The RAF officer who issued the controversial order has insisted it is necessary to ensure the "safety" of her personnel.

The rule was introduced after verbal abuse was directed at some of the airmen and women from RAF Wittering when they visited the nearby Cambridgeshire town.

But the Prime Minister responded that the armed forces should wear their uniforms with pride, and called on the police to ensure they received "respect".

Tory leader David Cameron urged police to come down "extremely hard" on those who abused members of the armed forces in the streets.

Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Glenn Torpy, insisted the forces' general policy "had not changed". "We will wear our uniform and we should wear our uniform wherever we can in the UK," he said.

In a statement RAF Wittering's Station Commander Group Captain Rowena "Ro" Atherton defied the calls for a rethink.

However, Gp Capt Atherton did hold out the prospect that some kind of formal march could be held through Peterborough soon, as suggested by local MPs.

"RAF Wittering has enjoyed an exceptionally good relationship with the city of Peterborough over many years and the vast majority of its people are tremendously supportive of our personnel, demonstrated by the large number of telephone calls in support received over the last 24 hours," she said.

"We have the honour to have been awarded the Freedom of the City in 1983 and, although still in the planning stage, we look forward to exercising that right later this year."