Families of dead soldiers told Browne: Stay away from ceremony
The families of four British soldiers killed in Iraq delivered a humiliating snub to Defence Secretary Des Browne by asking him not to attend a ceremony on the return of the bodies to Britain.
The rejection is the latest blow for beleagured Browne who is facing heavy criticism for allowing 15 soldiers captured in Iran to sell their stories.
A petition has been set up on the No 10 website asking for heads to role in the cash-for-stories fiasco.
The bodies of the two men and two women, who were killed by a roadside bomb, arrived in the UK today, with their coffins draped in Union Jack flags.
Pallbearers carried the coffins past the family members of Lieutenant Joanne Dyer, Private Eleanor Dlugosz, Corporal Kris O'Neill and Kingsman Adam Smith.
They had requested no ministerial presence at the ceremony.
EveningStandard