Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography (172 page)

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One prominent person trying to bring about a last-minute deal was Dr Henry Kissinger. He had already annoyed Mrs Thatcher earlier during the conflict when he called on her and asked her which of the existing ideas for a negotiated settlement she favoured: ‘Luckily for Pym, she thought that I had had these ideas. And she exploded: “How can you, my old friend, when we have been talking for nearly ten years?” … I didn’t have the heart to tell her they weren’t really my ideas, but her Foreign Secretary’s.’ (Interview with Dr Henry Kissinger.) On 2 June, Kissinger sent Judge Clark a memo detailing a conversation he had had with General Miret, the Argentine Plenipotentiary at the UN. It proposed variations on the themes of four-nation administration, ceasefire and mutual withdrawal of troops. Kissinger recommended it to Reagan on the grounds that, though the US had an interest in British resistance to Argentine force, ‘We do not have an equal interest in humiliating Argentina in its political objective and to bring about a cataclysmic reversal of its domestic policies and the disruption of the inter-American system, both of which we are now in severe danger of having happen.’ (Kissinger to Clark, 2 June 1982, Falklands War (UN/Kirkpatrick/Haig) (05/13/82–06/04/1982), Box 3, William Clark Files, Reagan Library.)

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On 8 June, Robert Armstrong wrote to John Coles with information that American support, especially that of President Reagan personally, was not as absolute as Mrs Thatcher, at her Versailles debriefing, had conveyed to her officials. It extended only to the complete cessation of hostilities and did not necessarily endorse what Britain intended to do next. Whitmore wrote on it: ‘Sir Robert Armstrong and I were inclined
not
to show this to the Prime Minister.’ (Armstrong to Coles, 8 June 1982, Prime Minister’s Papers, Argentina: Position of the Falkland Islands; document consulted in the Cabinet Office.)

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Despite Mitterrand’s staunch line, one French defence company, majority-owned by the French government, maintained a ‘technical team’ in Argentina throughout the conflict. This team helped repair at least three otherwise inoperable Exocets for use against British forces. (
Document
, BBC Radio 4, 5 Mar. 2012.)

†
On a personal level there was often an element of flirtation in the relationship, which Mrs Thatcher recognized and enjoyed. ‘Well, Prime Minister, that went rather well,’ suggested Robert Armstrong after Mitterrand’s first presidential visit to the UK in September 1981. ‘Yes, I suppose it did,’ she replied. And then she paused. ‘He likes women, you know.’ (Interview with Lord Armstrong of Ilminster.)

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The blame for Reagan’s ignorance lies with Haig, who had kept knowledge of the UN vote from both the President and Judge Clark to maximize his own room for manoeuvre (see Allan Gerson,
The Kirkpatrick Mission: Diplomacy without Apology
, Free Press, 1991, p. 131).

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One example of Mrs Thatcher’s attention to personal matters, even at the height of the Falklands crisis, was remembered with gratitude by Antony Acland. Learning that his wife was gravely ill with cancer, Mrs Thatcher sent a large bunch of roses from Chequers to her in hospital, with a handwritten note offering ‘the scent of flowers from an English country garden for you’. (Interview with Sir Antony Acland.)

†
Max Hastings (1945–), educated Charterhouse and University College, Oxford; journalist, war correspondent and historian; editor,
Daily Telegraph
, 1986–95; editor,
Evening Standard
, 1995–2002; author
The Battle for the Falklands
(with Simon Jenkins, 1983),
Bomber Command
(1979),
Overlord
(1984),
Armageddon
(2004) and many other works; knighted, 2002.

*
Michael Rose (1940–), educated Cheltenham and St Edmund Hall, Oxford; Staff College; Royal College of Defence Staff; served with Coldstream Guards in Germany, Aden and Northern Ireland; Commanding Officer, 22 Special Air Service Regiment, 1979–82; Director, Special Forces, 1988–9; Commander, UN Protection Force, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1994–5; knighted, 1994.

†
There is some dispute about the exact figure for Argentine deaths.

*
It seems unlikely that Argentine flags of surrender were, in fact, flying, though Sir Michael Rose thought that he remembered seeing them. (Interview with Sir Michael Rose.) The only known example of a white flag that day was flown by a civilian anxious to indicate that there was no longer any need for a British attack. (See Freedman,
The Official History of the Falklands Campaign
, vol. ii, p. 650.)

†
In his broadcast to the nation the following day, vowing eventual victory for Argentina, General Galtieri did not mention the word ‘surrender’.

*
As the war progressed, the producers of
Anyone for Denis?
, the satirical West End revue based on
Private
Eye
’s fictitious ‘Dear Bill’ letters supposedly written by Denis, brought the show to an end.

*
Reagan’s call for a ‘just peace’ was sent to Mrs Thatcher only as a private letter.

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When her behaviour is compared with Tony Blair’s readiness to read the lesson at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in September 1997 (an act entirely without precedent for a Prime Minister on a royal occasion), it will be seen that Mrs Thatcher was scrupulous about the proprieties.