As I watched the remembrance ceremony at the Cenotaph I recalled with pride that my father Eric Cole, of Southend electronics company Ekco, would be pleased that Europe, under the EU, has brought technocrats to power when, in his day, in just such a crisis it was Adolf Hitler who seized the reins and plunged the world into war.

This clearly justifies the large financial donations my father made to Southend Conservatives and the European cause to support the efforts led by Harold Macmillan, so that a Conservative Party dedicated to peace led us full-hearted into Europe, though he did not live to see it.

Macmillan’s passionate wish for a Europe united in peace exactly mirrored my father’s greatest desire.

In war, my father performed a vital service by designing the circuitry to monitor the Enigma Code and in peace he spent a lot of his own money jointly with other Conservative businessmen to found the European Movement.

In 1931, France refused to help a bankrupt Austria unless it cut trade with Germany, giving a huge boost to the Nazis. Then Britain brutally cut imports from Germany.

This eventually closed Ekco for three months by cutting off vital supplies and fatally brought Hitler to power.

The lack of any pan- European structure led to millions dying in the Second World War.

Southend Conservatives should be proud that through him they played a key role in putting us at the heart of a Europe able to deal peacefully with crisis.

Derek Cole
Anglesea Terrace
St Leonards-on-Sea