Boris Johnson avoids criticism over scruffy Philip tribute

Boris Johnson pays tribute to the Duke of Edinbugh on the doorstep of Number 10 - Credit: PA

I remember the condemnation of Michael Foot, by certain sections of the press, for wearing a ‘donkey jacket’ at the Cenotaph.

Forty years on, the PM paid tribute to HRH the Duke of Edinburgh on the steps of Downing Street with his ‘ruffled’ hair – was this not an occasion where it might have been appropriate for him to look a little tidier?

This doesn’t seem to have attracted much attention from the media – is this because our expectations of our politicians have fallen in the intervening period, or that politicians of the left and right are held to different standards by the tabloid press?
Nick Roberts
Selly Oak Birmingham

The Duke of Edinburgh should rightly be remembered as the Queen’s loyal consort, for his service to the country and for the award which bears his name. The forerunner of the DoE Award was the Moray Badge, awarded to pupils at Gordonstoun and created by the founder of the school, a German educationalist named Dr Kurt Hahn.

It was Hahn who persuaded the Duke to take the award further and create a national version. Hahn left Nazi Germany to set up the school in 1934, but there are clear parallels in terms of the activities involved in gaining the award with those of the Hitlerjugend, the difference being in the lack of foul political ideology behind Hahn’s scheme.

Maybe the Duke was partly persuaded to found the award after his experience at his sister’s funeral in 1937 in Darmstadt, Germany, where he was “escorted” by SS guards and teenage boys in the crowd wore the HJ uniform.
Phil Green

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