TNAG-2122-FCO40-3028-Future-of-the-Brigade-of-Gurkhas-in-Hong-Kong-1990 — Page 34

SECRET UK EYES A

C

B

uncertainty over the future size and shape of the brigade of Gurkhas. He said that this course had the strong support of the business managers in both houses. In his letter of

23 October, Mr Powell, No 10, reported the Prime Minister's view that however many Gurkhas we have we would need the legislation, and it would be better to keep the proposed clause in the 1991 Armed Forces Bill since the problem would not be any easier in the future.

4.

The FCO interest in the future of the Gurkhas is more related to the continuation of the brigade after the conclusion of the present Options for Change review, and the implications of morale for the present Gurkha detachment in Hong Kong if there seems any prospect of the brigade being disbanded after 1997. Mr Lennox-Boyd wrote to Mr Hamilton, Ministry of Defence, on 22 October underlining those points. The points concerning British citizenship and long-term rights of residence in the UK are not ones in which the FCO has a particular interest one way or the other.

5.

Since Mr Lennox-Boyd had so recently registered our concern on the main FCO issue regarding the Gurkhas, and since there is no particular FCO angle on the point raised by the Defence Secretary, I recommend that the Secretary of State need not intervene in the present exchange beween the Ministry of Defence and No 10, the outcome of which is perfectly acceptable to us.

M J Williams

MW3ABW/2

SECRET UK EYES A