Exit a peacemaker

Press, 7 April 1982, Page 16

Exit a peacemaker

A British Government has suffered the worst international humiliation since the withdrawal from the Suez Canal late in 1956. Perhaps it was inevitable that an outstanding political figure had to be sacrificed if Mrs Thatcher’s Conservative Government was to survive. Even so, the resignation of Lord Carrington as Foreign Secretary has cost the British Prime Minister one of her staunchest and most able supporters. Lord Carrington’s political demise seems to be an inglorious end to the career of a man who has been a notable peacemaker, in Britain’s relations with Malta in 1971 and, much more prominently, as the architect of an end to Rhodesia’s long rebellion and that country’s transformation into Zimbabwe. Lord Carrington’s fate appears unfair. Had he acted to defend the Falkland Islands each time the Argentinians made a new threat, he would have had to keep half the British Navy tied up in a succession of patrols in the South Atlantic. This, too, would have brought strenuous criticisms from, other British political leaders, and from Britain’s allies in N.A.T.0., for whom the Royal Navy forms a large and vital part of Western Europe’s maritime defences. As it is, the belated task force on its way south this week leaves N.A.T.O. stretched very thin at sea in Europe’s western approaches.

If Lord Carrington had solid, advance warning of Argentina’s intentions, blame is justified. So far there is no reason to doubt

his statement that the final decision to invade was not made in Buenos Aires until late March, leaving no time for an adequate British reaction. Lord Carrington has shown that the Westminster principle of Ministerial responsibility for failure, even if that failure is beyond a Minister’s control, remains intact. The principle is old, and proud, and very important. The demonstration should not be missed by other Parliaments, including that of New Zealand, which maintain their adherence to the British example.

Mr Francis Pym, the new Foreign Secretary, is a notable pillar of Britain’s Conservative establishment, but he does not enjoy the same close relationship, or confidence, that marked Lord Carrington’s position in Mrs Thatcher’s cabinet. As Mrs Thatcher’s first Minister of Defence, in 1979, he argued vigorously that Britain should maintain adequate conventional military forces, a policy that led to his replacement in the defence portfolio. With hindsight, Mr Pym is being proved right. A nuclear response to the Falkland Islands invasion is unthinkable. The Royal Navy, with support from the other services, provides the appropriate means to counter the invasion. Whether this response will mean war remains imponderable as negotiations continue. By unhappy coincidence, Lord Carrington’s departure removes one of the ablest peacemakers among Mrs Thatcher’s close advisers.