Riot-hit Britain plans to put prisoners to work

Britain wants to put more prisoners to work in an attempt to rehabilitate a “growing feral underclass” blamed for riots that swept English cities two months ago, Justice Secretary Ken Clarke said today.

Manchester, hosting the annual conference of the ruling Conservatives, was one of a number of English cities hit by rioting and looting that rippled out from London after police shot and killed a black suspect in August.

Clarke, a veteran viewed as a moderate in the centre-right party, won backing for his plan from a group of business executives led by Richard Branson, chairman of travel and entertainment company Virgin Group.




“I want to see hard work flourishing in every single jail in the UK,” Clarke said.

Clarke said that more than three-quarters of those charged after the summer riots were repeat offenders and that putting them to work while behind bars would help to break that cycle.

Britain has one of the highest prison populations in western Europe and a poor record in rehabilitating offenders.

“Our feral underclass is too big, has been growing, and needs to be diminished,” Clarke said.

Branson and the head of retailer Marks & Spencer were among eight company bosses to support the initiative. They said there was a “large number of potential superstars” languishing in prison and held back by their criminal records when freed.

“Offenders can gain some relevant skills, and have the opportunity to experience the world of employment before they leave prison,” the business leaders wrote in a letter to the Financial Times.

The worst riots in decades have not affected the poll ratings of the Conservatives who have ruled in coalition with the left-leaning Liberal Democrats since May 2010.

The Conservatives are viewed as the “law and order” party and Home Secretary (interior minister) Theresa May struck a hardline tone that drew applause from activists at the conference. She blamed the riots on “greed and criminality, fuelled by a culture of irresponsibility and entitlement”.

May said she would this month publish a strategy to tackle gang culture that is blamed for much of the violence in Britain’s inner cities.

May pledged to curb immigration and to change the law to make it easier to deport foreigners convicted of crime.

London Mayor Boris Johnson, a maverick whose jovial manner hides fierce political ambition, fired a warning shot across the bows of a government which is cutting police budgets as part of its austerity drive.

Police flooded the streets to quell the riots and Johnson said Londoners were desperate there should be no repeat in the capital that will host the Olympics next year.

“I can tell you that as long as I am mayor, I will not allow police numbers to fall below a level that I believe is safe or reasonable for a great city,” said Johnson, who faces a re-election battle with Labour rival Ken Livingstone next May.

Britain’s Queen honours Irish nationalists

Queen Elizabeth lays a wreath at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin May 17, 2011.

Queen Elizabeth honoured Irish people killed fighting for independence from Britain yesterday in a powerful gesture of reconciliation few people would have believed possible even in recent times.

The queen laid a wreath at Dublin’s Garden of Remembrance, Ireland’s monument to its fallen heroes, before a hushed crowd of dignitaries, soldiers and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, whose uncle was killed by militant Irish nationalists in 1979.

The visit, the first by a British monarch since Ireland won independence from London in 1921, is designed to show how warm neighbourly relations have replaced centuries of animosity but security was tight after a homemade bomb was found.





Streets around each royal stop were cleared of onlookers giving Dublin an eerily deserted feel and underlining that this was a state visit like no other.

In Trinity College, Ireland’s oldest university founded with a charter from Queen Elizabeth I, a raffle determined which students and staff got close to the monarch.

Huge crowds were unlikely even if the queen had been doing public walkabouts. While most Irish people welcome the monarch’s visit they remain proud republicans and would feel uncomfortable waving the British flag, or union jack.

“My mother would have loved to have lived to see this day,” said Alex Wrafter, an unemployed 67-year-old whose mother moved from London to just south of the Northern Irish border in 1939.

“I don’t think she would ever have believed it but I think it’s extraordinarily important. The past needs to be put where it belongs.”

PROTESTS

A 1998 deal ending Irish nationalists’ guerrilla war against British rule of Northern Ireland paved the way for the four-day sojourn but threats from militant republican groups opposed to the peace process have kept the city on edge.

A makeshift bomb was found in a bus headed for Dublin late on Monday. It was destroyed in a controlled explosion by the army in Maynooth, 25km from Dublin, after a telephone warning to police.

“They are dragging us into the dark ages,” said Tom O’Neill, a 34-year-old salesman. “There are some people in Ireland that have to get over the whole English thing.”

The visit prompted Ireland’s largest-ever security operation. Snipers took up positions on roofs, while some 4,000 police officers and 2,000 soldiers patrolled the capital.

Around 200 protesters chanting “Brits Out” threw bricks, bottles and fireworks at police and were pushed back with riot shields and batons.

In a second demonstration close to the Garden of Remembrance, demonstrators brandished placards with “Britain Out of Ireland” and “Irish Blood on English Hands” written on them.

“It’s a disgrace that we are welcoming the commander in chief of the British forces to Dublin,” said Sean Keogh, a member of the 32-County Sovereignty Movement, which wants Britain to withdraw from the six counties of Northern Ireland.

“She’s clearly not welcome here. Where are the crowds? Where are all the people waving union jacks?”

Anglo-Irish conflict goes back centuries, marked by a bitter history of settlement by British Protestants in the mainly Catholic country. But generations of Irish emigration has created a strong bond between the two countries.

Most Irish people are impressed at the length and scope of the queen’s visit and are hoping it puts the country, still reeling from its banking crisis, in a more positive light.

Though the monarch’s visit is about reconciliation there are constant reminders of the violent past.

Her arrival coincided with the 37th anniversary of bombings in Dublin and Monaghan, the single bloodiest day in the three-decade long Northern Ireland conflict.

Over 200 people gathered at the site of one of the bombings in Dublin to lay flowers and remember the 33 people killed.

Many Irish people have a gossipy interest in the British royal family as proven by the empty streets during the televised April 29 wedding of Prince William to Catherine Middleton.

Britain’s Cameron first leader to visit new Egypt

British Prime Minister David Cameron today became the first foreign leader to visit Egypt since the downfall of Hosni Mubarak which electrified the Middle East and forced the West to rethink its policies in the region.

Cameron’s arrival came hot on the heels of a visit by William J. Burns, US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, who started a visit to Egypt in which he will meet with the army-led interim government as well as political groups.






EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is due to arrive in Egypt tomorrow to discuss the post-Mubarak era in which the army is running the country while setting up free elections to deliver civilian rule and democracy.

Uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia have spread like wildfire in the Arab world, threatening entrenched dynasties from Libya to Bahrain. The West has watched with alarm as long-time allies and foes came under threat, urging reform and restraint.

The Muslim Brotherhood, once banned and playing a growing role in the new Egypt, rejected a government reshuffle today, calling for a purge of the old guard Cabinet appointed by Mubarak.

“I think this is a great opportunity to talk to those currently running Egypt to make sure this really is a genuine transition from military rule to civilian rule,” the British prime minister (picture) said before arriving in Cairo.

A British official travelling with Cameron said he would meet members of the former opposition to Mubarak but not the Brotherhood, which is Egypt’s most organised political grouping and regarded with suspicion in the West.

In a bid to placate pro-democracy activists, the reshuffle late yesterday named several Mubarak opponents but disappointed those eager for a new line-up as key defence, foreign, justice, interior and finance portfolios were left unchanged.

