Falklands facts

It was a turning point in the premiership of Margaret Thatcher, who was fighting for her own political survival because of the seriousness of the country’s economic woes, and her hand-written notes reveal just how close Britain came to surrendering the Falklands without a fight.

Despite the Conservative government trying to present an united front and defending the courage of all those who sailed to the South Atlantic on a Task Force mustered at a very short notice, Lady Thatcher’s leadership becomes even more remarkable now the contents of her personal notes have been revealed.

They reveal the reluctance of Ken Clarke, then a junior minister, who put forward this view: “Hopes nobody thinks we are going to fight the Argentinians. We should blow up a few ships but nothing more.” The support of Sir Ian Gilmour, one of the so-called “wets” sacked in the now infamous 1981 Cabinet reshuffle, was even more sceptical: “We are making a big mistake. It will make Suez look like common sense.”

This country should be thankful that Mrs Thatcher did not listen to such advice. As well as liberating the Falklands, whose inhabitants continue – to this day – to consider themselves to be British, this operation enabled the UK to regain much of the global prestige that it had lost in the preceding decade.

It is also a salutary reminder to David Cameron about the importance of protecting the Armed Forces from spending cuts. For, while Britain still had the means to assemble a Task Force in 1982, many doubt whether such a mission could be undertaken today because of the dismantling of the Navy – and a lack of political will.