Last updated 11:24, Thursday, 20 March 2008

They were considered good enough to put their lives on the line for this country. Yet once again in matters of the military, with the treatment of Gurkhas who retired before July 1997 the government has shot itself in the foot.

It is to Britain’s shame that yesterday thousands of these loyal and brave fighting men had to march on Parliament, pictured left, to step up pressure on the Government for fairer pensions and the right to live in this country.

The way the Ministry of Defence dismisses their case with utter disdain smacks of some old fashioned colonialism.

These Gurkhas surely earned the right to British citizenship when they fought for the country, not to be told to clear off home now they’re aren’t useful as active cannon fodder any more.

They didn’t expect to risk their lives only to be cursorily waved away by politicians whose only experience of front line conflict probably comes when the rush is on to grab the best table for lunch in the Commons dining room.

This is one issue which, I suspect, unites supporters of all political parties. Only the Government and Whitehall can’t see it, living in their strange cloistered world protected from public opinion by their mealy mouthed advisers.

It’s ironic that our rulers have allowed every Tom, Dick and Harry into the country, half the time now knowing where they are or what they are up to. I know who the taxpayer would rather support.

Yet they waste time, money and their reputation enforcing petty rules on a bunch of men who actually did something positive for Britain.

It’s contemptible. What are they saying? That bullets were softer, and bombs less explosive, before 1997?

Ghurkas served in the Falklands. Today they are serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. It makes you wonder why any of them are prepared to put their lives on the line for their uncaring masters.

And it’s not just the Gurkhas who are treated like dirt either. Canadian-born Samantha Crozier, whose husband is currently fighting overseas with the Army, has been told her application for British citizenship will be refused when her temporary visa expires.

Samantha’s mother was British and her grandfather and great grandfather fought for the country. Not good enough for an ungrateful government which condescendingly offers to pay her hotel bill in Canada while she re-applies.

Next time the Government says we are going to fight an illegal war, it’s worth remembering the stories of 20,000 dispossessed Gurkhas and mums like Samantha Crozier who are turfed out of Britain while their husbands daily risk their lives in some God-forsaken foreign field.