Egypt’s new military rulers, who took over after an 18-day uprising ended 30 years of Mubarak’s iron rule, have said change in the constitution for elections in six months should be ready soon and hated emergency laws would be lifted before the polls.

But for many democracy advocates, who want a completely new Cabinet with no links to Mubarak’s corrupt and autocratic elite to govern the Arab world’s most populous nation, the military needs to put fresh faces in office.

“No one offered us any post and had they done so, we would have refused because we request what the public demands that this government quit as it is part of the former regime,” said Essam El-Erian, a senior member of the Brotherhood.

“We want a new technocratic government that has no connection with the old era,” he told Reuters.

The Brotherhood, which says it wants a democracy wih Islamic principles, is represented on a constitutional change committee, a council to protect the revolution and will register as soon as new rules allow.

Uncertainty remains over how much influence Egypt’s military will seek to exert in reshaping a ruling system which it has propped up for six decades, with diplomats saying it is vital to “create an open political space”.

Wary of a clampdown, the Brotherhood took a cautious line early in the protests but has slowly assumed a more prominent role. It still treads warily, saying it will not field a presidential candidate or seek a majority in parliament.

Any sign the army is reneging on its promises of democracy and civilian rule in this key US ally which has a peace treaty with Israel could reignite mass protests on the street.

Friday’s celebrations which marked a week since Mubarak’s overthrow served as a reminder to the military of people power.

The military today announced an amnesty for weapons stolen during the revolution and there were pockets of protests in and around Cairo over pay and conditions despite an order aimed at ending strikes and protests damaging the economy.

In moves to appease democracy advocates, authorities said yesterday they released 108 political prisoners and Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq on Monday ordered that streets be renamed to honour some of the 356 “martyrs” who died in the revolt.

But it is increasingly clear that demands for a complete Cabinet overhaul top many political activists’ agendas along with lifting emergency rule and freeing political prisoners.

Mubarak, 82, shuffled his Cabinet shortly after protests over corruption, poverty and repression erupted on January 25 in an attempt to assuage rage over his autocratic rule and to try and distance himself from his own regime.

Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who leads the ruling military council that is running Egypt, has been defence minister for 20 years and, according to diplomats, had the job thrust upon him and wants to get back to running the military.

The latest reshuffle brought into the Cabinet some new faces including three from registered political parties, a staggering change in Egypt where just four weeks ago opposition groups were harried, fragmented and weakened by decades of oppression.

Yehia el-Gamal, a professor of law and a leader in activist Mohamed El Baradei’s coalition called the National Association for Change, was appointed deputy prime minister.

Mounir Abdel Nour, secretary-general of the Wafd party, a decades old liberal, nationalist party, became minister in charge of tourism, which has been badly damaged by the unrest with visitors reluctant to visit the pyramids and the Nile.

In other changes, the post of information minister was scrapped after the former minister, Anas el-Fekky, angered protesters with state media playing down or ignoring protests in Tahrir Square and elsewhere for much of the revolution.

Amr Hamzawy, a member of the so-called council of “Wise Men” which sought to mediate a resolution between Mubarak and the protesters during the uprising, became minister for youth.

On the foreign policy front, the new military rulers, in their first diplomatic test, have approved the passage of two Iranian naval vessels through the Suez Canal, causing concern in Israel. Canal officials said yesterday their passage had been delayed until Wednesday.

Cameron: Multiculturalism has failed in Britain

State multiculturalism has failed and left young Muslims vulnerable to radicalisation, Prime Minister David Cameron will say today, arguing for a more active policy to heal divisions and promote Western values.

Cameron, in a speech to a security conference in Munich, will argue that Britain and other European nations need to “wake up to what is happening in our countries” as well as tackling terrorism through military operations overseas.

“It is time to turn the page on the failed policies of the past,” he will say, according to extracts from his speech released by his office.

“So first, instead of ignoring this extremist ideology, we — as governments and societies — have got to confront it, in all its forms.”


His comments echo those made by German leader Angela Merkel last year and reflect a push by European governments to better integrate immigrants, given persistent domestic tensions between different cultures.

Conservative leader Cameron (picture) will also deny that cuts to defence spending as part of efforts to tackle a record budget deficit mean that Britain was retreating from an “activist” global role.

“That is the complete reversal of the truth,” he will say. “Yes, we are dealing with the deficit, but we are also making sure our defences are strong.”

Aides say his comments on multiculturalism and radicalisation give a direction of travel for future policy, and it remains unclear how the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition intend to turn his vision into a reality.

Critics point out that Western foreign policy in the Middle East and beyond, not just a clash of cultures at home, has played a big part in stirring up anti-Western sentiment.

“Under the doctrine of state multiculturalism, we have encouraged different cultures to live separate lives, apart from each other and the mainstream,” Cameron will say.

“We have failed to provide a vision of society to which they feel they want to belong ... All this leaves some young Muslims feeling rootless.”

Some members of Cameron’s centre-right Conservative party, activists in right-wing movements and some voters believe that Britain has become a safe haven for people with anti-Western political views.

Others argue this tolerant approach is the lifeblood of any open and thriving democracy, fearing a crackdown on civil liberties would undermine the kind of society the government was seeking to establish.

Cameron said it was time to replace Britain’s “passive tolerance” with an “active, muscular liberalism” to send a message that life in Britain revolves around certain key values such as freedom of speech, equal rights and the rule of law.

“A passively tolerant society ... stands neutral between different values,” he will say. “A genuinely liberal country does much more. It believes in certain values and actively promotes them.”

British ambassador in 1980 said Israel ready to use bomb

A British ambassador to Israel warned as early as 1980 that Israel would detonate a nuclear bomb in case of a new war with the Arabs, according to previously secret state documents released yesterday.

“If they (Israelis) are to be destroyed, they will go down fighting this time. They will be ready to use their atomic weapon,” ambassador John Robinson wrote in a cable to the Foreign Office on May 4, 1980.

Israel has never confirmed or denied having atom bombs under a policy of ambiguity to deter numerically superior foes.

Robinson’s message, published under a rule that allows official British papers to be released after 30 years, voiced concern that US-hosted negotiations would not lead to a comprehensive agreement on the Middle East conflict.

“As long as there is no agreement on the West Bank and Jerusalem which satisfies the Palestinians, they will be driven increasingly to extremism; moderate governments in the area and Western interest will be increasingly threatened; opportunities for Soviet influence and intervention will increase; and so will the danger of a new war,” the cable said.

Terrorist attack in Britain is 'very likely' according to extreme French Foreign Ministry warning

The French have issued their most extreme warning in recent years about the dangers of visiting Britain, saying a terrorist attack is ‘very likely’.

A dramatic statement on the website of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs adds that visitors need to exercise ‘extreme vigilance’.

This is especially so in world famous sites like London’s Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus, and on the capital’s public transport system.

Target: London's Piccadilly Circus is one of the English capital's tourist hotspots and the French Foreign Ministry have warned people to exercise 'extreme vigilance'

While Britain and the USA have already warned people to be careful when travelling in Europe, the French advice is by far the most extreme to date.

It invokes the 1990s and early 2000s when Gallic secret agents regularly monitored suspected Islamic radicals in a city referred to by the French as ‘Londonistan’.


