Why Corbyn has got it wrong on the Falklands
JEREMY CORBYN has said he didn’t support sending the task force in 1982 to liberate the Falklands, after they were illegally invaded by Argentine forces, because he was waiting for the United Nations to negotiate a settlement over the dispute. Worryingly, he seems to have forgotten that, on the eve of the invasion, the UN requested that the Argentinians desist (they ignored the request). Then, within 48 hours of the invasion, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 502, which called for Argentine forces to withdraw and for Britain and Argentina to open negotiations. Again, the Argentine government failed to heed the request. Consequently, then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had little choice but to proceed with her plans to liberate the islands. I worked at the Falklands radio station for 40 years — having joined straight from school at age 15 — as a reporter, political and sports commentator. This photograph (above) shows the day after the Argentine invasion — April 3, 1982 — when an armed Argentinian officer arrived at the radio station with the consul and I was obliged to broadcast a statement to my fellow islanders. The two girls in the background are my daughters Amara, then 11, and Cyndi, ten. It is pleasing to note that, since their liberation, the Falklands have, through issuing lucrative offshore fishing licences, maintained their financial autonomy, and the population is not a drain on the UK taxpayer. Recent exploration has resulted in the discovery around the islands of vast quantities of oil, which will generate many billions of pounds once exploitation begins in 2020. Britain should receive massive revenue from Falklands oil — another good reason to keep the Falklands British.