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.
Japan's prime minister on Thursday quoted comments by former British premier Margaret Thatcher about the Falklands War with Argentina as he spoke about Tokyo's acrimonious islands’ dispute with China.
Ahead of a much disputed by election at Eastleigh, Hampshire, Prime Minister David Cameron had a chance to make an impression during the PM questions on Wednesday accusing Labour hopeful John O’Farrell of supporting terrorism and Argentina because he wanted Great Britain to lose the Falklands’ war.
Three days after Argentina’s ruling military junta seized the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic (April 1982), the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher called for an “urgent assessment” of Britain’s ability to defend Gibraltar, prompted in part by the “jubilant reaction” to the invasion in the Spanish press.
The 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands by Argentina caught PM Margaret Thatcher by surprise, newly released government papers have shown. The then-prime minister only saw it was likely after getting “raw intelligence” two days before the Argentines landed.
In the light of the referendum on the political future of the Falkland Islands scheduled for March 2013, Islander Eric Goss this week provided Penguin News with historical information relating to a Sovereignty Survey conducted in 1986 that revealed a 94.5% cent vote by Islanders in favour of British sovereignty.
The July edition of the South Georgia Newsletter recalls a major British military and political event in the South Atlantic has been largely overlooked by the region’s history books. A Royal Navy task force, codenamed Operation Journeyman, was deployed to the waters around South Georgia and the Falklands in 1977 following the occupation of Southern Thule in the South Sandwich Islands by 50 Argentine “scientists”.
By John J. Metzler (*) At the time of the 1982 invasion, Argentina was run by a military junta who unwisely played the nationalism card and seized the islands 300 miles off the coast of South America.
It is a well known and admitted fact that the Chilean regime of General Augusto Pinochet provided very useful intelligence to the British effort to recover the occupied Falkland Islands in 1982.
The Economist latest edition includes a piece on April 2nd 1982 when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands. The ensuing war Britain fought to recover them still colors UK and Argentine domestic politics