And the statement was issued after terrorist suspect killed in a drone attack in Pakistan last month was identified as a British man tasked with leading an Al Qaeda group in the UK.


Many security specialists across the Channel believe the 7/7 suicide bomb attacks on London tube trains and buses in 2005 could have been avoided if the British authorities had shown more vigilance beforehand.

In contrast, President Nicolas Sarkozy has ordered one of the toughest crackdowns on Islamic extremists to date, with raids in Avignon, Bordeaux and Marseilles on Tuesday leading to 12 arrests.

Suspects were found with enough guns and ammunition to launch a ‘Mumbai-style attack’ anywhere in Europe, with at least five European airports highlighted as possible targets.

‘They were storing a lot of weapons including Kalashnikov machine guns – just the kind which could be used in a Mumbai-style attack anywhere in Europe,’ said a detective involved in the operation.

The men were held after their phone numbers were found on the mobile phone of a -suspected terrorist arrested in Italy at the weekend.

They are also believed to have been recruiting young men willing to travel to Afghanistan to fight coalition forces.

Following the raids, French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said: ‘There is a terrorist threat at the moment in Europe. It must be neither overestimated nor underestimated.’

It comes after a spate of attacks by militants and warnings about the increasing strength of Islamic extremism, including:

* A British woman deputy ambassador escapes injury in Yemen rocket attack
* The Briton killed in drone attack was set to lead Islamic terror 'army' in UK
* Sixth attack on stranded Afghanistan fuel convoy
* Taliban in secret talks with Hamid Karzai to end war
* Tony Blair warns 'West is being outspent and outmanoeuvred by Islamic extremists'

Last week, security agents in France, Britain and Germany warned Al Qaeda terrorists were planning a Mumbai-style atrocity in Europe.

The alert was sparked after Ahmad Sidiqi, an Afghan informant said to have known Mohammed Atta, mastermind of the 9/11 2001 attacks, told US interrogators of the chilling plot.

Sidiqi said Ilyas Kashmiri, an Al Qaeda commander linked to the 2008 attacks in Mumbai in India that left 174 people dead, had told him that teams had already been sent to Europe to launch similar assaults.

The United States and Britain warned their citizens on Sunday of an increased risk of terrorist attacks in Europe, with Washington saying al Qaeda might target transport infrastructure.

Britain raised the terrorism alert level in its advice for travellers to Germany and France to ‘high from ‘general,’ while leaving the threat level at home unchanged at ‘severe’.

Threat: French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux has spoken about the dangers of a terror plot in Europe after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned visitors to Britain to be 'vigilant'

Commando attacks: The Europe terror plot is said to include attacks by teams of militants with machine guns similar to those in Mumbai in 2008

UK, France to share aircraft carriers

Britain and France are getting ready to unveil plans to share aircraft carriers amid pressure on the British military to cut costs, the Times newspaper reported today.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicholas Sarkozy were expected to announce the proposal at a November summit, the Times said, quoting an unidentified British naval source for its information.

No immediate comment was available from British officials on the report.

Earlier this month, a Defence Ministry source told Reuters that Britain might cancel one or both of its planned new aircraft carriers to cut costs, though there were no plans to scale back the country’s nuclear deterrent.

The proposal involving France would make it easier for Britain to scrap or downgrade one of the two replacement carriers under construction, the Times said.

The newspaper said the proposal would ensure that one of three ships — one French and two British — would always patrol the seas.

“Using each other’s carriers would require decisions to be made at the strategic level so that national aims on any given operation would be the same,” the naval source was quoted as saying.

The Defence Ministry is conducting a sweeping review of Britain’s future military needs and ways to provide capability more cheaply.

Awesome courage of the D-Day piper who the Nazis thought was mad

Under the fire of Nazi guns and wading through a sea turning crimson with the blood of fallen colleagues, Bill Millin struggled towards the Normandy sands.

Waist deep in water, he led the commandos of the 1st Special Service Brigade on to the beach as they fought to their deaths on the most famous day of World War II.

Amid the clatter of battle and dreadful cries of the injured, Millin only just caught the five words that turned him into a hero. 'Give us "Highland Laddie" man!' shouted Lord Lovat, the charismatic Chief of Clan Fraser and Brigadier of the 2,500 commandos, who was determined to put some backbone into his invading forces.


Piper Bill Millin played again on the Normandy beaches to celebrate the the 35th anniversary of the D-Day Landings

Bill Millin in 1944: The playing of the pipes lifted the spirits of hard-pressed British troops, and dumbfounded the German defenders

Obediently, 21-year-old Millin, Lovatt's personal piper, put the mouthpiece of his bagpipes to his lips, ignored the carnage and thundering crash of gunfire - and played as he had never played before.

It was 8.40 on June 6 1944, the morning of D-day. In the largest amphibious assault ever mounted, 150,000 troops from Britain, America and Canada were landing along a 60-mile stretch of the Normandy coastline.

D-day was the turning point in the Allies' battle against Hitler. And the name of Bill Millin, who died this week aged 88, is intrinsically linked with the events of that early summer's day. He is a reminder of the bravery and sacrifice of ordinary soldiers as they fought to protect this nation from the Nazis. He will live for ever in the annals of history.
The French awarded him their Croix d'Honneur and plan to erect a statue to him close to the beach where he marched ashore - the most eastern of the beaches picked by the Allies for the invasion.

The long stretch of sand where his haunting music stirred his fellow soldiers into battle near the French town of Ouistreham was codenamed Sword, while the other four beaches to the west were Omaha, Gold, Utah and Juno.

By the time Millin landed, it had already been a tumultuous journey across the Channel. 'I had my pipes with me as we set off from England the night before,' he explained later. 'I had been playing to the troops waiting to board the landing craft as we went along the Hamble river, and then I put them back in the box.

'Lord Lovat said: "You better get them out again because you can play us out of the Solent and into the Channel. You will be in the leading craft with me." '

He stood at the front of the landing craft piping The Road To The Isles. When the commandos were just off the Isle of Wight, they met thousands of other boats and ships carrying troops. 'They heard the pipes, and they were throwing their hats in the air and cheering,' he remembered.

He only stopped playing because the waves had become choppy and he was losing his balance. 'After we left the Solent and were out in the Channel, the hatches on the landing craft were put down and we were very cramped.

There were some people playing cards, but most were violently sick, including myself. The next morning I pushed open the hatch and looked out at a grey dawn. The wind was blowing and freezing

'Then after another half an hour people were starting to get gear together, their rucksacks on and were making towards the front of the craft. We could see the mist of the French shoreline and the neat bungalows along the seafront.'
Bill continued: 'Everyone was checking their kit, and putting their kit on. I didn't think of being shot, how many Germans there were or anything other than the smell of seasickness on me. We all got up on deck and we stood in the freezing wind watching the shoreline. Then the order came to get ashore and I was very pleased.'

Lord Lovat, 32, jumped into the water first. Because Lovat was over 6ft tall, Bill waited to see what depth it was before going in. He said: 'My kilt floated to the surface and the shock of the freezing cold water knocked all feelings of sickness from me.'

Within seconds the commandos were being struck down by German mortar shells and machine-gun fire. One commando was killed as Lovat got into the sea, his body floating up by Bill as he made for the shore.

