I looked at those shaggy, filthy exhausted men with whom as a spectator I had shared so much, with a love and admiration which have never faded. I laughed at the memory of all my own doubts and fears about the war, and my own part in it. I was simply boundlessly proud, to have had the opportunity to watch the British armed forces do something tremendously well.
To look at the British achievement in context, it is necessary to remember just what the mood of this country was, back in 1982. We had just come through the 1970s, one of the worst decades in our modern history. We seemed a failed state. we could do nothing right. Our economy was a shambles, public services on their knees, British business and industry an embarrassment. We could not make cars or run airlines or even financial services. Those of us who had grown up through that period had become to accustomed to failure than we assumed that for the rest of our lifetimes, we would have to watch Britain continuing relentlessly to crumble and decline.
Yet here, now, in the South Atlantic, we had seen Britain’s armed forces do something supremely well. How could we fail to be deeply moved by the spectacle? And how, indeed, could the British people at home not feel the same? The rest, of course, is history. The return of the victorious task force prompted a surge of elation among the nation, and of admiration and enthusiasm for Mrs.Thatcher, the victor, which persisted for many moons thereafter.
The Prime Minister had gambled everything. If, as was perfectly possible, we had lost Canberra with 3 Commando Brigade, or even one of the two aircraft carriers, the expedition would have been plunged into crisis. If the Argentines had been just a little better, they could have kept us bogged down on those hills as the weather worsened, and sustained a stalemate. But a combination of courage, skill and old-fashioned luck gave the day to the British.
For sure, there will never be anything like the Falklands War again. It is wildly unlikely that Britain will fight another conflict alone. It is also unlikely that another adversary will be so foolish as to engage in such an old-fashioned head-to-head encounter with a beginning, a middle and an end. We have entered the new age of so-called asymetric warfare, wars among the people, in which our enemies wear no uniforms, fly no flags, and choose their means and moments of violence to suit themselves, not us. The Falklands was a profoundly old-fashioned war in every way – even some of the weapons we were using, bren and bofors guns, had seen service in World War II. It was short, sharp, and had a clear outcome. I have always thought that if it had dragged on inconclusively, if there had been a long stalemate on the hills, the will of the British people would not assuredly have remained solid. Modern electorates are chronically fickle and impatient, abetted in this by the media.
I return to the point I made at the beginning: success justifies all. Nobody wanted nasty answers to the tough questions about why the Falklands had to be fought, about the massive government blunders which preceded it, in the euphoria after our success. As Mrs.Thatcher said after the recapture of South Georgia: ‘Just rejoice!’ In my view, if Iraq today was stable and peaceful, nobody would give a damn about Weapons of Mass Destruction. It is because Tony Blair’s great gamble has failed, where Margaret Thatcher’s triumphantly succeeded, that his legacy will be cursed by his war, while Thatcher’s is wreathed in triumphant laurels by hers.
I must end with a word about Britain’s armed forces, which I have always loved so well, and never more than during the South Atlantic war – the Navy, Marines, Paras, Scots & Welsh Guards. Nothing has caused many of us greater distress and anger, in recent years, than to perceive the criminal neglect, both human and financial, with which they have been treated by recent governments – and that includes Tory ones. When so many other national institutions have been called into question, the British Army has remained a beacon of courage, skill, professionalism and honour. But it will not long continue to do so, unless it receives vastly more convincing support from the government, and indeed from the British people. It is literally intolerable, to send British troops to fight with inadequate armoured vehicles, far too few helicopters, far too few men, come to that. It becomes even more so, when their wounded are shockingly neglected on their return to this country, and when some chiefs of staff who should know better keep silent in the face of government follies, rather than speak out for their men – I exclude from this criticism, of course, General Sir Richard Dannatt.
We shall not again have to fight such a war as the Falklands, but we shall surely need our armed forces to defend us. If we persist with present policies, they will be unable to do so. All those of us who have ever seen the British Army and Royal Navy at their best know just how good that best can be. The commemoration of this 25th anniversary of the Falklands War that most of us wish to see is that the spirit of the fighting men who achieved that remarkable victory should be kept alive in the 21st Century, for future national emergencies which are sure to come.