United front on Falklands an illusion
Thursday 21 March 2013
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EmailWide divisions within the Conservative party over how the government should respond to Argentina's invasion of the Falklands were revealed today as Margaret Thatcher's 1982 private papers were made public.
While the Tories publicly presented a united front, briefing notes prepared for the Prime Minister demonstrate the polarised opinions she had to contend with in the early days of the crisis.
Until now the backroom deliberations have remained largely private but the notes are among those released by the Margaret Thatcher Archive Trust as it opens its files from a year which came to define Lady Thatcher's career.
They range from Ken Clarke, then a junior minister, arguing to "blow up a few ships but nothing more" to West Devon MP Peter Mills who warned: "My constituents want blood."
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