Yet Lovat asked Bill to play again. He nearly refused. 'Well, when I looked round - the noise and people lying about on the ground, the shouting and the smoke, the crump of mortars,' he said later, 'I said to myself: "Well, you must be joking, surely."

But Lovat insisted, and Bill said: 'Well, what tune would you like, Sir?'

'How about Highland Laddie and The Road To The Isles?' said Lovat, telling him to walk up and down the beach as he played.

Bill could see soldiers lying face down in the water as he played. 'Troops to my left were trying to dig in just off the beach,' he recalled. 'Yet when they heard the pipes, some of them stopped what they were doing and waved their arms, cheering.'

Lovat's commandos were heavily machine-gunned and mortared, but had a vital objective and pressed on. They had orders to link up with the British 6th Airborne division and keep secure a strategically vital bridge over the Caen Canal three miles down a road full of German snipers beyond Sword beach.

The airborne division had captured the bridge in the early hours that day in an assault later immortalised in the classic film The Longest Day, in which the part of Millin was played by Pipe Major Leslie de Laspee, the official piper to the Queen Mother. The 180-strong company airborne division, led by Major John Howard, swooped at dawn in gliders.

The crossing was later renamed Pegasus Bridge, after the flying horse shoulder emblem worn by British airborne forces.

The attack took the Germans completely by surprise and stopped them from swarming over the bridge and towards Sword beach.

It also allowed the invading soldiers to push across the bridge and make their way through France.

Throughout that morning, the airborne division had to repel repeated counter-attacks at Pegasus, which was surrounded by Panzer divisions. And by early afternoon, the jaded British troops were urgently needing help from Lovat and his commandos.

Suddenly, at 1 pm, there was the sound of bagpipes. With Bill Millin playing Lovat's favourite tune Blue Bonnets Over The Border, the commandos marched into view. despite heavy German fire, as the red berets of the airborne division and the green berets of the commandos mingled there was a lightening of spirits.

Major Howard approached Lovat. Holding out his hand, he said: 'We are very pleased to see you, old boy.' Lovat responded: 'Yes, and sorry we are twoanda-half minutes late.'

The commandos went over the bridge to confront the Germans - with Bill Millin playing his pipes as brave as a lion leading the way.

'not once did I think I was going to die,' said Bill afterwards. 'I was too busy playing. We had been attacked by snipers once we left Sword Beach, particularly from cornfields on the right of the road. 'At one point I glanced round, stopped playing and everyone was face down on the road. even Lovat was on one knee. Then the next thing this sniper comes scrambling down from a tree and Lovat and our group dash forward.

'We could see this sniper's head bobbing about in the cornfield. Lovat shot at him and he fell. Lovat sent two men into the cornfield to see what had happened, and they brought back the dead body.'

reMArkABLY, the only weapon Bill carried that long day was a Scottish dirk in his sock. He survived unscathed The Germans put a hole in his bagpipes with shrapnel. So he just pulled a spare set out of his rucksack.

The great mystery is why the Germans didn't gun him down. He couldn't have been more conspicuous in full Highland dress and with blaring bagpipes.

Pipers were banned in conflict zones after World War I because so many died. Lovat's orders for Bill to play on d-day breached all Army rules.

It would take Bill more than 40 years to find out why he survived. He said: 'I met a German commander at a dday reunion and asked why they hadn't shot me.

'The commander just tapped his head and said "We thought you were a 'Dummkopf ', or off your head. Why waste bullets on a Dummkopf?" '

Winston Churchill's 'Few' speech marks Battle of Britain's 70th anniversary

Churchill's daughter Lady Soames was among hundreds of people to mark the 70th Anniversary

Under a slate grey sky, the words of Winston Churchill rang defiantly around Westminster: 'Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.'

It may be 70 years old, but the resounding call to arms during the Battle of Britain still stiffened the sinew bringing pride and not a few tears yesterday.

Churchill's famous address was delivered by actor Robert Hardy at 3.52pm - exactly the time they were originally spoken in Parliament by the wartime Prime Minister on August 20, 1940.









The ceremony was followed by a fly-past from a Spitfire and Hurricane fighter over Whitehall. Pictured here are the aircraft which took part in the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight celebrations in 2008

A Spitfire and Hurricane from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight pass by the London Eye during a flypast today

Forces sweetheart: Dame Vera Lynn mingled with veterans during the 70th anniversary commemorations of the Battle of Britain today

David Cameron rents out his Notting Hill home for up to £72k a year

Family home: David and Samanta Cameron relaxing at heir £2.7million Notting Hill property in 2007, which they renovated heavily

David and Samantha Cameron are pocketing up to £6,000 a month by renting out their London home while they live in No 10.

In 10 Downing Street and the official country retreat of Chequers, the Prime Minister has the use of two grace-and favour properties.

But the couple have now decided to cash in on the luxury London property market by letting their £2.7million house in Notting Hill.






Plush: Prime Minister David Cameron is renting out his London home for £6000 a month

The family also has the use of their £1million constituency home in the Cotswolds, which has benefited from years of taxpayer funding through the Westminster second homes allowance.

Mr Cameron sought to convince the public of his frugality when he became Prime Minister by announcing that he and his ministers would take a 5 per cent pay cut and a pay freeze for the next five years.

That means he is earning £142,500 a year, £7,500 a year less than his predecessor, Gordon Brown.

But the lucrative rental arrangement – which could earn them up to £72,000 a year – means that Mr Cameron will more than make up the shortfall as a result of his move to Downing Street.

At current market rates it would take him only five weeks to make up the difference.

It is thought that Mr Cameron is the first Prime Minister in recent memory to rent his London home on the open market. Tony Blair sold his, while Gordon Brown, John Major and Margaret Thatcher continued to use theirs.

After the general election Mr Cameron eventually persuaded his wife, who is expecting another child in September, to swap Notting Hill for Downing Street.

When one of the Camerons' neighbours once commented to Samantha that the removals trucks could soon be pulling up to take them to No 10, she is reported to have replied : 'I ****ing hope not.'

Security advisers had expressed alarm over the apparent stalemate, pointing out that millions of pounds would have to be spent on protecting Mr Cameron's London home if he, or his family, remained in Notting Hill.
Earlier this week a new family moved into the four-bedroom Edwardian terraced house in West London that has been empty since the Camerons relocated to Downing Street.

The house was bustling with life as the new tenants, including a blonde woman in her 40s and two daughters, oversaw the arrival of their belongings in a removal van, and new mattresses delivered from John Lewis.

Speaking at the house the woman, who did not wish to give her name, said: 'I don't know the Camerons personally but we are very happy with the house and the move is going fine.

'I am renting it through an agent. Of course I know who lived here before but it doesn't bother me. It's no big deal. We have been so busy moving in.'

The disclosure that the Camerons have rented the property will only burnish the Prime Minister's self-described status as a member of the 'sharp-elbowed middle classes'.

The family, with their children Nancy, six, and Arthur, four, moved out of their Notting Hill home in May and have been staying at No 10 Downing Street on a temporary basis while they wait for the larger four-bedroom flat at No 11 to be refurbished.
The family home holds precious memories of Ivan, the couple's eldest son, who died suddenly aged six in February last year.

After purchasing the house for £1.1million in 2005, the Camerons spent £600,000 transforming it in an eco-friendly makeover.

