Either that or your intellect and/or literacy level is/are commensurate with your apparent grasp of modern constitutional democracy.
I'm a dirty foreigner, despite my great grandparents, grandparents and parents being born and bred in England. I was born in South Africa while my father served King and Country in the Royal Navy at the naval base in Simonstown.
Spike Milligan was declared to be either Irish or Pakistani by the Home Office. Either way, because South Africa and Ireland are non-Commonwealth countries and at the time Pakistan's membership was under suspension, neither of us was allowed to vote in a British election or could be issued with a British passport. I had already been serving in the Royal Air Force for five years when I discovered this.
After convincing the Secretary of State for Home Affairs that I was the legitimate son of an Englishman who was himself the legitimate son of an Englishman, the Secretary of State exercised his prerogative and declared that I could be classified as "British by Descent". This entitiled me to a British Passport and the right to vote, although my children would not automatically acquire British citizenship unless they were born in UK.
Since I handed in my beret and S.D. cap I am no longer able to salute, but I'm quite happy to tug my civilian forelock to both the Secretary of State for Home Affairs and his boss. The likes of I are beholden to the likes of 'e and it wouldn't do to upset a chap who could have you cast out into Statelessness with a nod of his head, now would it?
