Yesterday, Jacqui Smith, Home Secretary (but for how long), announced that “…we can now welcome any Gurkha who has served for four years or more to settle in the UK”. As far as U turns go this one was pretty big and her words must, at times, have risked sticking in the Government’s collective craw.
Let’s face facts here, despite Joanna Lumley praising wee Gordy in the media yesterday as a "brave man who has made today a brave decision on behalf of the bravest of the brave" this Government (and all Governments before it) have fought tooth and nail to stop these brave men from coming here. During that time they have used every tactic and artifice available to them, and failed.
It’s interesting to note that not only was there a massive U turn on the substantive issue of settlement but certain other “facts” were exposed as (lets be kind here) being less than factual. The cost of £1.4 billion in settlement was down graded to £300 million and the number of likely settlors was halved. Even these figures are in dispute and it is more likely that this country, not only having had the “net benefit” of the bravery and sacrifice of these men will have a financial net benefit as well, to the tune of between £50 and £100 million. That the Government suggested that somehow after having served our country in times of war and conflict, that having behaved throughout their service and beyond with honour, dignity, loyalty and humility that they would turn into some third world gang only interested in dole scrounging was insulting beyond belief and compounded the shame that this shoddy crew in power sought to cast upon us all. There are two words that spring to mind when I think of Gurkhas, loyalty and bravery, neither of which apply in any way shape or form to our dear leader and his gang of property speculating spivs and expenses cheats.
This wasn’t a brave decision, this was a decision forced upon the Government by shame, by the outrage of the public, by the courts and by the collective will of Parliament, expertly managed throughout by the Gurkha Justice campaign. This was a decision made simply because the Government had nowhere else to run, no further, darker, slimier corners to hide in. Having run out of propoganda, having run out of mistruths, having run out of moral and political authority they capitulated, perhaps in the (vain) hope that this act could restore some of the above. It wont.
Mr Brown, your moral authority has gone, your political authority has gone, your Government and Parliament as a whole are now held in abject contempt by most right thinking people, it is now time that you too were gone. Do the right thing, accede to the 54% of people who would like to see an immediate general election and call one. You claim to love this country, to be a servant and not a master then prove your credentials, prove you love this country more than you love power because this is OUR country, and it’s OUR Parliament, it’s OUR Government and it’s OUR democracy that you and all your shoddy cronies have dragged through the mire AND WE WANT IT BACK!
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