Argentinians Peeved
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Argentinians Peeved
I see the Argentinians are a bit peeved about the recently unveiled bronze bust of Margaret Thatcher in Stanley http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/6255.
Personally I'd rename MPA Margaret Thatcher International Airport!
Personally I'd rename MPA Margaret Thatcher International Airport!
You'd name MPA after Thatcher? The Prime Minister who presided over the loss of the Falklands and whose defence cuts, slashing of the RN surface fleet, scrapping of carriers, retirement of HMS Endurance and general neglect of foreign policy led to the Argentinian Government deternining that they could successfully invade and retain the Falklands? Wow!
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Whatever your opinion of her the Falkland Islanders seem to like her. And I think if you check your history you'll find that her Government was not responsible for the withdrawal and scrapping of any aircraft carriers.
AGS Man,
What? Thatchers Government sold HMS Invincible to the Australians, announced the premature retirement of HMS Hermes, the scrapping of HMS Fearless and Intrepid, the disbandment of the FAA Wessex 5 squadrons and the total abandonment of helicopter and amphibious lift for the Royal Marines, disbandment of Royal Marine Commando Groups and the scrapping without replacement of HMS Endurance.
Do you remember Thatcher's Defence Minister? A certain Mr Nott?
What kind of message do you think that lot sent out to the Argentinian Government?
What? Thatchers Government sold HMS Invincible to the Australians, announced the premature retirement of HMS Hermes, the scrapping of HMS Fearless and Intrepid, the disbandment of the FAA Wessex 5 squadrons and the total abandonment of helicopter and amphibious lift for the Royal Marines, disbandment of Royal Marine Commando Groups and the scrapping without replacement of HMS Endurance.
Do you remember Thatcher's Defence Minister? A certain Mr Nott?
What kind of message do you think that lot sent out to the Argentinian Government?
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AGS Man,
What? Thatchers Government sold HMS Invincible to the Australians, announced the premature retirement of HMS Hermes, the scrapping of HMS Fearless and Intrepid, the disbandment of the FAA Wessex 5 squadrons and the total abandonment of helicopter and amphibious lift for the Royal Marines, disbandment of Royal Marine Commando Groups and the scrapping without replacement of HMS Endurance.
Do you remember Thatcher's Defence Minister? A certain Mr Nott?
What kind of message do you think that lot sent out to the Argentinian Government?
What? Thatchers Government sold HMS Invincible to the Australians, announced the premature retirement of HMS Hermes, the scrapping of HMS Fearless and Intrepid, the disbandment of the FAA Wessex 5 squadrons and the total abandonment of helicopter and amphibious lift for the Royal Marines, disbandment of Royal Marine Commando Groups and the scrapping without replacement of HMS Endurance.
Do you remember Thatcher's Defence Minister? A certain Mr Nott?
What kind of message do you think that lot sent out to the Argentinian Government?
What the actual message was, was "We have no money, the last government left us in such a dire situation that we have to make cuts to even remotely balance the budget". A position the Argentinians are quite familiar with today, as is the UK for that matter.
I think they made two mistakes. Firstly, a nuclear-armed true bluewater Navy with aircraft carrier(s), two more on order, amphibious landing ships, a couple of dozen submarines, plenty of escorts and a merchant fleet that had plenty of lift for troops, equipment and fuel, backed by an airforce with long range bombers and an Army of 150,000 makes for a potent enemy, with or without the cuts.
Secondly, they seem to have forgotten that the Cold War was on, and if the UK had caved in, it would have sent a message to the Soviets.
I agree that the Nott cuts were unwelcome, but a) they were mostly reversed and b) they served as a timely lesson to politicians at the time.
pr00ne,
I can't quite work you out old chap, your comments on here come across as some kind of ultra-right martial minded Hawk. You've just complained about defence cuts under the early Thatcher administration and directly blamed this for the Argentinian invasion. Do you recall the position of Her Majesty's Loyal opposition at the time? That is before when they were in Government and during the Thatcher years when in opposition.
FB
I can't quite work you out old chap, your comments on here come across as some kind of ultra-right martial minded Hawk. You've just complained about defence cuts under the early Thatcher administration and directly blamed this for the Argentinian invasion. Do you recall the position of Her Majesty's Loyal opposition at the time? That is before when they were in Government and during the Thatcher years when in opposition.
FB
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HMS Invincible was originally an Australian Navy purchase, to be named HMAS Australia but the upcoming threat darn sarf meant that the Royal Navy would take her over and she continued in RN service until being scrapped in Turkey. But why let inaccuracies spoil the truth, hey? 
PrOOne
>>> Do you recall the position of Her Majesty's Loyal opposition at the time? That is before when they were in Government and during the Thatcher years when in opposition. <<<
A little error in your profile, old boy ? "Socialist" barrister, maybe ?
Still, don't let us allow politics to spoil a good story ……….
>>> Do you recall the position of Her Majesty's Loyal opposition at the time? That is before when they were in Government and during the Thatcher years when in opposition. <<<
A little error in your profile, old boy ? "Socialist" barrister, maybe ?
Still, don't let us allow politics to spoil a good story ……….
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Agree. It was actually young Denis Healey when Defence Minister in the 70s, along with his cancellation of TSR 2. Perhaps Pr00ne is confusing Denis Healey with Denis Thatcher, an easy mistake to make. 
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Bollotom,
Well, not exactly old mate.
My recollection is that HMS Invincible had been commissioned into and was part of the RN.
Having retired HMAS Melbourne, an old Majestic class carrier, OZ was faced with being without a Fleet Air Arm of any kind.
