Queen Backs Down Over Ghurkas.

Since the collapse of the British Empire in the 1950's the Ghurka's, a regiment of Nepalese soldiers who've fought with the British Army for almost 200 years, have been fighting for the right to come and settle in the UK with their families. Their campaign scored a massive victory in 1997 when the return of Hong Kong to China forced the newly elected Labour government to grant an automatic right to remain to any solider who signed up to serve as a Ghurka. While this was a significant victory it still left the problem of what would happen to those men who served with the Ghurkas before 1997. Since then the remaining Ghurka's have been campaigning, without much success, to get the right to remain extended to those who left the regiment prior to 1997.

In April 2009 the British Establishment suddenly threw their support behind the campaign meaning it started getting lots of media attention and Joanna Lumley, the campaigns photogenic spokesperson was able to have lots of dramatic showdowns with the Labour governments immigration minister.

The problem the Ghurka's faced was the immigration law that grants foreign citizen's the right to remain in the UK makes no distinction between those who had served as sworn soldiers in the British Army, like the Ghurka's and those who served as civilians working in support of the British Army on overseas operations. This second, much larger, group includes all those who worked as translators in Iraq, those who did the laundry on British bases in Afghanistan and those who performed similar roles in the former Yugoslavia and every other theatre the British Army has operated in since the second world war. So if the government were to allow the first group they'd have to allow the second group in as well are there in lies the catch 22 for the labour government. If they refused entry to the Ghurka's they'd face outrage for turning their back on those who are prepared to die for the country. If they'd allowed the Ghurka's in the government would face outrage for allowing millions of new immigrants, many of them Muslims, into the country at a time when the UK is experiencing a fierce recession and rising unemployment.

Fortunately for both the Ghurka's and Gordon Brown the Queen decided to relent. This has allowed the government to make an exemption in the law for the Ghurkas so they can be allowed to stay without opening the floodgate to all those dirty Arabs.