Gurkha Brigade (Hansard, 5 April 1965)

§ 27. Mr. Allason
asked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the present strength of the Gurkha Brigade; what is the expected strength on 1st April 1966; and what steps he is taking to bring the strength up to the target of 15,000.

§ Mr. Mulley
The present strength of the Brigade of Gurkhas is about 14,300. This is sufficient to keep Gurkha units up to establishment. As I told the House on 22nd February, we have no intention of altering this figure significantly while our present commitments in support of Malaysia continue substantially unchanged.

§ Mr. Allason
Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the Answer of his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 15th February gave the House the impression that the Gurkhas were to be recruited up to a strength of 15,000? Now that that is not so, will he urge his right hon. Friend to withdraw his statement and to apologise to the House?

§ Mr. Mulley
This is making a very large mountain out of a very small molehill. All the confusion has arisen because the figure of 15,000 has always been understood as being the ceiling of Gurkha recruitment, whereas, I think, my right hon. Friend used the word "target". As I have explained to the hon. Gentleman and to the House before, we use to the full the existing Gurkha training facilities and to increase those training facilities, quite apart from other considerations, would not justify the additional cost.

§ Mr. Hugh Jenkins
Is my right hon. Friend aware that whereas at one time the employment of troops of other countries was a fairly widespread and generally accepted practice, it is not the case in the modern world, and that many of us would welcome the discontinuance of the practice and the running down of the Gurkha force?

§ Mr. Mulley
The use of Gurkhas by the British Army is a very long tradition which has been welcomed by us and by Nepal. Having seen the work of the Gurkhas in Malaysia, I can assure my hon. Friend that they are making a great contribution.

§ Mr. Allason
Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the phrase used on 15th February was "recruiting up to a ceiling" which certainly gave the impression that we were to expand recruiting facilities? Is he aware that those recruiting facilities for 1,000 men are in use six months of the year and out of use for the remaining six?

§ Mr. Mulley
The hon. Gentleman has not quite got the situation straight. My right hon. Friend's words about which he complains, and which he has now repeated, state the position exactly—that we are allowed to recruit Gurkhas up to a ceiling of 15,000. With his experience, the hon. Gentleman should know that it is extremely difficult to state the exact strength of the Gurkhas because of the unusual arrangements for recruiting and for returning to Nepal time-expired men so as to fit local climatic conditions and the desires of local people. There is bound to be some fluctuation between 14,000 and 15,000 according to the numbers retired and recruited in any year. We are quite satisfied that the existing recruiting arrangements will see that the Brigade is kept up to strength.

§ Mr. Soames
In view of the difference in emphasis in how the right hon. Gentleman put it today compared with how his right hon. Friend put it in the defence debate, can we have an assurance that there has been no change of policy towards recruiting Gurkhas and that the difference is merely a change of emphasis on words? Can we have an assurance that there has been no change of policy about the numbers required?

§ Mr. Mulley
There has been no change of policy since I announced our decision in December, but there has been a substantial change in policy towards the Gurkhas by the present Government compared with the policy of their predecessors. The outgoing Government would never give a clear undertaking, as we have given, to recruit a long time in advance. I said last December that we were recruiting for next autumn to full numbers. We have also made it clear that we would not cut back the Gurkhas while the Malaysian situation continued. The previous Government would never be as forthcoming as that.