Today-brown and your cabal
In the name of God, go!
The government sent letters to the five informing them of the outcome, despite assurances that new guidelines would see them settled here.
But at an impromptu joint press conference this afternoon, Immigration Minister Phil Woolas promised campaigner Joanna Lumley that all five cases would be reviewed once new resettlement criteria was established by Gordon Brown.
However, releasing details of the letters, Gurkha campaigners said they remained unconvinced the cases would be reviewed.
At odds: Joanna Lumley and Immigration Minister Phil Woolas give an impromptu press conference this afternoon after the Home Office rejected five Gurkha test casesA spokesman for the campaign said: 'We trusted the Prime Minister to take charge of the situation. This is an outrage and a disgrace.'
Former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said: 'The Government seems determined to turn a Whitehall farce into a fiasco.
'The Prime Minister's credibility has taken another serious dent, but the real losers are the Gurkhas and their dependants who are yet again made to face anxiety and disappointment.
'If this is how they are handling the issue of the Gurkhas, what on earth are they doing about the economy?'
Oliver Cromwell's Speech on the Dissolution of the Long Parliament
Given to the House of Commons
20 April 1653
It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place,
which you have dishonored by your
contempt of all virtue,
and defiled by your practice of every vice; ye are a factious crew,
and enemies to all good government;
ye are a pack of mercenary wretches,
and would like Esau sell
your country for a mess of pottage,
and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money.
Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you?
Is there one vice you do not possess?
Ye have no more religion than my horse;
gold is your God;
which of you have not barter'd your conscience
for bribes?
Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the
good of the Commonwealth?
Ye sordid prostitutes have you not defil'd this sacred place,
and turn'd the Lord's temple into a den
of thieves,
by your immoral principles and wicked practices?
Ye are grown intolerably odious to the
whole nation;
you were deputed here by the people to get grievances
redress'd,
are yourselves gone!
So!
Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors.
In the name of God, go!
MAGNA CARTA
Find out more about this subject by using our research page
If you look hard at the English statute book you will find the following lines:
“No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgement of his equals or by the law of the land”.
These words have been there for 794 years because they are clause 39 of Magna Carta.
Issued by King John in 1215, Magna Carta is seen as the foundation of English law and liberty. It includes clauses on universal justice but also on the fishing rights in the upper Thames, and whether Magna Carta is a true proclamation of law or a hotchpotch of baronial ambition has been debated ever since. One thing is certain, it was written in French before it was written in English.
Contributors
Nicholas Vincent, Professor of Medieval History at the University of East Anglia
David Carpenter, Professor of Medieval History at King’s College London
Michael Clanchy, Emeritus Professor of Medieval History at the Institute of Historical Research
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