The Economist - UK (2022-04-02)

26 Britain The Economist April 2nd 2022

TheFalklandswar, 40 yearson

Not even past

L

ateon the afternoon ofMarch 31st

1982,the headofthe RoyalNavy, Sir

HenryLeach,returnedtoWhitehallaftera

dayofroutineinspections.Onhisdeskhe

foundtwodocuments.Onewarnedthata

fearedArgentineinvasionoftheFalkland

Islands,a Britishoverseasterritoryinthe

SouthAtlantic,wasimminent.Theother

concludedthatBritaincoulddoprecious

littleaboutit.Leach,a tallmanwitha bluff

manner,hadotherideas,andstormedoff

tofindtheprimeminister.

The First Sea Lord found Margaret

ThatcherintheHouseofCommons,clos­

etedwithministersandofficials.Theat­

mosphere,helaterrecalled, was oneof

“completegloom”.Thatcheraskedwhether

hethoughttheycouldretaketheFalklands.

“Yes,”heanswereddecisively,againstall

theadvice shewas getting. “Andin my

judgment, we must.” “Why do you say

that?”snappedThatcher.“Becauseif wedo

not,”Leachreplied,“ifwemuckaround,if

wepussyfoot...ina veryfewmonths’time

weshallbelivinginadifferentcountry

whosewordwillcountforlittle.”

ThatchergaveLeacha “coldstare”,and

thencrackeda grin.Leachhadgiventhe

primeministerhermission.Argentinain­

vadedtheislandsonApril2nd;aBritish

navaltaskforcesetsaila fewdayslater.

Fortyyearson,theFalklandswarstill

resonates—especially among Conserva­

tives.ItchangedbothThatcher’sfortunes

andthepost­warnarrativeofBritain’sde­

cline.Andithappenedata formativetime

forthecurrentgenerationofpoliticallead­

ers:BorisJohnson,theprimeminister,was

17 whenArgentinainvaded.

The most immediateconsequenceof

thewar,whichcostthelivesof 649 Argen­

tinianand 255 Britishservicemen,wasto

transform Thatcher’s premiership. She

capturedandchannelledanoutpouringof

patriotic pride in the successes of the

armedforces8,000milesaway.Attheend

of 1981 Gallup,a pollingoutfit,puttheCon­

servative Party’s approval rating at just

23%;bythetimetheArgentinessurren­

deredonJune14thit wasaround50%.

A thumpingmajority for Thatcherat

thenextelection,inMay1983,wasnotdue

onlytothewar:a feebleoppositionanda

recoveringeconomyhelped.Butwithout

the“Falklandsfactor”shewouldhavebeen

hard­pressedtowina majorityofanysize.

Asitwas,sheexploitedherstrengthened

mandatetotakeonandfacedownmilitant

tradeunionism.

Thechangeinmoodwascapturedby

oneofthebannersslungoffthesideofthe

CanberrabyRoyalMarinesastheconvert­

edcruiseshipreturnedtoSouthampton:

“callofftherailstrike—orwe’llcall

anairstrike!”.Eventhosewhohadop­

posedthewarconcededthatthepolitical

environmenthadchanged.Onetribuneof

theleft,TonyBenn,acceptedthat“wehave

justcometotheendofanera.”

Thelonger­termculturalconsequences

alsomattered,especiallyforConservative

andright­of­centrepoliticians.Defending

therightsoftheFalklandIslanderstode­

terminetheirownfuturewasThatcher’s

immediate casusbelli, but,asLeachhad

suggested, for Britain there was much

moreatstake.Declinehadbeentheleit­

motif ofpost­war British politicsas the

countryslippedinexorablydowntheeco­

nomicanddiplomaticleaguetables.

Noone feltthismore painfully than

Thatcherherself,electedprimeministerin

1979.“Ican’tbearBritainindecline.I just

can’t,”shewailedtothebbcbeforepolling

daythatyear.“We,whoeitherdefeatedor

rescuedhalfEurope,whokepthalfEurope

free,whenotherwiseit wouldbeinchains!

Andlookatusnow!”Doingnothinginre­

sponse totheArgentineinvasionwould

haveconfirmedthissorrypicture.

Instead,arguesDominicSandbrook,a

historianandauthorof“WhoDaresWins:

Britain1979­1982”,a “deeplyburiedsenseof

nationalexceptionalismbegantostir”.A

new generation was less bashful about ex­

pressing a sense of pride in Britain and its

historic  role  in  the  world.  Many  of  those

who  had  favoured  Britain’s  entry  into  the

European  Economic  Community  (as  it

then was) in 1973 had argued that the coun­

try needed to join the trade bloc because of

its relative weakness. 

Lord  David  Owen,  then  a  leader  of  the

centrist  Social  Democratic  Party,  argues

that  the  Falklands  conflict  “changed  Brit­

ain”,  suggesting  that  Britain  could  look  at

different options. “There is a line that goes

from the war to Brexit,” he says. Nigel Far­

age,  who  corralled  Euroscepticism  into  a

political  movement,  also  remembers  “a

massive  upsurge  in  patriotism”  after  the

war  and  a  renewal  of  “national  self­confi­

dence”.  Here  were  the  “seeds”  for  the

founding of the United Kingdom Indepen­

dence Party in 1993. 

The  Falklands  conflict  also  reshaped

the  template  for  political  leadership.

Thatcher  herself  listened  much  less,  be­

lieving that only the application of an iron

will  could  succeed.  And  the  war  en­

trenched the idea of politics as a Maniche­

an  contest  of  resolution  versus  appease­

ment,  freedom  versus  oppression.  That

contest has a renewed salience now. 

No unwounded soldiers

In  a  speech  given  to  Conservative  Party

members last month, Ben Wallace, the de­

fence secretary, explicitly invoked Thatch­

er’s  leadership  to  yoke  the  events  of  40

years ago to a much more significant con­

flict.  “She  equipped  the  forces  with  the

most  important  weapon  of  all—the  moral

component...that deep sense that what we

were  fighting  for  was  legal,  justified  and

right,”  said  Mr  Wallace.  “Today  that  same

moral  component  is  what  is  arming  the

men  and  women  of  Ukraine.”The Falk­

lands war may have been over quickly,but

the narratives it spawned live on.n

The ten-week conflict in the South Atlantic still resonates, especially for Tories

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