Downing St: Britain was right to fight German aggression and enter World War One It was a "just conflict" needed to combat aggression by Germany which was intent on building a European empire, Mr Gove said, and only cynical undergraduates would think soldiers were foolish to fight. Tristram Hunt, the shadow education secretary and a former Cambridge academic, accused Mr Gove of seeking to "sow political division." Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, responded by saying Mr Hunt was "not fit" to oversee the school curriculum unless he accepted German expansionism was the root cause of the conflict. The Government has set aside £50m to mark the event, with school trips to battlefields and ceremonies planned over four years. "The Prime Minister's view is the centenary of the First World War is an opportunity to do commemorate the fallen, to learn about the impact the conflict had on our country and the world... and to reflect on the achievement of peace, for the most part with some tragic exceptions such as the Balkans conflict, in Europe following the two conflicts that so scarred the first half [of the century]," the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman said. We can do that without being afraid of saying it was right for Britain to respond to aggression and to enter the war on that basis. The comments mark a change in tone from the Government. Plans set out by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which is overseeing commemorations emphasise remembering the actions of soldiers from all nations.