THE SUN has accused peace campaigners of “mischief making” after they correctly highlighted that the Royal British Legion (RBL) had changed its definition of who the red poppy was meant to represent.

Pacifist group the Peace Pledge Union (PPU) spotted a change on the RBL’s website, on which the charity explicitly stated that its red poppy now recognises “innocent civilians who have lost their lives in conflict and acts of terrorism.”

Previously it had focused on the military, although it acknowledged “the wider impact of conflict.”

The change in wording is a significant victory for the PPU, which promotes the more inclusive white poppy and has long criticised the red poppy for its focus on the armed forces.

However it has sent The Sun into a tail spin, with its defence editor David Willetts insisting that “the meaning hasn’t changed — it’s been clarified,” as he said “this confusion is a product of PPU mischief making.”

He was backed by Richard Kemp, a hawkish retired colonel, who slammed the PPU as a “hard-left political movement that seeks to hijack the symbol of remembrance for its own anti-British agenda.”