Lumley rallies for Gurkha rights

Joanna Lumley stood with hundreds of Gurkha veterans yesterday as they rallied for greater rights.

Lumley, whose father served with Gurkhas in WWII, has campaigned for the law to be changed to allow soldiers who retired from the service before 1997 the right to settle in the UK.

The rally was led by Tul Bahadur Pun and Lachiman Gurung, two Nepalese ex-soldiers who won the Victoria Cross. A petition listing nearly 250,000 names gathered in the past six weeks was handed to the Prime Minister's office following the protest.

The Gurkha base was moved to Britain from Hong Kong in 1997 and only serviceman who retired after that date have the automatic right to settle in the country.

"There is a feeling that such an injustice has been done by successive governments to the fine soldiers that it has to end. This has spread a stain on our country that once the public got to know about it, they feel it to be intolerable," the Absolutely Fabulous star said.

Gordon Brown said the government would shortly be releasing new guidance on the issue following a recent High Court test case which ruled in favour of extending the right to all Gurkha veterans.

More than 45,000 of the Nepalese soldiers have died serving Britain.