MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Falklands’ invasion: documents show Conservatives were divided on how to react
Senior Tories were initially sceptical about going to war over the Falkland Islands, newly released papers from Margaret Thatcher's personal archive show. A note from the whips' office following Argentina's 1982 invasion reported solid support for military action from some Conservative MPs, but others were privately hostile. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesA very interesting insight. I really didn't know she was that emotional.
Mar 22nd, 2013 - 07:11 am - Link - Report abuse 0Still she had the balls. And we won.
Good Save the Queen.
Exactly tryannys have to be fought and defeated.
Mar 22nd, 2013 - 07:22 am - Link - Report abuse 0Well done Mrs. Thatcher and our boys, you saw the job through!
Mar 22nd, 2013 - 07:29 am - Link - Report abuse 0Uncle Sam is still pretending to be 'faithful to the basic principles we must protect'. I wish they were too, but alas it seems they are still not.
Mar 22nd, 2013 - 09:29 am - Link - Report abuse 0Good on you Margaret.
Mar 22nd, 2013 - 09:46 am - Link - Report abuse 0Glad you didn't give in to the appeasers.
The spirit of Bodicea.(Boudicca, whatever spelling you like!)
It doesn't matter now, does it.
Mar 22nd, 2013 - 11:38 am - Link - Report abuse 0I have enormous admiration for Maggie, if any if the wet farts we have had in office since we're in charge at that time, we would have lost the Falklands in 82.
Mar 22nd, 2013 - 12:30 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Yes I suppose it was the thing to do at the time, send British people to save the British people living there.
Mar 22nd, 2013 - 01:43 pm - Link - Report abuse 0However, after all Britain has invested over the centuries in terms of money and lives lost its a bit much for the British passport carrying people on the islands, 1/3 of whom were actually born in G.B, to try to differentiate themselves from the country which set the place up for them, and then claim land the size of N.Ireland and 10 Billion in oil solely for themselves. The 60 million in GB get nothing and the 3000 become little Saudi oil kings/land barons. Ungrateful.
Of course there were some doubts about the attack . So far away , no allies in the area apart from Chile , a reduced military , opposition at home and so on . Still , they did the right thing and won . Interesting to read the note that was not sent to
Mar 22nd, 2013 - 01:45 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Reagan . Rings a bell !
AMBASSADOR RULES OUT FALKLANDS WAR
Mar 22nd, 2013 - 02:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 0http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=28565
Alicia Castro suggested international pressure would force Britain to the negotiating table
She stresses that division in the conservative party in 1982, and all the stress shows basically
That pressure will work,
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Royal Navy’s sixth Type 45 destroyer HMS Duncan arrives in Portsmouth
http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=28565
plus,,,,,,,,
HMS Defender commissioning ceremony held in Portsmouth
http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=28565
plus,,,,,,,,
QEClassCarriers: On Wed the ACA completed the heaviest lift to date. The final hull section - more than 900t - was lifted into place
http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=28565
pity then they wont fight,
still, if they think they can beat us with the talking stick,
then we suggest they talk a lot faster , quicker , and quietly, before they run out of credit,
lololol.
.
“”“ its a bit much for the British passport carrying people on the islands, 1/3 of whom were actually born in G.B, to try to differentiate themselves from the country which set the place up for them, and then claim land the size of N.Ireland and 10 Billion in oil solely for themselves. The 60 million in GB get nothing and the 3000 become little Saudi oil kings/land barons. Ungrateful.”“””
Mar 22nd, 2013 - 04:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Could be worse: they could have been Patagonian indigenes wiped out by their Argentine Colonial Overlords - how much say did they, or do they, get eh? Not a lot.
Talking of little Barons & Empire builders, how much is CFK and her cronies now worth?...how much before they came to power?
No 'empire growing' there is there?
Who was the chap who nicked all the money slated for re-building the flag airline? hmm...
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Maggie always had more balls than the rest of the Cabinet put together, and a good job too.
She was also probably the last British Prime Minister to talk to the US President as an equal, nowadays they do nothing but follow around on a leash.
@8 Margaret Thatcher did the right thing. As did British forces. And the British people. Who, in Britain, cares what it cost? Except the lives. 255 British servicemen and 3 Islanders. For whom argieland has yet to pay. I reckon 1 British serviceman is worth 5,000 argies. And 1 peaceful Falkland Islanders is worth at least 10,000 argies. I make that around 1.3 million argie executions. Is argieland ready to pay? And your “thought” that the Falkland Islands “owes” Britain anything is erroneous and stupid. To all intents and purposes, the Falkland Islands is a sovereign country that the relies on the UK for certain facilities. I don't want their gas or oil. I am more than happy to have helped and supported them. I'd rather that my tax money was given to the Falklanders than to a bunch of slimy, corrupt foreigners. End “foreign” aid and send the money to BOTs.
Mar 22nd, 2013 - 05:39 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@10 Don't be concerned. Castro regularly “speaks” from her arse. Despite “cutbacks”, the Royal Navy can turn argieland into a glass crater. And the U.S. has NO control. When we decide to shoot, argieland is toast.
@11 Maggie was great. She saved Britain from shame. I don't like shame. I want my nation to be able to beat every other nation. It can. Because we have the best there is. Two days after enlistment, any British soldier can “end” at least 200 argie “things”. They run anyway. What do “argies” dare? They dare to attack the weak. The ill-equipped. The out-numbered. But then, 12,000 “argies” against 5,000 British troops.
British troops are, without doubt, the best in the world. The “lowliest” British soldier is at least 5 times as good as any other “soldier”.
NO-ONE is better, in any way, than a British soldier. SAS, SBS, Paras, Royal Marines, any infantry regiment.