Invincible was offered to us, second hand, at a bargain-basement price and, after a deal of internal argument over how much it would cost to make her suitable for integration into our Navy, the offer was accepted.
The Falklands crisis arose and Britain said to us "Umm chaps, would you mind if..."
The rest is history.
Well, not exactly old mate.
My recollection is that HMS Invincible had been commissioned into and was part of the RN.
Having retired HMAS Melbourne, an old Majestic class carrier, OZ was faced with being without a Fleet Air Arm of any kind.
Invincible was offered to us, second hand, at a bargain-basement price and, after a deal of internal argument over how much it would cost to make her suitable for integration into our Navy, the offer was accepted.
The Falklands crisis arose and Britain said to us "Umm chaps, would you mind if..."
The rest is history.
Yes, and who was it who indicated to the Government of Argentina in 1977 that the UK was prepared to discuss the Sovereignty of the FI...
...which resulted in a submarine and a frigate or two being deployed not-so-secretly by the UK when Argentina read the UK politics as carte blanche (as our newly-found French comrades would say) to prepare to invade?
...which resulted in a submarine and a frigate or two being deployed not-so-secretly by the UK when Argentina read the UK politics as carte blanche (as our newly-found French comrades would say) to prepare to invade?
....the recently unveiled bronze bust of Margaret Thatcher in Stanley.
Bollotom,
..."upcoming threat down sarf...."
Now whose letting inaccuracies spoil the truth eh?
The HMS Invincible sale had been agreed and signed with the Australians and they had crew over in the UK training to take it over.
It was only after WE LOST THE FALKLANDS to an Argentinian invasion that someone somewhere realised that maybe, just maybe, that Thatcher Defence Minister Mr Nott was not as smart as he claimed.
Not sure quite what you mean about Dennis Healey? I think YOU are confusing your decades...
Roadster280,
How ironic, it was almost the exact same phrase used by Labour when they took over from the Tories in 1964, who were the first to admit "sorry old boy, there's no money left" to the incoming Labour Chancellor.
As for Her Majesty's Loyal opposition, that will have been the Labour Party, the same Labour Party that when in power in the previous administration had actually ORDERED the Sea Harrier, after years of Tory prevaricating.
And it was that same Labour Government that had seen off two previous Argentinian threatenings to the Falklands, as Whenurhappy has already pointed out, by discretely deploying Frigates and mentioning that they MAY have deployed an SSN or two...
FinningleyBoy,
No idea what you are on about, right wing? You been drinking?
..."upcoming threat down sarf...."
Now whose letting inaccuracies spoil the truth eh?
The HMS Invincible sale had been agreed and signed with the Australians and they had crew over in the UK training to take it over.
It was only after WE LOST THE FALKLANDS to an Argentinian invasion that someone somewhere realised that maybe, just maybe, that Thatcher Defence Minister Mr Nott was not as smart as he claimed.
Not sure quite what you mean about Dennis Healey? I think YOU are confusing your decades...
Roadster280,
How ironic, it was almost the exact same phrase used by Labour when they took over from the Tories in 1964, who were the first to admit "sorry old boy, there's no money left" to the incoming Labour Chancellor.
As for Her Majesty's Loyal opposition, that will have been the Labour Party, the same Labour Party that when in power in the previous administration had actually ORDERED the Sea Harrier, after years of Tory prevaricating.
And it was that same Labour Government that had seen off two previous Argentinian threatenings to the Falklands, as Whenurhappy has already pointed out, by discretely deploying Frigates and mentioning that they MAY have deployed an SSN or two...
FinningleyBoy,
No idea what you are on about, right wing? You been drinking?
Suspicion breeds confidence
pr00ne,
You are yet again factually incorrect re Invincible. Australia had an option to buy which was never exercised. No money changed hands, no contracts changed hands no RAN personnel were here. As usual, you are ill informed and hopelessly inaccurate.
You are yet again factually incorrect re Invincible. Australia had an option to buy which was never exercised. No money changed hands, no contracts changed hands no RAN personnel were here. As usual, you are ill informed and hopelessly inaccurate.
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Pr00ne, dear fellow. Only a Wikiwotsit but if you read about the good Denis you can see I was not getting my decades mixed up, as I lived through them.
When Labour won the 1964 election Healey served throughout the government as Secretary of State for Defence. He cut defence expenditure, scrapping Aircraft carriers, the proposed CVA01 and the reconstructed HMS Victorious, effectively a new ship in 1958 and cancelled his proposed carrier replacements 150 TSR-2 aircraft and then the F-111. Of the scrapped RN carriers, Healey commented that to most ordinary seamen they were just floating slums [6] and too vulnerable.
Perhaps I should cut you some slack as your losing the Falklands, and my definition were perhaps at cross purposes.
When Labour won the 1964 election Healey served throughout the government as Secretary of State for Defence. He cut defence expenditure, scrapping Aircraft carriers, the proposed CVA01 and the reconstructed HMS Victorious, effectively a new ship in 1958 and cancelled his proposed carrier replacements 150 TSR-2 aircraft and then the F-111. Of the scrapped RN carriers, Healey commented that to most ordinary seamen they were just floating slums [6] and too vulnerable.
Perhaps I should cut you some slack as your losing the Falklands, and my definition were perhaps at cross purposes.
"Mildly" Eccentric Stardriver
So the Argentinians are upset. Their problem. As a British Protectorate, the Falkland Islanders can erect any statue they want. Still, it takes the population's mind off other things.
