No idea. But it’s not Prince Charles or Prince Philip, apparently.
Lumley, who has led the campaign for the rights of Gurkhas to settle in the UK – if they want to – revealed today that she had received a letter of support from a member of the Royal family.
She also said she had written to Gordon Brown three times; but only received one reply, from a Downing Street aide.
Kevin Jones, defence minister, claimed in the same meeting today (home affairs select committee) that the government was braced for a new campaign by Gurkhas to win equal pension rights to other soldiers in the British Army. This would cost £1bn and another £500m a year if successful, he argued.
This was dismissed by Martin Salter, Gurkha champion and a member of the committee. Given that the High Court had defeated a Gurkhas challenge for equal pension rights last year the issue was unlikely to make a re-appearance, he argued.
Salter also pointed out that official estimates for the cost of giving greater settlement rights to the Nepalese soldiers ranged from £425m to £1.6bn – but ministers were only citing the latter.
Jim Pickard
Kiran Stacey