The entire rear extension was demolished and in its place a new kitchen and spacious basement were constructed, with a lift specifically to help cope with Ivan's cerebral palsy and epilepsy.

Estate agents in the highly sought-after area of London say similar, high-quality properties easily fetch between £4,000 and £6,000 a month in rental income.

They say the Cameron home is a perfect property – with the added cachet of belonging to the Prime Minister.

If the Camerons have used a rental agent they can expect to pay them around 15 per cent of each month's rent – £900 on a £6,000 monthly rental.

The monthly income will also be subject to income tax. But that £900, plus general maintenance costs and insurance, can be offset against Mr Cameron's tax liabilities.

Downing Street last night confirmed that Mr Cameron stopped claiming the second homes allowance for his Chipping Norton constituency home in March and would not make any other claims while he is Prime Minister. His final claim featured mortgage interest and a gas bill.

Pakistan spy chief scraps UK trip on ‘terror’ remarks

British Prime Minister David Cameron (L) shakes hands with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh before their meeting in New Delhi July 29, 2010.

Pakistan’s spy chief has called off a trip to Britain in protest at Prime Minister David Cameron’s remarks on its militant ties, as Islamabad is hit by a barrage of criticism of its alleged links to terror groups.
A spokesman for the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) agency, said today that senior intelligence officials, including ISI head Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, would not go to London on Monday as planned for counter-terrorism talks.





But President Asif Ali Zardari will still visit Britain next week, a government spokesman said.

Cameron, speaking in Pakistan’s arch-rival India on Wednesday, told Islamabad that it must not become a base for militants and “promote the export of terror” across the globe.

A Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman said this week his country had been “saddened” by Cameron’s remarks. Pakistan is a key ally of the United States whose help is crucial for US and Western efforts to stabilise neighbouring Afghanistan.

Cameron’s remarks came days after classified US military reports published on the whistleblower WikiLeaks website detailed US concern that the ISI had aided Taliban militants while the Pakistani government was taking billions of dollars in US aid.

This was not the first time Pakistan’s alleged ties to al Qaeda and Taliban militants, waging a nine-year war in neighbouring Afghanistan, have been put in the spotlight in the past two weeks.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on a recent visit to Pakistan, said she believed al Qaeda leaders were still hiding in Pakistan and that some elements in the Pakistani government knew where they were.

Cameron’s remarks appear to have further annoyed Pakistan, which has launched a large-scale military offensive against al Qaeda and Taliban militants in its northwestern provinces bordering Afghanistan.

The ISI spokesman said more than 2,500 Pakistani soldiers had been killed and more than 4,000 wounded in battles against militants since the US-led war on Afghanistan in 2001.

More than 30,000 civilians have been killed or wounded in the same period, in addition to over 100 ISI officials, the spokesman added.

Pakistan’s high commissioner to Britain, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, said this week in a column in Britain’s Guardian newspaper that Cameron had “damaged the prospects of regional peace”.

Pakistan’s neighbour India also accuses it of supporting militants operating on its soil and peace talks between the two countries have been deadlocked since 2008 attacks in Mumbai.

“He is new in government. Maybe he will learn soon and know how to handle things,” Hasan also told the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Pakistan’s economic losses have been estimated by the government at more than US$68 billion (RM216.5 billion) since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan and toppling of the Taliban regime there in 2001.

Cameron, asked by British broadcasters whether he regretted damaging relations with Pakistan ahead of the meeting, he said: “I don’t accept that they have been damaged ... I look forward to discussing these and other issues (with Zardari).”

UK new government announce new budget to save 2 Billions by raising taxes and extreme budget cuts.

UK slashes spending, raises VAT and taxes banks

 
Britain's finance minister George Osbourne speaks at the Conservative Party annual conference, in Birmingham, central England on September 29, 2008.

Britain's coalition government produced the harshest budget in a generation on Tuesday, slashing spending, raising sales tax and slapping a levy on banks to cut a record deficit to almost nothing in five years.

Bond markets rallied and rating agencies gave it a cautious welcome. But analysts questioned whether Conservative finance minister George Osborne's "emergency" budget a month after taking office would plunge Britain back into recession given the scale of the squeeze which lets virtually nobody off the hook.



Japan on Tuesday set ambitious targets to rein in its own debt and Germany has already made plans to pursue savings of 80 billion euros over the next four years, but Washington is concerned about ending stimulus too soon.

Britain's budget will likely strain ties within the coalition -- an unlikely alliance between the center-right Conservatives and the smaller center-left Liberal Democrats formed after an inconclusive May 6 election -- when the really big spending cuts actually start taking effect.

"This is a kill or cure budget," said Andrew Smith, chief economist at KPMG.

"It risks choking off the recovery," he added, echoing U.S. President Barack Obama's warning last week to fellow G20 leaders not to remove stimulus too soon. The G20 summit is in Canada this weekend.

In his statement to parliament, 39-year-old Osborne argued that drastic action was needed given the sovereign debt crisis rippling through the euro zone.

At 11 percent of GDP, Britain's budget deficit rivals that of crisis-hit Greece after the previous Labour government racked up a massive bill bailing out the banks in the credit crisis and paying for the worst recession since World War Two.

Osborne promised to cut that to just 1 percent in five years, a reduction of some 135 billion pounds. The scale of tightening planned is even greater than Canada managed in the 1990s and Ottawa had the benefit of sliding interest rates and a booming export market in the neighboring United States.

VAT sales tax will jump to 20 percent from 17.5 percent in January. Banks will face an annual extra levy of 2 billion pounds, a move in conjunction with Germany and France. Capital gains tax on the sale of assets will rise to 28 percent from the current 18 percent.

Osborne will also go ahead with the previous government's plan to hike a payroll tax known as National Insurance by one percentage point from April despite opposition to it forming a central part of the Conservative election campaign.

To sweeten the pill, however, and appease the LibDems, nearly a million of the lowest income people will be taken out of the income tax net altogether by raising its starting point.

Osborne will also cut the headline rate of corporation tax by one percentage point to 27 percent next year and it will then keep falling though this will come at the expense of other relieves.

COALITION COMPROMISE

More than three-quarters of the fiscal tightening will come from reducing spending. Full details of where the axe will fall will not come until a spending review on October 20 but Osborne said the budget implied cuts of 25 percent over four years for departments outside ring-fenced health and overseas aid.

There will be a two-year pay freeze for public sector workers. Osborne reckoned he could cut 11 billion pounds off the welfare bill. He wants single mothers to go to work when their children go to school, a reduction in the number of people registered as disabled and will impose cap on housing benefits.

Even Britain's royal family will not escape greater scrutiny over its expenditures in the future.

"When we say that we are all in this together, we mean it," Osborne said.

Some economists say heavy fiscal tightening could endanger the recovery and may also be hard to achieve, especially if public sector unions react unfavorably as they probably will.

"It seems to be a tighter budget than people generally were anticipating. By the look of the borrowing numbers, there's a bigger squeeze here than most people were expecting," said Jonathan Loynes, chief UK economist at Capital Economics.

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility, established by Osborne last month, cut its forecast for economic growth to 1.2 percent this year from 1.3 percent published last week. GDP growth next year is seen at 2.3 percent instead of the 2.6 percent published last week.

