Ulster loyalists can emphasise with the good loyal folk of
Gibraltar – ‘The Rock’ – on how they feel
as they see their proud position as British subjects being
undermined by the Labour Government which is clearly falling
over itself to seek an accommodation with Spain.
What is being cooked up is a form of joint authority, followed
by a gradual incorporation of Gibraltar into Spain, and a
sell-out of the 30,000 Gibraltarians who are loyal to Britain
almost to the last man and woman.
Centuries of loyalty are being cast aside and ignored by
HM Government as they seek to appease Spain. How quickly they
forget! The British government is willing to forget about
the part played by Gibraltar in past wars, especially the
1939-45 conflict, when the Rock of Gibraltar commanded the
approach to the Mediterranean.
Do the Foreign Office mandarins drawing the appeasement documents
not realise that but for Gibraltar, and Malta, the command
of the seas in this vital area would have passed into Italian
and German hands.
Malta, George Cross, also received shabby treatment at the
hands of recent British governments, and there was no enthusiasm
in the 1960s and early 1970s when the people of Malta indicated
that they would like to be governed direct from London, and
become part of the United Kingdom.
That might have been impractical, but there should have been
a more grateful noise sounded from the U.K. about the loyalty
of Malta in the war.
Sadly, all this is just another example of how Britain has
turned its back on its former Dominions and its kinsfolk as
it seeks to prove to former enemies on the Continent of Europe
– enemies of recent times – that Britain prefers
Europe to the Commonwealth.
A nasty incident was reported in the Daily Mail recently,
of how an Australian girl who had married an Englishman had
to return to her own country while she awaited a visa to stay
in the U.K. – in spite of the fact she had married a
Briton.
Stony-faced officials had refused this girl the visa which
would have meant the recently married couple being able to
live together in England. These officials probably never heard
of Gallipoli or the sacrifice of the Australians in two World
Wards and the Boer War as many soldiers from that nation lost
their lives for King and Country.
For years now Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders and
others from the Commonwealth have had to queue at Heathrow
and other British airports, sometimes for long periods, while
people from Germany and Italy have walked straight through
without any restrictions.
Sadly, that is one of the prices of EU membership and a turning
of the back on Empire and Commonwealth. Is it any wonder that
republicanism has been boosted in Australia and other countries
of the old Empire?
And loyal Ulster people have faced similar humiliations.
Some years ago, when the I.R.A. bombing was at its height,
the writer was with a group of Northern Ireland people waiting
in the queue at Heathrow for the plane to Belfast.
We were subjected to an undue delay while cases were opened,
and one of the least understanding of the officials was a
person whose origins were obviously not British or Commonwealth.
Two men in the queue seemed to get special attention when
it came to searching their luggage, and ironically, both were
men who had served in the RAF and seen action in World War
Two, one in the Far East, the other in North Africa.
When a member of the party pointed this out to the searchers,
it met with a look of sheer indifference, and a dry remark
that the cases would still have to be searched.
What made it all the more galling was the fact that people
making for the plane to Dublin were walking through with only
the most cursory glance from officials, and certainly no searching.
“Do you realise that I.R.A. terrorists could be bringing
bombs and guns into Ireland via Dublin?” a member of
our party asked the officials. The response? Just an even
colder look, and certainly no sign of any agreement with that
sentiment.
No, what we are seeing now is the sell-out of the remaining
parts of the once mighty Empire – Gibraltar, the Falkland
Islands, and, if the appeasers had their way – loyal
Ulster.
Thankfully there are at least a million loyal folk in Northern
Ireland who stand firm against the ultimate sell-out of a
British people.
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