Britain could face a tea shortage in a row over land that was seized from native people in colonial-era Kenya.

A Kenyan governor is demanding £15billion of reparations for land that was 'stolen' in the 1930s and has warned of Zimbabwe-style farm grabs if Britain does not pay up.

Paul Chepkwony is threatening to seize as much as two-thirds of the farmland in Kericho County's tea country in a move which could cripple the supply to Britain.

Kenya is the largest tea supplier to the UK and there are some signs of gathering momentum behind Mr Chepkwony's campaign, the Daily Telegraph reports.

Tea country: A farm worker harvests tea leaves using shears at a plantation in Kenya's Kericho highlands - where British colonists seized land from native people in the 1930s

Survivor: Kibore Cheruiyot Ngasura, 95, sits at his farm in Kericho County last month. He was there when British colonists seized land from the Talai people in 1934

How Kenyan people were forced off tea-growing land by their British colonial rulers The Colony of Kenya became a formal British possession in 1920, formed out of what was previously the East Africa Protectorate. Land seizures had begun in the early 20th century but accelerated from the 1920s, after colonists realised Kericho County's exceptional suitability for growing tea. The people evicted were herded into so-called 'native reserves', where conditions were often appalling. In an extreme case, the entire Talai clan was deported by decree in 1934. Hundreds of families were interned in Gwasi, a barren land two-weeks walk to the west, where malaria was endemic and water scarce. Today, many of their descendants live as squatters with no land. Most possess nothing more of their past than chunks of pottery and other fragments unearthed from beneath the tea fields. Kenya declared independence in 1963 but much of the land is now owned by Western corporations including Unilever and Williamson Fine Tea. Some of the Talai people have filed an official complaint with the UN in a bid to force an apology and reparations from Britain. The land seizure itself may have complied with colonial law at the time, but many people believe there were human rights abuses for which no-one has ever been held responsible. A UN ruling against Britain could shame the UK government into making amends, they hope. Advertisement

In the colonial period, local people were evicted from their land and often kept in terrible conditions in so-called 'native reserves'.

In the most extreme case, the entire Talai clan was deported from tea country in 1934 with hundreds of families forced to live on barren land.

The land is now owned by commercial giants including Unilever, the company behind Lipton tea.

Mr Chepkwony, the governor of Kericho County, has demanded that the British government acknowledge the land was 'stolen'.

If Britain does not pay up, he said he feared he would not be able to stop people overrunning the farms.

'It is in the interest of the UK Government and the multinational companies to settle this matter quickly if they are to live in harmony with the community,' he said.

'The younger generation of locals is becoming more militant and restless. I fear that people will go in to resolve it for themselves.'

One man, 95-year-old Kibore Cheruiyot Ngasura, is still alive after being deported from the land in 1934.

Last month he recalled how people had asked their British colonial rulers 'What wrong did we do?' and 'Why are you punishing us like this?'.

'Life was so difficult. People were dying,' he said of life on the land where the evicted people were forced to settle.

Calling for an apology, he said: 'After that, we would shake the hands of the British, and forget the past.'

Kericho boasts some of Kenya's most profitable agricultural land, but the native people say they reap none of the benefit.

Ancestors: The 95-year-old Ngasura looks at a picture of some of the clansmen with whom he was evicted from Kericho County tea country in the 1930s

Farmland: Farm workers emerge from a plantation in Kenya's Kericho highlands where a local governor has warned of Zimbabwe-style farm grabs if Britain does not pay reparations

Land grabs which wrecked Zimbabwe's economy Robert Mugabe's land grabs in Zimbabwe were widely blamed for wrecking the country's economy. The policy, which began in 2000, was intended to redistribute land to poor black people. The farmland had previously been owned by about 4,500 white descendants of mainly British and South African colonial-era settlers. However, much of the land went to Mugabe cronies instead. Violence reigned and much of the white population fled the country. Commercial farming collapsed and harvests dropped by 40 per cent. Zimbabwe's economy entered a downward spiral, with inflation reaching billions of per cent before the local currency was scrapped. The land reforms were condemned worldwide and made Mugabe a pariah in the West. Advertisement

Tea is crucial to Kenya's economy and firms have long believed that the Kenyan government was unlikely to act in such a way as to threaten the industry.

However, Mr Chepkonwy's campaign gained momentum in March this year when a National Land Commission called on the UK to apologise.

Some of the Talai people, who are related to the Kipsigis clan, have also demanded a UN investigation into the matter.

More than 100,000 people have signed the official complaint, which accuses the UK government of failing to make amends for the colonial injustice.

One British lawyer representing them said a UN special rapporteur could assist in mediating a settlement.

'This is a precedent that could equally apply here,' Rodney Dixon QC told reporters in Geneva in September.

The UK has faced a series of compensation claims from across its former empire, including from Kenya.

In 2013, the government paid reparations to victims of its bloody crackdown on the 1950s Mau Mau rebellion against colonial rule in Kenya.

However, other similar appeals have failed, and the UK government recently stopped short of a full apology for the deaths of native people in New Zealand.