But many economists say this is probably too optimistic, especially given the scale of the tightening.

The government will be looking to the Bank of England to keep interest rates very low, but some members of the bank's Monetary Policy Committee are wondering how long they can wait before raising rates given inflation remains more than a percentage point above target.

Economists are also worried about deflation.

"The great danger is that the economy turns out to be weaker than anticipated, both because of the budget and for other reasons, causing government borrowing to be correspondingly higher. The budget gives no clue as to how the government might respond," said Roger Bootle, economic advisor to Deloitte.

British politics-Leaders square up for second debate-Questions over Lib Dem leader's funding before TV debate

Nick Clegg


David Cameron, Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg

The leaders of the three major parties will go head-to-head in the second live televised debate of the General Election campaign.

The debate in Bristol is expected to see Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg come under pressure from his two rivals, after his widely-praised performance in last week's broadcast gave his party a boost of up to 12 points in the polls, transforming the election into a real three-horse race.

Labour's Gordon Brown and Conservative leader David Cameron will seek to highlight Lib Dem policies on the Trident nuclear deterrent and the European Union, which they believe will prove unattractive to voters.






But in a 90-minute debate on Sky News focused on foreign affairs, Mr Clegg is likely to respond by reminding voters that his party opposed the Iraq War, which both Tories and Labour supported.

Domestic affairs and the economy are also certain to feature among the questions from the studio audience, on a day when crucial borrowing figures will indicate whether the Government is on track to meet its Budget forecasts.

Polls suggest that the "Clegg bounce" was still having an impact a week after last Thursday's debate, with Lib Dems continuing to pip Labour for second place. A ComRes survey for ITV and The Independent put Conservatives ahead on 35% to the Lib Dems' 27% and Labour's 25%, while a YouGov poll for The Sun had the Tories on 33%, Lib Dems 31% and Labour 27%.

There were signs of Tory-supporting newspapers putting the Lib Dem leader under intense scrutiny ahead of the debate.

The Daily Telegraph reported that regular payments from three Lib Dem donors were paid directly into Mr Clegg's private bank account before he became leader. A party spokesman said that the gifts went towards funding staff for his parliamentary office and were "properly made and declared".

Mr Cameron insisted he was "aiming for outright victory", but left open the door for co-operation with the Liberal Democrats if they held the balance of power.

"We are trying to win the election, we are trying to win outright," he said. "If it falls short of that we have to behave responsibly, make sure that we have a working government of this country and things get done."

The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, was accused of irregular funding arrangements Thursday as party leaders geared up for the second pre-election TV debate.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that Clegg, whose strong showing in last week's first televised clash boosted his party's support, received a series of payments from party donors directly into his private bank account.

Three donors paid up to 250 pounds a month before he became party leader in 2007, said the rightwing daily.

The paper reported the payments were made by three businessmen, citing personal bank statements submitted in 2006 by Clegg to back up his expense claims.

A Liberal Democrat spokesman accepted the payments had been made but denied any impropriety.

"The donations were properly made and declared and were used to fund part of the salary of an additional member of Nick Clegg's parliamentary staff," said a party spokesman.

But the former head of a watchdog that monitors lawmakers' conduct told the Telegraph the arrangements appeared "irregular."

"Given that he's been very holier than thou about these things, it would seem he has some explaining to do to his party and the electorate," said Alistair Graham, ex-chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life.

"It would now make sense for someone independent to check these accounts."

Lawmakers are still struggling to repair their tarnished reputations after last year's expenses scandal, which revealed lawmakers had claimed public money to pay everything from adult films to tennis court repairs.

The centrist Liberal Democrats have traditionally been the third-largest party in politics, consistently lagging far behind the ruling Labour Party and the main opposition Conservatives in opinion polls.

But Clegg's strong performance in last week's first US-style televised pre-poll clash saw his party, which has never held power, surge into second, and sometimes first place in a series of polls.

He will be hoping to repeat the performance in the second debate Thursday, which focuses on foreign policy.

Find a Job Dating Wine E-Editions Feedback My Stories czwartek, mar 25 2010 3PM 11°C 6PM 11°C 5-Day Forecast Pictured: The moment RAF jets intercepted Russian bombers flying in British airspace

We're on to you: An RAF Tornado intercepts a Russian Blackjack bomber near Stornoway, on the Isle of Lewis

The incidents have revived memories of the Cold War, when cat-and-mouse games in the sky were common

Emblazoned in red Cyrillic letters on the fuselage is the name Vasily Reshetnikov, a World War II bomber pilot who flew 307 sorties behind German lines and earned the title Hero of the Soviet Union

The Russian jets were involved in a four hour stand-off before they left UK airspace

Streaking through the dawn sky, a deadly Russian Blackjack nuclear bomber buzzes British airspace in a dramatic picture released by the RAF.

It was taken by the crew of a Tornado jet scrambled to intercept the supersonic invader as it headed for Scotland earlier this month.

Yesterday defence chiefs revealed the RAF has been scrambled no fewer than 20 times in the last year to repel Russian warplanes.
Analysts said it was part of a growing tendency for the Kremlin to flex its military muscles in the post-Cold War era. The Russian 'Bear' has been testing Western response times to its increasingly aggressive incursions.

In this instance, on March 10, radar picked up two of the Tu160 Blackjack bombers flying at high speed towards the Outer Hebrides.

Nicknamed the White Swan by its Russian pilots, the Tu160 is capable of travelling at 1,380mph and can carry up to 88,000lbs of ordnance including either cruise or short-range nuclear missiles.

Two RAF Tornado F3 fighters from 111 Squadron were immediately scrambled from RAF Leuchars in Fife.

They intercepted the Russian warplanes in international airspace near Stornoway, on the Isle of Lewis, and took photographs of the bombers glinting in the early morning sunshine against a clear blue sky.

Emblazoned in red on the silver fuselage was the name 'Vasily Reshetnikov', who was a legendary World War II Russian bomber pilot who flew 307 sorties behind enemy lines on the Eastern Front and earned the title 'Hero of the Soviet Union'.
The Tornados closely shadowed the bombers as they flew south, before they eventually turned north just short of the Northern Ireland coast.

Eventually the Russians left the borders of UK airspace behind and, after four hours, the Tornado crews stood down and returned to Leuchars.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was suspected of being responsible for ordering the show of strength.

'He wants to test us. They come right up to the edge of international airspace and turn away at the last moment. They can get information about our response times,' said a Ministry of Defence spokesman.

Wing Commander Mark Gorringe, commander of 111 Squadron, added: 'This is not an unusual incident and people may be surprised to know that our crews have successfully scrambled to intercept Russian aircraft on more than 20 occasions since the start of 2009.

'Our pilots, navigators and indeed all the support personnel at RAF Leuchars work very hard to deliver the UK Quick Reaction Alert Force 24 hours a day, which can be scrambled in minutes, to defend the UK from unidentified aircraft entering our airspace, or aircraft in distress.

