully protected,” he said. “Anything short of this would be morally indefensible.”

It comes after an Army veteran claimed he was punched and kicked during a pro-Palestinian rally as tried to pack up his stall at Edinburgh Waverley railway station on Saturday.

However, a police investigation into the alleged assault on Jim Henderson, 78, has been dropped because of insufficient evidence.

Assistant Chief Constable Sean O’Callaghan, of British Transport Police, stressed that the force had “no reason to believe that poppy sellers are at any risk or being intentionally targeted”.

On Wednesday, Rishi Sunak demanded assurances from the chief of the Metropolitan Police that a pro-Palestinian march in London on Saturday would be held safely.

Three poppy sellers were seen wearing body cameras at London’s King’s Cross St Pancras station. A spokesman for the Royal British Legion stressed that volunteers with body cameras were station staff who had the devices as part of their uniform and that there was “no need” for Poppy Appeal collectors to wear them.

The spokesman said: “There is no need for our Poppy Appeal collectors to wear body cams and we are not aware of any collectors wearing them.

“The safety of all Poppy Appeal volunteers is our number one priority. We have permission to collect at every location where Poppy Appeal volunteers are collecting, and guarantee those locations have measures in place to ensure the safety of our volunteers.”

One of the volunteers with a camera confirmed on Thursday morning that he was employed by Network Rail.

Staff at other stations suggested they had seen fewer volunteers raising money in recent days. A station employee at Green Park, who did not want to be named, told The Telegraph: “There isn’t anyone [selling poppies] here. They were meant to come for two days, but they only came for one.”

Another anonymous worker at Oxford Circus station said: “They’re not here today, but they were last week. They are usually here for this whole week.”

Jonathan Brasher, 58, who spent 28 years in the Army, first in the Green Howards and now in the Royal Yorkshire Regiment, and was selling poppies outside Victoria station, said there had been a “lack of volunteers” this year.

“I’ve been over there [inside Victoria Underground station] and couldn’t see any,” he said. He added that people had been “asking us about the [Israel-Hamas] peace march” and that it was his “assumption” that the diminished number of volunteers was “because of the protests”.

It is understood that it is not unusual for numbers of volunteers to fluctuate throughout the Poppy Appeal period.