GWENT MP Don Touhig has won a breakthrough in a battle to put right a "disgraceful" ban on British soldiers from wearing a campaign medal during Remembrance Sunday.

Some 35,000 veterans who took part in operations in Malaysia from 1957 to 1966 were awarded the Pingat Jasa Malaysia medal - the PJM - by the King of Malaysia.

It commemorated the services of British and Commonwealth forces in the conflict which claimed the lives of 114 servicemen and another 180 wounded.

While a committee of bureaucrats gave the servicemen permission to receive the medal they have never allowed them to wear it in the UK.

But Foreign Office minister Dr Kim Howells has urged his minsterial colleagues and the Grant of Honours, Declarations and Medals Committee to think again after the issue was raised in the Commons by the Islwyn MP.

"There must be flexibility and sensitivity as events unfold and circumstances and perceptions change," said Dr Howells.

"That is why I shall try to communicate to my colleagues in government and to the committee that flexibility is needed in this case."

Mr Touhig said the decision by the committee was "the most disgraceful and insensitive act by faceless mandarins in Whitehall that I have ever encountered".

"What message does it sent out to a friendly Muslim nation, an ally and a member of the Commonwealth, when the British establishment is throwing this generous gesture back in its face?

"All I ask is for them to be able to wear with pride the medal that they earned, alongside other veterans who parade across Britain on Remembrance Sunday."

Dr Howells said the committee opposed the wearing of the medals because the majority of the veterans have been awarded the British General Service Medal for their service in Malaysia.