Events | 2010.03.27
Gurkha champion Joanna Lumley hits back at minister
Actor\'s campaign was criticised by Kevan Jones for building up \'false expectations\' among veterans moving to UK
Joanna Lumley has accused the government of using smear tactics against the successful campaign she fronted to let more Gurkhas settle in the UK.
The actor said she was forced to break her silence by a "personal attack" from the defence minister, Kevan Jones, who said Lumley had maintained a "deathly silence" about confusion over Gurkhas\' rights.
Jones told the Commons home affairs select committee that veterans had wrongly been encouraged to expect they would have homes provided for them on arriving in Britain. He expressed frustration with Lumley. "Her deathly silence, frankly, irritates me."
In a letter circulated today, Lumley denounced the allegations. Signed by the actor, Gurkhas\' rights campaigner Peter Carroll and legal advisers Howe & Co Solicitors, it states: "We feel that these comments are part of a set of actions that constitutes a broader attempt to taint the widely welcomed positive outcome of the Gurkha campaign."
The campaigners said they had been under a promise to ministers not to speak publicly while a settlement policy was decided. "Last year Gordon Brown took personal charge of the Gurkha issue. He asked us to deal with No 10 and his senior civil servants, out of the glare of publicity, so as to iron out any \'bumps in the road\'. We respected his request and kept our promise."
The letter said it was the government\'s responsibility to help Gurkhas who had found it hard to settle in the UK, adding that Brown had to "reaffirm his government\'s support for the right of Gurkhas to live in Britain".
The campaigners said they had decided to speak out "so that the hundreds of thousands of people who supported our campaign can remain confident that they backed a just and right cause".
After a lengthy campaign last year spearheaded by Lumley, MPs agreed to throw out rules that prevented retired Gurkhas settling in the UK.
But a parliamentary inquiry is looking into allegations that Gurkhas are being encouraged to pay hundreds of pounds in voluntary donations to veterans\' organisations in Nepal which then refer them on to UK solicitors.
Jones told the committee that the onus was on Lumley to speak out and make sure the veterans did not have to pay and used the system put in place by the government.
Lumley is due to hold a press conference on Monday.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar[...]-lumley-gurkha-statement-jones
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