12 Conqueror---What sort of a racist clown are you..are you on something?
Mar 22nd, 2013 - 09:12 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Incidentally ,the main article is written verbatim from a BBC report who omitted the following..Rather than go to war it was proposed to offer each family on the Falklands who wished to remain British $100,000 resettlement to either Australia,New Zealand ,or Canada.
no matter now, it happened WE won and now we must make sure it won't happen again, so the garrison must stay there as long as it's required. End of.
Mar 22nd, 2013 - 10:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Comment removed by the editor.
Mar 22nd, 2013 - 10:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Comment removed by the editor.
Mar 22nd, 2013 - 10:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Who are those pimply assed,pencil necked mealy mouthed ass holes who would have rolled over for a bunch of hysterical Argentine hyenas?...Post their names so everyone can take their dogs to shit on their lawns...Cowardly bastards...Post their Names..!!
Mar 22nd, 2013 - 11:17 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Things are not going the Islanders’ way. Just when they thought that their right of self-determination had been vindicated, the cardinals elected an Argentinian pope, who holds that the Falklands are “nuestras islas”. Now comes the release of papers from 1982 which show that even close Thatcher aides doubted the paramountcy of the islanders’ wishes . Mrs. Thatcher got it wrong then, when she sent in the Task Force and Cameron’s government still get it wrong today when they stand by the islanders’ so-called right of self-determination. That right was denied to them by UN Resolution 2065 (XX) Question of the Falkland Islands/Malvinas (1965), which classified them as a “population” as opposed to a “people”. The papers suggest that the villain in the piece is the Foreign Office which misjudged the situation in 1981-82 and which continues to misunderstand South America today (e.g. William Hague in his Canning House Speech 2010 spoke of the UK’s commitment to the Falkland Islands as not being “an obstacle to postive relations, which we are seeking with South America”)
Mar 23rd, 2013 - 12:24 am - Link - Report abuse 0@18 but the '82 invasion changed everything
Mar 23rd, 2013 - 12:46 am - Link - Report abuse 0It put the Falklanders on the map as a people with a voice, it ensured that no British PM would attempt to sell them down the river and remain in office. It also gave the full UK citizenship
It also extinguished (non binding) resolution 2065 to the point where (as confirmed by Ban Ki Moon ) the UK is not currently in breach of any UN resolutions (despite what Argentina would have us believe) so in the long term and in a perverse way it actually helped the Islanders.
It also exposes as a sham the UK-US “special relationship” which the UK quotes (less often these days) and the US government vaunts when it suits them. sadly the US people are far more sympathetic but their government doesn't reflect this.
Hey ho - lease on Diego Garcia up for grabs soon. Once you have them by the balls the mind will surely follow!
Comment removed by the editor.
Mar 23rd, 2013 - 01:19 am - Link - Report abuse 0I see some of our sad sack RG trolls have come in on this with a name change.
Mar 23rd, 2013 - 03:52 am - Link - Report abuse 0Get a life ffs, nausiating adolescents, or middle aged crisis, who think they live in the UK. Pass the bucket somebody.
18 Devolverislas...Man oh man..what a total horse's ass this “Devolverilas” is...No wonder that Argentina is a basket case being led around by the nose by a bunch of “Facist” pigs...Ohh well what can one expect from a group of babbling baboons who really dont know where their next meal is coming from..?
Mar 23rd, 2013 - 05:48 am - Link - Report abuse 0#16 Sussie
Mar 23rd, 2013 - 10:55 am - Link - Report abuse 0What is your fixation with 5 star hotels ? Is it because you work as a toilet cleaner in one of these establishments and wish you could get a job in the Falklands if only they would build a 5 star hotel.
lol @ conqueror , were you at the coke and playing call of duty at the same time.
Mar 23rd, 2013 - 05:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 012@conqueror---hey you stupid fat idiot what shit are you smoking!?? hahahahahaha---PELOTUDO
Mar 23rd, 2013 - 11:54 pm - Link - Report abuse 0#19 The 1982 invasion drew attention to the Falkland Islands and their inhabitants but it did not put an end to the dispute over sovereignty. UN Resolution 2065 is still in force, as no member-state, specifically the UK, has ever applied to have it set aside.
Mar 24th, 2013 - 01:24 am - Link - Report abuse 0The UK doesn't need to do anything. The status quo only upsets Argentina. The UN can keep asking until the cows come home but there is no deadline just a request to talk. 2065 isn't a request to transfer sovereignty. Just talk!
Mar 24th, 2013 - 02:17 am - Link - Report abuse 0If Argentina hasn't invaded in 1982 and kept buttering up the Islanders it would probably be getting what it wanted.
Instead it chose invasion and then obstinance and all it has done it reinforce the Falkland Islands' British identity. Oh it wrapped it up in such bad economic mismanagement that the Islanders would have to be stark raving mad to submit their wealth and economic management to the idiots in BA.
If the only choice was between Argentina or Chile, Argentina still wouldn't get the Islands.
Imposter
Mar 25th, 2013 - 05:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Many so called Brits attempted to lambast me for praising the achievements of Lady Thatcher only a few months ago, particularly the lazy, work shy bastards who did not like the Poll Tax which would have put the onus for their existence onto them for a change.
Mar 26th, 2013 - 08:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Margaret Thatcher was the right person at the right time for the UK as far as I am concerned. All our so called allies, especially the Americans, who despite their usual gung-ho attitude were chicken livered in case they got embroiled in it. And how many times in recent years have the Brits been embroiled in their fantasies?
No, she knew it was a gamble but she also knew it was the RIGHT thing to do. I just wish the present house had just ONE leader with half the guts this wonderful woman showed, the UK would not be in the shit it presently is.
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