This weekend, many people will attend remembrance ceremonies at local cemeteries, churches and war memorials, and many will also join demonstrations calling for a ceasefire in the Middle East.

Contrary to whatever the Prime Minister or his Home Secretary might want to suggest, there is nothing contradictory in doing those two things.

Indeed, it is clear from Suella Braverman’s disgraceful Times newspaper column this week, that she in particular has been desperate to manufacture a conflict about this where there is none.

Just as in London, where the route of the planned Palestinian solidarity march purposely avoids the Cenotaph, the demonstrations in Glasgow have been moved from George Square to the Buchanan Street steps to be mindful of those paying their respects at the city’s main war memorial.

The (soon to be ex-?) Home Secretary trying to exploit the awful situation in Gaza and the West Bank in this way, to further her own career ambitions, is ­genuinely shameful.

It is clear that many people from a huge range of backgrounds feel hurt and angry, both at events which are unfolding in the Middle East, and the unwillingness of the UK Government and the Leader of the Opposition to call for a ceasefire. Ms Braverman’s attempt to smear them and to influence how peaceful demonstrations are policed is truly despicable.

It is a reminder, for me, of why I choose to wear a white poppy at this time of year.

It is 90 years since white poppies were first made by the Cooperative Women’s Guild in 1933. They were produced as a reminder – when the world faced sliding inexorably into another huge and devastating war – that the overriding message that soldiers brought back from the trenches in 1918 was ‘never again’. The white poppy stands for remembrance, of all who have died in war, both civilians and military personnel, but it is also a symbol of peace-making, which means actively working for and creating the conditions for peace. That means working for a just world, in which all lives are valued equally, and in which we strive for empathy and understanding, not one in which differences are used to stoke division, which is Ms Braverman’s way.

It has been over a month now since Hamas killed more than 1000 Israelis and took more than 200 hostage in an act of terror.

Day after day since, TV screens have been filled with shocking acts of violence. The death toll stands at least 1400 Israelis and more than 10,000 Palestinians. Most of those who have died are civilians, including women and children. Most recently, I was moved to tears at the Channel 4 News footage of Fouad Abu Sadha, a young Palestinian with a learning disability, shot by ­Israeli Defence Force soldiers while throwing stones some 70 metres from a West Bank checkpoint.

How any political leader can witness such a catalogue of atrocities and not demand an immediate ceasefire as a first step towards peace is beyond me. The message of the white poppy is clearly as relevant and as necessary as ever.