PRINCE Harry should be allowed to fight on the frontline of battle zones, according to a Kent MP who served in the first Gulf War.

Hugh Robertson, Conservative MP for Faversham and Mid Kent, was commenting on reports that Prince Harry has threatened to quit the army if he is not posted to Iraq with his regiment.

The Household Cavalry’s Blues and Royals is due to be sent to Iraq next year.

The MP, who served as an army officer from 1982 to 1995 and saw service in the Gulf when he was an Adjutant of a main battle tank regiment, said:

"It sets a very bad precedent indeed if a member of the Royal Family joins a regiment and is then shielded from action. If this was going to be an issue, then he should not have been allowed to join the course at Sandhurst and should not have been sent to a unit that was likely to be involved in the frontline."

He added: "It is a bit unfair on Prince Harry and I do think this really should have been addressed before now - there are units that do serve further back than others and are not as close to the action."

While he accepted the argument that Prince Harry could become a target for insurgent groups in Iraq, that could be avoided if there was a media blackout on where he was deployed.

"The solution is for the army to exercise caution and not to advertise the fact that he has been sent."

Prince Harry said in an interview last year that the last thing he wanted was to "have my soldiers away to Iraq or wherever and for me to be held back home."

Weekend newspaper reports suggested he had threatened to leave the army if he was prevented from going on active service.