McLaren takes aim at Ferrari and Lamborghini with 200mph British supercar dubbed 'an F1 car for the road'

The new McLaren resembles the company's iconic 1990s' supercar, the 240mph F1, which was the world's fastest production car until Bugatti's 250mph Veyron.Hi-tech fabric in the bucket seats 'breathes' to help driver and passenger stay comfortable.Rear view: The new McLaren looks just as good from the back

Lifting the gull-wing upwards and forwards is designed to help driver and passenger get in and out more easily

I believe I can fly: The McLaren MP4-12C spreads its wings.Stunning design: The McLaren MP4-12C is Britain's answer to Italy's seductive Ferrari

A gull-winged 200mph British supercar dubbed 'an F1 car for the road' is launched today by UK racing specialists McLaren.

The £150,000 McLaren MP4-12C is Britain's answer to Italy's legendary Ferrari and is the long-held dream of McLaren and F1 team boss Ron Dennis to produce an 'affordable' supercar with the greenest credentials in its class.

With dramatic aerodynamic styling designed to keep it on the ground at high speed, the new McLaren two-seater will accelerate from rest to 60mph in just 3.4 seconds.

It is powered by a massive 3.8 litre V8 twin turbo engine which develops 600bhp - equivalent to about six Ford Fiestas. McLaren claims it is the world's most efficient internal combustion engine and the pinnacle of British hi-tech engineering.The new McLaren, which goes on sale in 2011, is being built at the company's hi-tech factory in Woking Surrey, where the workforce is expected to expand from 500 to around 800 as production gets underway.

About 1,000 cars will be built in the first year. But the MP4 is just the first of a new range of sports cars that will see production increased to 4,000 a year within about three years.

The new McLaren uses lightweight aluminium and carbon fibre to keep weight down and performance high.

Average fuel consumption is expected to be around 22mpg but emissions of carbon dioxide - the so-called greenhouse gas blamed for global warming - will be below 300g/km.

As you would expect from a company that has been at the pinnacle of Grand Prix racing, the new road car includes many hi-tech spin-offs from the world of F1.

That includes seven speed F1-style paddle-shift with intuitive gears - dubbed 'pre-cog' for pre-cognition. The so-called 'seamless-shift gearbox' system pre-selects the gear before you shift to it.

The aerodynamic styling and flat underside creates massive downforce to give great roadholding and prevent car from taking off like an aircraft.
The driver and passenger are protected inside a strong but superlight carbon fibre mono-cell or 'tub' as used in F1 cars. The whole structure weighs just 81 kg - about the weight as an average man.

Giant side air scoops are designed to cool engine and powerful brakes. The hi-tech fabric in the bucket seats 'breathes' to help driver and passenger stay comfortable. Buttons and dials are kept simple and to a minimum, and there is a seven inch dashboard touchscreen.

For life out on the open road, the new car also has parking sensors, cruise control, and optional sat-nav.

Lifting the gull-wing upwards and forwards is designed to help driver and passenger get in and out more easily - especially in tighter parking spots. A spokesman said:'In traditional door systems, a larger parking space is necessary to permit the doors to open wide enough.'

The new McLaren aims to take on key rivals including the brand new Ferrari 458, Lamborghini Gallardo, Porsche 911 Turbo, Bentley Continental GT, Aston Martin DB9.

McLaren Automotive chairman Ron Dennis said:'It is a long-held dream of mine to launch a range of high performance sports cars that set new standards in the industry. I am confident that now is the right time for McLaren Automotive to become a full-line high performance sports car manufacturer.'

Mr Dennis said:'This is the start of an exciting new chapter in McLaren's history, in British high technology engineering and manufacturing, and in global sports car design. We aim to be the best.'

McLaren managing director Antony Sheriff said: 'By the time the 12C is launched in 2011, we expect the economic conditions to be much improved. We have already seen significant interest in the car.'

McLaren's first spectacular venture into road car production was back in 1993 with the 'F1', which for many years was the fastest car in the world. More recently it worked in collaboration with Mercedes-Benz to make the SLR-McLaren. But with the MP4, McLaren is again going it alone.

Vital statistics: McLaren MP4 12C

* Length: 14ft
* Width:6ft 1 inch
* Height: 3ft 10 ins (with gull-wing doors closed)
* Height: 5ft (with gull-wing doors open)

24 Gurkhas living in desperate poverty in country they fought for (so why won't Joanna Lumley speak out now?)

All smiles: Joanna Lumley was the face of the Gurkhas' fight, but has been strangely silent since concerns started being voiced



Hard up: The men find Britain at odds with the idyllic existence they expected

No money: 67 year-old Nepalese farmer and ex-British army Gurkha Uman Singh Gurung in his mouldy Aldershot bedsit

Concerned: Defence minister Kevan Jones has claimed some of the advice being given to Gurkha veterans hoping to settle in the UK was misleading

They pose for a photograph, looking as dignified as their frail bodies will allow, in the centre of the British Army town which they now call home. Forgotten and alone, the old Nepalese soldiers spend their nights in decrepit bedsits and their days searching for something they can afford to eat.

What a sorry plight for the proud Gurkhas who fought for Britain and won the right to settle here last year. No wonder they are growing angry and the name on their lips is Joanna Lumley, the English actress they once hailed as a goddess. They accuse her of staying 'chup' (or 'silent' in Nepalese) as they complain of their conditions in Aldershot, Hampshire.

Begging for help, they blame the Absolutely Fabulous star for a string of broken promises that have left them cold, hungry and penniless in Britain.
'She told us to come here and we are stranded in your country with nothing,' said Padam Bahadur Limbu, his 66-year-old face etched with fear and worry. 'We would like to speak to Joanna Lumley and tell her we have been betrayed.'

Padam is caught up in a heartbreaking human tragedy. He is one of thousands of Gurkhas who was promised a wonderful new life in the UK during a campaign spearheaded by Ms Lumley last year. With massive public backing, it forced the Government to give every Nepalese warrior the right to settle in this country.

Within weeks, the veterans began arriving, their heads filled with dreams for the future. The campaigners had told the Gurkhas they would get pensions and state houses and have a comfortable retirement.

Astonishingly in the current financial climate, they were advised they would get jobs paying £1,000 a month.

Yet the reality is so cruelly different. Most of the veterans have never received a penny - nor since caught a glimpse of the people who coerced them into uprooting across the world. Many cannot even afford a cup of tea from the cheapest cafe. All they have left is the clothes they stand up in, bought on the market stalls of Nepal.

They have nowhere to live apart from dingy rooms rented for hundreds of pounds a week. After selling all their possessions and borrowing huge sums at high interest to come here, the veterans are struggling to survive.
Last week, Defence Minister Kevan Jones ordered an inquiry into the sad scandal amid allegations of ruthless exploitation of the ageing Gurkhas, and today he plans to visit Aldershot to see their plight for himself.

Earlier, in a private letter to Whitehall colleagues, he warned that 'unscrupulous elements' in Nepal have created 'unrealistic expectations' about British life and what services might be offered to them here.

The inquiry will centre on the unconventional £500-a-head payments charged by their own veterans' charity in Nepal for advice on moving to Britain. It will also examine why more than £1million in Legal Aid fees has been paid by British taxpayers to a London firm of human rights' lawyers for assisting Gurkhas to fill in visa application forms at Gaeso offices before they travelled from Nepal.

Meanwhile, Joanna Lumley, who campaigned alongside both officials of the charity the Gurkha Army Ex-Servicemen's Organisation (Gaeso) and partners of the law firm Howe and Co of Ealing, is under mounting pressure over her curious reluctance to speak out about the veterans' plight, first exposed during an investigation by the Mail last month.

