One of the more shameful aspects of the British civil service is the contempt and indifference that it often shows towards former servicemen and women, often viewing their demands as an anachronistic embarrassment. This partially explains the lack of action given the foreseeable plight that over one thousand Commonwealth veterans now face in Zimbabwe.

This article in the Sunday Telegraph detailed the sad plight of veterans whose savings have been wiped out by Mugabe's hyperinflation, whose lands have been confiscated by the war veterans and whose very lives are subjected to intimidation by ZANU-PF'S thugs. Their cause has been taken up by Col. Brian Nicholson of the Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League, who has observed the impoverishment of the middle classes under the Mugabe regime.

Mr Mugabe has already closed many of the best schools and forced most of the white farmers out of the country. Now Col Nicholson fears Zanu-PF supporters will turn on the British war veterans, ransacking their homes, intimidating and possibly killing them.

Some may argue that many of the veterans were supporters of Ian Smith's regime and UDI in the 1960s. As such, they deserve no further support or succour from HMG. These arguments have no bearing on the current vulnerability of this group who are now being targeted because of their origins.

Col Nicholson is circulating his report to senior military figures and other "influential people" and wants them to press the Government to offer immediate financial help and to implement an evacuation plan.

He said: "We are doing our best but we can't do it alone. If nothing is done these brave, elderly people who fought for the Crown in the Second World War, defending the freedoms we enjoy today, will die an ignominious death."

A Foreign Office spokesman said there were "no plans" to evacuate British war veterans in Zimbabwe. He added: "If people are impoverished we would offer the appropriate consular assistance on an individual basis."