Andy Burnham takes part for first time alongside about 12 second world war veterans, as ceremonies held across UK

Second world war veterans outnumbered former prime ministers for what could be the last time at the national service of remembrance at the Cenotaph in central London.

The number of surviving service personnel from that conflict attending the service has dwindled from 20 last year to about a dozen, the oldest of whom was Jeffrey Brereton, who served in the RAF. He volunteered for the air force in 1940, at the age of 19, and served as a mechanic on Hurricane aircraft during the Battle of Britain.