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The man behind the Gurkha Justice Campaign is launching a renewed fight with the Government over persistent rumours of the axing of the Gurkha regiment of the British Army in light of a severely straitened defence budget.

Peter Carroll, the architect behind the campaign and founder of PR consultancy 'Why not campaign?', said: 'For the first time, I believe some of the rumours that have been circulating about axing the Gurkhas may be true. 

'There have been a number of high-profile statements to that effect, including that of Patrick Mercer, the former shadow secretary for defence and homeland security, saying everything's 'up for grabs' with the current budget cuts, and the argument that the Gurkhas are much more expensive than they used to be owing to the campaign to improve their rights. In part, the MOD's still smarting from success of the original Gurkha Justice Campaign.'

The original movement was a triumph of small resources and lofty ambition. A team comprising one man and his poster lady, English actress and model (and as of last year, Nepalese national treasure) Joanna Lumley, mobilised a huge media campaign in opposition to the deportation of retired Gurkhas from the UK.  

Carroll noted: 'Since that first campaign, my motto has been the quotation by Margaret Meade - 'Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. It is the only thing that ever has.'

Illustrating the drive behind the campaign, he said: 'We bombarded MPs with letters, we built up an online support base of 155,000 who could also be mobilised to write, we started four petitions - one of them gaining a quarter of a million names, we had lawyers campaigning in the High Courts, 4,000 people protesting in Parliament Square, I was with Nick Clegg fighting the Opposition Day motion in the House of Commons. We wrote directly to Gordon Brown. Joanna even gave him a phone call - within four hours she was in his office.' 

With rumours growing that the Gurkha brigade may be sacrificed to ease cuts to defence spending, the public has turned to Carroll to spearhead a protest movement. 'We've received hundreds of letters urging us to campaign, demonstrating people's passion for the cause.'

So now the fight begins afresh. 'We've started online, setting up a site www.savethegurkhas.co.uk and a Facebook page 'Campaign to Save the Brigade of Gurkhas from being axed', which has over twelve hundred members which isn't bad considering we launched it five days ago.'

The Gurkhas have fought alongside British troops in the Falklands and Afghanistan and Carroll appeals: 'Why throw away this valiant fighting force? Why sever this fantastic link between the people of Britain and the people of Nepal? Why give up on something that has had value for 200 years just because we're in short term economic difficulty now?'

Carroll will be delivering a lunchtime presentation on how the Ghurka Justice Campaign was won at the Royal Air Force Club, Piccadilly on Thursday 14th October 2010 between 12 and 2pm.

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