PRINCE Harry, who has been fighting the Taliban on the front line in Afghanistan for 10 weeks, has won the support of local MPs.

The 23-year-old Household Cavalry officer has been secretly serving in war-ravaged Helmand Province.

Click to see footage of Harry's tour

The deployment had been cloaked in secrecy under a news blackout deal agreed across the UK media to prevent details reaching the Taliban and endangering Harry and his comrades.

But the arrangement has broken down after news was leaked out on the US website the Drudge Report.

As part of the deal a group of journalists had visited the Prince in Helmand on condition that details would only be publicised once he was safely back in the UK.

Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood, who spent five years as a serving soldier in the Royal Greenjackets, said: "I'm very pleased. It's very difficult for him to gain operational experience because of his position.

"He needs to return because the Taliban will want to target him. It would be a major coup to do harm to him. He's achieved his aim and hasn't affected the operational effectiveness of the British in Helmand.

"He will no doubt become colonel in chief of a regiment. He will be able to look soldiers in the eye and say: 'I know exactly what you have been through'."

New Forest MP Desmond Swayne, a Territorial Army officer who served in Iraq five years ago, said: "My first reaction is 'hurray'. The poor fellow was stood up and stood down for Iraq. It must have been enormously frustrating not to go with the soldiers he trained with.

"The question is what to do now. You've got to weigh the advantage of having a senior member of the Royal household serving on operations, which does an enormous amount for the morale of our soldiers, against the risk of what happens if he is seriously injured or captured.

"My gut reaction is that he should continue to serve and go again, as he was trained to do."

The deal was arranged after Harry's planned tour to Iraq last year had to be cancelled because of a security risk sparked by publicity.

After the disappointment over Iraq, when Harry was due to work as a Scimitar light tank troop leader, he retrained as a battlefield air controller known as a JTAC (Joint Terminal Attack Controller) with a view to going to Afghanistan.

He flew out on December 14, two months into the current winter tour.

He spent several weeks working in Garmsir in the far south of Helmand Province, operating just 500m from front line Taliban positions. He has since left Garmsir to work in another part of Helmand Province, details of which can not be reported for security reasons.

There is no immediate steer from the Ministry of Defence on the future of his deployment.

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