Tories not hopeful

A Tory MP who has led demands for a peaceful settlement of the Falklands crisis, today said he had very little optimism about finding a solution by negotiation.

The Chairman of the Tory back bench Foreign Affairs Committee (Mr Roy Whitney), was commenting on a private meeting of the committee. Mr Whitney said there was general recognition ‘that almost certainly we cannot find a solution’.

Mr Ian Lloyd (Havant and Waterlooville) said there was ‘20-1 support’ for the Foreign Secretary at the committee meeting.

During the discussion, Mr Lloyd said Britain needed a major industrial and logistic base nearer to the Falklands than Ascension Island or the USA.