Who 'ordered' military personnel to take the knee at the FA Cup Final... and did they ignore Defence Secretary Grant Shapps' vow to end woke culture in the military?

Defence chiefs were plunged into a row over who 'ordered' military personnel at last week's FA Cup Final to take the knee.

They faced claims of ignoring Defence Secretary Grant Shapps's to end the 'poisonous' woke culture that had crept into the military.

At Wembley last week, personnel from across the Army, Navy and Air Force could be seen making the anti-racism gesture before the start of the match.

But senior army officers privately claimed that this contradicted Mr Shapps's anti-woke drive.

One officer told the Mail on Sunday: 'The directive from Ministers was clear.

'The military should not take the knee and should not be involved in any public campaigns that are politically motivated.

'Yet they totally ignored the directive – this is totally wrong'.

Tory candidate Alexander Stafford said last night: 'Members of the military personnel wouldn't have taken the knee without orders from their superiors.

'We should be told who gave the order because there's no justification for Armed Forces personnel doing this.'

However, the Ministry of Defence said it was unable to provide 'any commentary' on this issue as the general election campaign had now started.

Earlier this year, Mr Shapps spoke out against a gradual indoctrination of 'controversial Leftist thinking' in the Armed Forces that threatened to 'distract' from the main job of protecting the country from its enemies.