MAIL ONLINE: HE arrived in Britain as a penniless asylum seeker with only a small bag of possessions to his name.
But more than 30 years after fleeing Communist-run Hungary, Gabor Bartos has been given the honour of being named mayor of his adopted home village.
And yesterday the 59-year-old said his story was a lesson to more recent immigrants on how to integrate themselves into British society.
'It's only right that outsiders should respect the cultures of the countries they want to live in,' he said.
'When I came to England, I had to learn to speak English and had to drive on the other side of the road from the rest of Europe, and I had to adopt traditions and I'm proud of that because that is what made me a British citizen.
'That gave me a loyalty to this country. I just wish all other asylum seekers would follow the same trait. Some of the people coming to this great country won't integrate, and it really makes me angry.
'It's very sad that the old saying "When in Rome do as the Romans" is much maligned and ignored these days.' Former asylum seeker is elected mayor of Cheshire village... then slams immigrants who refuse to integrate into British society >>> James Tozer | Monday, May 24, 2010
