Kemi Badenoch has accused the Liberal Democrats of “fake patriotism” for urging people to buy British products but rejecting calls for a military VE Day parade. The Tory leader hit out as Sir Ed Davey was forced into an embarrassing U-turn, announcing the 80th Anniversary event will take place.

Fury erupted after Liberal Democrat-led Dacorum Borough Council in Hertfordshire decided not to hold the event because it would be seen as “elitist”. Commemorations are being held across the country on May 8 to mark the end of the war, including a flypast in London and a service at Westminster Abbey with members of the royal family. However, Dacorum council initially said it had no plans for a parade.

Sir Ed, national leader of the party, announced a formal ceremony will go ahead, as he made a local election campaign visit to Gloucester.

“There will be a VE parade, I’m delighted to say,” he said.

“The council wants that. It would be daft not to have one, absolutely daft.”

It comes as the Lib Dems called on the government to launch a "buy British" campaign in response to Donald Trump's tariffs on UK goods.

The party’s Treasury spokeswoman Daisy Cooper told GB News: “We think the government should be launching a big national effort to encourage people to buy British where they can, and to make sure there's enough transparency about where products come from so people can make those informed choices if they choose to do so.”

She added: “We already have Made in Britain, which is a fantastic campaign that identifies items that have been manufactured here.

"We all celebrate Small Business Saturday, where we encourage people to go out on a Saturday and go and look for local items that are produced locally by small businesses to support our high streets.

“It’s sort of in our DNA to do this, but what we Liberal Democrats have said to the government is, we want the government to go out and work with our European and Commonwealth allies to create new export markets so that British businesses can export abroad, and that British products can be sold around the world."

Mrs Badenoch said it was “silly” to have refused to hold the VE Day parade in the first place.

She added: “That's an extremely silly thing to say. They [Lib Dems] tell people that they should buy British, but then they stop a VE Day Parade from going through - it's fake patriotism.”

Dacorum council cabinet member Caroline Smith-Wright had told a meeting on April 2 that there were no plans for a parade, suggesting such an event would be for the “elite”.

She said: “We have decided at this point to enable communities to come together and have street parties, and I think… that’s for the community, that’s for everyone, that encompasses everybody, it doesn’t just leave the elite and people to just, kind of, parade.

“This is about normal people celebrating in their communities, sharing food, sitting at a table celebrating, and I think that’s a fine way to celebrate VE Day.”

She added that the authority had done “done quite a bit of celebrating last year” to mark the council’s 50th birthday.