I thought you might like this snippet. It proves that although the Civil Servants regard the Royal Prerogative to be cast in stone, in fact it can wobble when pushed.

This has nothing to do with the PJM but is about the inhabitants of Diego Garcia who were forcibly evicted from their island home by the British government so that the US could convert it into a vast military airbase. They have been campaigning in Crawley for the last few years. The wording by the High Court is what interested me. Can't think why!

"In 2004, the British government made an order under the royal prerogative that no person had a "right of abode" in the British Indian Ocean Territory.

Last year's High Court ruling overturned that order and rejected government argument that the royal prerogative, exercised by ministers in the Queen's name, was immune from scrutiny. "


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Gerald Law (ex RAF Borneo Veteran)

Gerry

This might give an insight into the plight of these people http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depopulation_of_Diego_Garcia

If anyone visited Gan (Maldives) then you were not far from DG, a few hundred miles, of course the good old USofA used DG during the bombing of Afghanistan immediately after 9/11. Those people had no choice they had to go to Mauritius, now on Gan when we built that up in the late 50s we rehoused all the local population onto Hitaddu (the next island to Gan) and employed a lot of them.


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HD Committee: Amateurs in a Professional World
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"In 2004, the British government made an order under the royal prerogative that no person had a "right of abode" in the British Indian Ocean Territory.

WOW DOES THIS MEAN THEY CAN COME HERE,ALONG WITH THE REST OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC MIRACLE WORKERS

In 1961/2 long before the Americans moved in to build their airbase at Diego Garcia, The RAF based at RAF Gan used to overfly the Chagos Islands on Navigation Exercises. No.205 Squadron Shackletons from RAF Changi used to spend fortnightly detachments at RAF Gan in the Maldive Islands on Search and Rescue duties.

On 29th July 1961 I made the first of several visits to the Chagos Islands. I clearly remember the natives waving up to us as they were fishing off the beach or working their copra crops. Our Captain that day was Flying Officer David Parry-Evans later to retire as Air Chief Marshall. On one of the islands I recall the wrecked remains of a Catalina flying boat.

Thr recent up-to-date history of Diego Garcia is also on www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/diego-garcia.htm

MIKE OSTLER
Ex No.205 Squadron