More like this
Joanna Lumley stands up for the Gurkhas – again
Furious actress corners immigration minister Phil Woolas in BBC offices and demands justice for the Nepalese soldiers
Actress Joanna Lumley's championship of the Ghurkas' cause took an extraordinary turn yesterday when she nobbled the immigration minister Phil Woolas at the BBC's offices in Westminster and demanded to talk to him in front of the news cameras.
The Absolutely Fabulous star was in explosive form after having discovered that within hours of a personal assurance from the prime minister that the Gurkhas' rights to live in Britain would get his personal attention, and that justice would be done, five of the former soldiers, including badly wounded Falklands veterans, had received letters from the Home Office apparently telling them they did not qualify to settle in Britain.
Cornered by the actress and fellow campaigners, a sheepish Woolas was forced to nod in agreement as Lumley dictated that campaign lawyers would help in drawing up new guidelines on Gurkhas' rights to settle, that the review would be completed by June, and that the cases of the 1,500 outstanding Gurkha applicants would all be looked at "most sympathetically".
In short, Lumley did everything but take out a kukri - the curved Nepalese knife carried by every Ghurka - and drive it into Woolas's stomach.
"There is so little to be reviewed, so little to be looked at, except all these men, all these applicants should be received with open arms," Lumley said.
Although Woolas kept falling back on the government line that the Home Office had to be careful not to open the floodgates to other foreigners, by the time the confrontation was over Lumley had extracted enough promises from the minister to be able to say that she was once again "reassured".
However, this was exactly what she had said after her personal meeting with Gordon Brown the previous day. The hard-nosed lawyers from the Gurkha campaign were clearly not reassured, complaining that it was ridiculous of Woolas to suggest that by the letting a few ex-soldiers who fought for Britain to settle here, somehow the floodgates might be opened. ·
Comments are now closed on this article
Comments
I am just such another middle aged lady with a good cause and Empire roots to prove it. Mine is for the Karen 2nd WW veterans and widows of Burma. I can't claim the glamour of Joanna Lumley, but I am equally committed!
Help 4 Forgotten Allies finest hour (apart of course from the many victories of the Burma Campaign itself) in recent times was an article by Andy Buncombe in the Independent last January - see http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-war-heroes-forced-to-li...
"In brief, H4FA provides modest financial assistance and encouragement to those old soldiers of Burma, and their widows, who served the British Crown in WW2, but are now stranded as displaced persons across the border in Thailand. Quite a few are holders of British gallantry medals.
There are now about 130 beneficiaries of H4FA either in camps along the Burma Thai border, or within Burma within reach across the border. A great number of them served with SOE in 1944/45. Many of these now are being persecuted by the Burma Army as were those now living precariously in Thailand. They were discovered in 1999 by the then Secretary General of the British (now Royal) Commonwealth Ex-Services League (RCEL). The League works in 48 countries but had been unable to work in Burma for over 40 years. The Burma Forces Welfare Association (BFWA) then was formed and for several years run as a member organisation of the League from the home of the then retired Secretry General.
A change in the management of BFWA and its supervision by RCEL meant that they lost the capability and expertise to help the displaced old soldiers in and near to Thailand. In itself a complex task requiring continuity and retention of trust in precarious circumstances. Since 2008 BFWA restricts its work to within Burma. H4FA therefore took it unto themselves to continue this much needed support and is working hard to try to raise sufficient funds to allow a small grant of about £30 each year to help these elderly and impoverished old soldiers and widow in their final days. "
H4FA is now run by me, founder of Projects to Support Refugees from Burma, and Colonel Sam Pope, founder of BFWA and one time Secretary General of RCEL.
Unlike the Gurkas the Karen receive no pensions. Yet surprisingly there are Gurkas among this group. Their meagre "grant' of £60 a year has now been withdrawn. Soon the refugee camps in which they live may be withdrawn too. Will they be sent back to Karen State at the mercy of the Burma Army who allegedly hunts down any 2nd WW vets still unlucky enough to be in war torn Karen State. Indeed the war in their country is the world's longest running civil war, a "father to son' war, and it is the direct legacy of Britains involvement in their country. Surely we owe them more than the £60 a year which has been withdrawn.
What do you think? Sally Steen
and now we have this disgusting charade where this so-called representative government is seeking to exclude these brave friends of Britain,while at the same time giving sanctuary to Muslim fanatics whose self-proclaimed end is the islamification of the country is beyond belief. It seems to be all of a piece with the distorted treatment of good servants once their usefulness has expired. I have had some!
Well done Joanna, if only some of our mps had the guts to stand up for what is right then this would be a far better place to live, i can't believe that we put up with most of the world's leftovers yet those that have helped us are not allowed a place to rest there weary heads in retirement.
I'm with Peter Hordern! My older brother went from boarding school in NZ to an early death in England piloting a Mosquito fighter/bomber in defence of the Empire. My cousin, who was at school with my brother, was lost on a Murmansk convoy at about the same time. Every town in the old Empire has a war memorial inscribed with the names of those who died defending the 'Mother Country'. My father fought in two world wars, willing soldier of the old Empire which is obviously an embarrassment to modern Brits. The reward us one-time colonials of UK descent received for loyal service and the loss of many of our brightest and best was to be stripped of our British nationality in the 1960s by a UK government which had been seduced by the Franc and the Deutschmark.
Now even the Kiwi hero who saved London from the Luftwaffe, Sir Keith Park, is regarded as 'merely military history and of no real significance as a candidate to be represented on the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square. I feel for the Gurkhas and admire Joanna Lumley enormously for being an Englishwoman of passion and principal who shamed the awful politicians who have neither veracity, honour nor shame.
Peter Simmons, you are either very young or know little of your nation's history, much of which is nothing to be proud of, including the politicians' attitude to the Gurkhas.
Ah Peter What a short and unforgiving memory you have. Having colonised half the planet and painted the maps red, it seems that when some one or a group of ex BRITISH SUBJECTS ask for something in return they are treated with typical English arrogance Remember what we all gave for Mother England, resources and lives for little in return other than a language and that certain British arrogance Remember you are only a very small island that has survived for so long on the benevolence and forced servitude of your subjects We are no longer subjects and would like to feel that our service and the gifts, though in most cases it was taken without asking, would be returned with some gratitude. Peter Hordern Australia
An extended audition from Lumley for a role as a 'feisty older woman campaigning for human rights', ever the actress, Joanna hasn't done much work lately, but this cause is close to her heart, since her dad was one of their officers. All terribly patronising. Why Gurkhas should be treated any differently to other mercenaries is not immediately clear. They have fought for the British state for money; their contract did not include any right to settle in the UK; they receive a pension which gives them a very good life in Nepal. Why is it a moral issue? They kill for money, not even in defence of THEIR country. And further, I assume this 'right' to settle here would include all their extended families?
Throughout Lumley has used the media unashamedly, posing in 'noble' poses whenever the cameras point at her, displaying all the characteristics of an older woman who has suddenly been noticed again, lapping it up.