London - Britain marked the 70th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) on Friday with events to be attended by top politicians despite chaos in some party ranks following the Conservatives' shock election triumph.
David Cameron was due to attend a London memorial ceremony in his role as prime minister after confounding the pollsters to comfortably hold on to his job.
Labour leader Ed Miliband and Liberal Democrat chief Nick Clegg were also due to attend, but were expected to resign the leadership before the event after their parties were routed at the polls.
Triumphant Scottish National Party chief Nicola Sturgeon, whose party demolished Labour north of the border, also travelled down for the event.
With the Tories on course to secure an outright majority, it is a far cry from pre-poll predictions that the event would be held amid political horsetrading.
Putting the political disarray to one side, the country will fall silent for two minutes at 1400 GMT, marking the moment when wartime prime minister Winston Churchill broadcast his historic speech announcing the end of the conflict.
Following six years of air raids, blackouts, economic hardships and fighting that claimed the lives of almost 400,000 Britons, the country seized the chance to celebrate the end of the war on May 8, 1945, with even the future Queen Elizabeth II anonymously joining the ecstatic throngs in central London.
"It took a couple of days to really sink in," 101-year-old veteran John Harrison recalled.
"All you could hear were church bells, which were marvellous," the former officer on board the HMS Belfast warship told AFP.
"When the news came... my team said, 'Well, there's only one place (to be), I think John, and that's the nearest pub.' It was such a relief.
"If we hadn't done the things we did, God knows what the regime would have been like."
A chain of over 100 beacons was to be lit across the country later on Friday and the next day cathedrals nationwide have been invited to ring their bells in celebration.
AFP
