Thatcher in Falklands

Press, 10 January 1983, Page 1

Thatcher in Falklands

NZPA Port Stanley The British Prime Minister. Mrs Margaret Thatcher, has arrived in the Falklands saying she wants to pay tribute to troops who recaptured the islands from Argentina seven months ago. Mrs Thatcher flew in at the week-end on, a surprise visit which took her a third of the way round the world in total secrecy. She was accompanied by her husband, Mr Denis Thatcher, and the Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Sir John Fieldhouse. Also at the week-end Argentina reaffirmed its claim to sovereignty over the Falklands. “Argentina firmly maintains its claim of sovereignty over the Malvinas in the expectation that the civilised international community will give its support,” the Foreign Minister. Mr Juan Ramon Aguiri*Lanark said. «.

He was speaking to reporters during a stop at Caracas’s international airport on his way from Buenos Aires to' a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Managua, Nicaragua. He made no direct reference to Mrs Thatcher's trip, but said his Government continued to seek “frank, serious and honest negotiations” with the aim of obtaining recognition of what he called Argentina’s sovereign rights to the islands. Officials said, that Mrs Thatcher’s visit would be short, but declined to say how long she would spend in the Falklands. She was expected to make an intensive tour, meeting British troops and. the people. According to her official , diary, Mrs Thatcher should been been at Chequers, the i Prime Minister's country i residence west of London. The Government kept the

visit secret apparently out of fear that Argentinian aircraft might buzz Mrs Thatcher’s Hercules transport plane as it flew to the South Atlantic. The Prime Minister said on her arrival at Port Stanley Airfield that she was “very thrilled, very excited” to be in the Falklands. She said that she was paying a tribute to those who recaptured the islands. Asked by reporters if she thought that the Argentinians would view her visit as a provocative gesture, Mrs Thatcher said: “It would be very strange if I did not come to the Falkland Islands, very strange indeed,” News of her arrival spread swiftly in Port Stanley and islanders cheered her as she drove to the civil Commissioner’s residence in warm, sunny weather. British soldiers on military duties

snapped to attention as they realised who was passing. Mrs Thatcher’s arrival comes just as the Falklanders are preparing to celebrate the 150th anniversary of British rule. The visit also comes at the start of what is widely expected to be a British election year and it could prove controversial. Political sources said that Mrs Thatcher probably intended the trip to reinforce her image as a resolute, forceful leader. Critics of the Conservative Government were expected to accuse Mrs Thatcher of trying to make further political capital out of a war which boosted her standing in opinion polls. In Buenos Aires, journalists reported that Mrs Thatcher's visit caught Argentina completely by surprise.

“We are stunned by the development,” an editor on the conservative “La Nacion” daily said. A leader of Argentina’s second largest political party, the Centrist Radical Union, described Mrs Thatcher’s visit as a blatant show of colonialism.

In London, Major-General Sir Jeremy Moore, one of the heroes of Britain’s successful Falklands campaign, has joined Britain’s army of unemployed, the “News of the World” reports. Sir Jeremey, aged 54, retired from the Royal Marines before Christmas and hoped to get a job with a company looking for a man with his leadership, managerial and “raw guts” experience. However, he has had no luck.

Sir Jeremy said that he was not claiming the dole at the moment, but it was “a possibility in the future.” He is also without a house.

Sir Jeremy, who accepted the unconditional surrender of the Argentinian force, is living in an Army flat in London after vacating the large house supplied by the Royal Marines during his service.