Ms Lumley is closely linked to Howe and Co. She approached the law firm to offer her help when the campaign to bring the Gurkhas here was flagging. Within weeks she was being pictured with their senior partners at events to raise the profile of the Gurkha Justice Campaign.

Even now, calls by this newspaper to ask for her views elicit a response from the law firm but a steadfast refusal from her to speak out.

The firm's Martin Howe has told the Mail that he has never taken a penny from any Gurkha or from Gaeso.

However, he confirmed his firm has received huge amounts of Legal Aid for helping with their UK visa applications.

Kevan Jones last week told the Commons he was 'irritated' by the 'deafening silence' from the actress. It was all so different last summer, when Ms Lumley stood outside Parliament, celebrating the Gurkhas' victory.
She was later taken on a 'thank-you' tour of Nepal by Gaeso to mark the highly successful campaign. How the waiting Gurkhas cheered their heroine when they saw her. In the capital, Kathmandu, and the second city, Pokhara, she stepped off her plane garlanded in the traditional marigold necklace of the Himalayan kingdom to greet the old soldiers who waved banners calling her their goddess and daughter of their country.

There, watching her with delight was Padam and his fellow Gurkha Guru Bahadur Thapa, who both came to Britain last November.There's no doubt that Ms Lumley's campaign was well-intentioned.

Alas, the fear is that her victory has been exploited by unscrupulous middlemen who have given Gurkhas an unrealistic expectation of what life in Britain would be like. And now many of those old warriors who have paid thousands of pounds to move here are bitter and disillusioned.
As Mr Thapa, 66, told me sadly: 'I sold my house, land, everything because of what the campaigners told me. But after just a few months here, I have none of the money left.

'I have rented a room with a shower with another Gurkha for £580 a month from the local estate agent. I do not know how I will pay the rent next month unless I get some pension money from your Government.

'I have not eaten today because I cannot afford food. At the Nepalese supermarket in Aldershot they are giving Gurkhas credit for a little fruit and bread. We were not told it would be like this. We feel we have been duped by Joanna Lumley and her campaigners. We are deeply disappointed. Where is our Joanna now?'

He is among 400 Gurkhas who have headed to the towns surrounding Aldershot and parts of London. Since leaving the British Army, the majority have eked out a meagre living as peasant farmers earning 35p a day by keeping a cow or a few goats and ploughing a small tract of land in Nepal's mountainous villages.

Yet they show an amazing loyalty to Britain. Each Gurkha carries a plastic bag containing a small red booklet called a Lal Kitab. It is the record of his military career and proof that he was once a soldier in the British Army. Few of them can even read the English words inside, for they had never stepped foot in Britain, and half of the Gurkhas are illiterate.

'This shows I once fought for your Queen Elizabeth II,' one 67-year-old told me solemnly yesterday through an interpreter. His booklet states that he served for six years from 1968 with exemplary conduct, leaving as a 24-year-old in 1974 when Army numbers were cut.

He was discharged from Hong Kong, the Brigade of Gurkhas' base until the hand-over of the island by Britain to China in 1997, when it moved to Aldershot and later Yorkshire.

It was in recognition of such service that the Mail and huge numbers of people supported Joanna Lumley and the campaign. For 200 years, the Gurkhas have fought valiantly for Britain, losing 50,000 men in the last century alone during two world wars and numerous skirmishes in the Far East. People believed it would repay a debt of honour if they were welcomed into this country if that was their wish.
The campaign had a particular poignancy for Miss Lumley. Her father, Major James Rutherford Lumley, was an officer in the 6th Gurkha Rifles. Serving in Burma during World War II, his life was saved by fellow Gurkhas, including one who received the Victoria Cross for his valour.

With charm and determination, she forced Gordon Brown's Government into a dramatic turnabout-and 36,000 of the old men, their wives and dependants are expected eventually to settle here. More than 4,000 have applied for UK visas since the Lumley campaign and thousands have already arrived. But it is a journey that too often ends tragically.

Dr Hugh Milroy, the head of Veterans' Aid - a London-based charity helping former servicemen - explained to the Mail: 'We see about one new Gurkha a week struggling to survive in this country.

The most extreme case involved a family man who arrived with borrowed money but no English. His mental and physical health deteriorated rapidly. After several months he ended up on the streets.

This man was totally unequipped to deal with life in modern Britain, and he was so badly traumatised by his experiences here that he eventually asked to be flown back to Nepal.

'We gave him new clothes for his flight. All he left behind were two flea-ridden blankets and a jacket with pockets full of cigarette ends picked up from the streets.

'Staff at Veterans' Aid are used to dealing with the street homeless. But many were shocked and moved to tears by his plight. He was a truly broken human being.

'It is not our job to assign blame, but it was clear from the start that this man didn't have the resources or skills to live in Britain, where life is complex and expensive.'

What a different story is being woven in Nepal. I have interviewed dozens of the Gurkha veterans there and in Britain. The majority insisted that they had received promises from the Gurkha's veterans association Gaeso and by the English lawyers at Howe & Co about getting work, houses, and benefits in the UK - yet hardly any have received a penny.

The local council in the Aldershot area, Rushmoor, agrees it is struggling to cope with language barriers and numbers. Often the council has been able to offer only a bus pass.

Typical is Bhoj Poudel, 63, who arrived in Britain last November. He says: 'We were told in the Gaeso offices in Nepal to come to Aldershot and we could claim a pension here. We were told we would find work. We were excited.

'The Government would give us a home to live in. Our families? We planned to bring them soon, too. But nothing has gone right for us.'

In a nearby coffee bar, I found Kul Bahadur Ale, who is in much the same state. He is 63 and is blinded in one eye from a scything accident on his small farm. The idea of him ever finding work is ludicrous.

He has left a wife, son and daughter behind in Baglung, Nepal. He borrowed huge sums to come here, money that he admits he will never be able to repay. 'I walked two-and-a-half days to get to the bus stop to catch a bus to Pokhara where there is an office of Gaeso. There, they told me to pay 60,000 rupees (£500) for 'advice and paperwork'. Once I had given them the cash, I was sent to the next office to see an English-speaking solicitor. He helped me fill in the visa settlement forms.

'So many Gurkhas in Nepal believe they have to go through this process. They are told by Gaeso they will not get a UK visa unless they do.

'We all believed we would have good life in your country, with social benefits and work. I heard it from the Gaeso officials and the lawyer, and so have all my friends.'

Sitting beside him was his cousin Padam Pun, 62. He comes from the same village as Mr Ale, and also arrived four months ago.

'I have a wife and three children in Nepal,' he says sadly. 'I borrowed money from friends to pay the Gaeso fee, the UK visa cost of £480 and the single air ticket of £350, too. I have not received any social benefits and I rent a room for so much money.'

Then he adds, with a shake of his gnarled head: 'I miss my family so much. I don't know whether I will ever see them again.

'I do not have the money to go back or to bring them over here. We may be apart for ever.'

Those words are enough to chill the heart of any caring person. No wonder that the frail Gurkhas are growing angry with Joanna Lumley and her continuing, baffling, silence. Now it remains to be seen who will actually help the old soldiers who once helped Britain.