Joanna Lumley said today that she was confident Gordon Brown would "do the right thing" after he agreed to come up with a new policy on Gurkha residency rights by the end of this month.
The actress, whose father served in the 6th Gurkha rifles, met the Prime Minister in Parliament this afternoon, a week after the shock Commons defeat over his Government's current plans to restrict settlement of the Nepali veterans in the UK.
Speaking to reporters outside the Palace of Westminster, Ms Lumley said: “The meeting was extremely positive. He is wholly supportive of the Gurkha cause. He is going to come up with a new solution by the end of this month.
"I trust him, I rely on him, and I know that he has now taken this matter into his own hands and so today is a very good day.”
Ms Lumley said she accepted the Prime Minister would have to deal with the issue “slowly and deliberately” but added his commitment to bring forward the processing of all outstanding applications from July to May had already shown “a huge intent and purpose”.
She said: “He promised he would do all he can ... I do trust the Prime Minister. I know him very slightly personally and I find him to be a man of integrity.
“I think this is now in his hands. It has been in many people’s hands... Now, I feel we have got the head man, the man at the top, the leader of our entire nation and I feel absolutely confident he is going to do the right think for the Gurkhas.”
In testimony yesterday to the Commons Home Affairs Committee, Ms Lumley let slip that she had received a letter of support from a senior member of the Royal Family.
She said today that she now regretted that revelation - and denied a report that the royal in question was the Duchess of Cornwall, whose husband, the Prince of Wales, is colonel-in-chief of the Royal Gurkha Rifles. Ms Lumley had already denied that the letter came from the Prince of Wales or Duke of Edinburgh.
In yesterday's testimony, the Absolutely Fabulous star told the committee that she had written three letters to the Prime Minister and had received no acknowledgment from him, though she had had one note from an official.
Ms Lumley accused accused ministers of scare tactics in claiming that 36,000 retired Gurkha soldiers who left the British Army before 1997 would come to live in Britain if settlement rights were granted.
Ms Lumley said today that some “wild figures” had been bandied around about the cost of allowing the Gurkhas to settle in the UK - which the PM last week put at £1.4 billion. However, she said that she and Mr Brown did not go into the detail of the cost during their meeting.
She added: “I hope we can all look at this with a steady head and realise that this is utterly achievable, utterly attainable.”
Source:The times
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