1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:04,160 '30 years ago, Britain went to war, 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:06,360 'probably for the last time 3 00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:09,640 'all on its own, without allies. 4 00:00:09,640 --> 00:00:13,240 'That extraordinary conflict, which I reported as a journalist, 5 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:17,560 'boosted Britain's confidence at home and standing abroad. 6 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:21,280 'It achieved a famous victory many doubted could be won.' 7 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:23,880 The prestige of the armed forces soared, 8 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:26,840 emboldening Margaret Thatcher's successors 9 00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:31,600 to use them abroad, amazingly enthusiastically. 10 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:36,760 'The Falklands transformed the fortunes of one prime minister 11 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:40,480 'and played a part in persuading another that the British people 12 00:00:40,480 --> 00:00:42,200 'approve of wars. 13 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:45,800 'And while in 1982 Argentine invaders surrendered, 14 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:48,200 'their government today still clamours noisily 15 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:50,040 'for possession of the islands.' 16 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:53,880 Viva Malvinas! APPLAUSE 17 00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:57,480 30 years on, the Falklands legacy seems full of ironies. 18 00:00:57,480 --> 00:00:59,960 The war created a strategic commitment, 19 00:00:59,960 --> 00:01:03,040 which British governments had never seriously recognised 20 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:05,960 before it was fought, and has since cost us billions. 21 00:01:05,960 --> 00:01:08,360 The islands' inhabitants 22 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:12,600 remain the 3,000 most expensively defended people on Earth. 23 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:17,600 The 1982 South Atlantic campaign was a triumph for the armed forces 24 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:20,800 but as for its place in history, 25 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:24,360 did it mark the start of a national revival 26 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:29,920 or was it just a dramatic diversion on the path of our decline? 27 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:51,200 CHEERING 28 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:53,880 On Saturday 3rd July, 1982, 29 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:58,200 less than three weeks after the Falklands War ended 30 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:01,040 and before the task force was even home, 31 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:03,120 Britain's prime minister came here 32 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:06,240 to the unlikely setting of Cheltenham Race Course 33 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:10,440 to sing a victory song to a rally of the Tory faithful. 34 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:16,000 'Here, the Prime Minister set out her stall 35 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:18,800 'for the rest of her reign in office. 36 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:22,800 'Britain was back. Its post-World War II decline was over.' 37 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:28,320 We faced them squarely, and we were determined to overcome. 38 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:32,960 That is increasingly the mood of Britain. 39 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:38,040 Now, once again, Britain is not prepared to be pushed around. 40 00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:43,280 We have ceased to be a nation in retreat. 41 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:46,560 APPLAUSE 42 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:54,640 'The modern Falklands saga began 8,000 miles south of Cheltenham, 43 00:02:54,640 --> 00:02:58,240 'where a national government was struggling with economic woes 44 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:00,440 'and bitter unpopularity. 45 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:02,840 'The Argentine military dictatorship 46 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:06,320 'decided that a short, sharp triumph over British colonialism 47 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:10,680 'was just what it needed to rescue its fortunes. 48 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:13,200 'On April 2nd, 1982, 49 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:17,520 'its forces invaded one of the last outposts of the British Empire, 50 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:20,640 'a cluster of islands few people had ever thought about. 51 00:03:20,640 --> 00:03:23,000 'The landing of Argentine Marines 52 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:26,400 'prompted a brief frenzy of triumphalism in Buenos Aires 53 00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:28,480 'and a huge political crisis in Britain.' 54 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:35,760 'The World At One this Friday lunchtime. 55 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:38,800 'Argentine Marines are reported to have landed on the Falklands.' 56 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:43,040 I was in the middle or writing a book about the Second World War 57 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:45,080 when the Falklands crisis erupted. 58 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:50,680 I dropped everything for a berth with Thatcher's task force, 59 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:54,400 because I thought that it was going to be 60 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:57,360 the most extraordinary colonial drama of modern history, 61 00:03:57,360 --> 00:03:59,400 and so indeed it proved. 62 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:04,320 For ten weeks of 1982, 63 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:07,120 the Falklands conflict gripped the imagination of the world. 64 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:11,200 'Both ships were hit. Sir Galahad was immediately in flames. 65 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:13,720 'The helicopters queued up to join the perilous rescue.' 66 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:21,920 It was intensely, if weirdly, romantic, 67 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:24,880 short, and above all, victorious. 68 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:29,760 'The mark of war will never be erased from the islands' life.' 69 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:33,760 It became the most extraordinary experience of my life 70 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:37,240 and of many others who sailed and marched with the task force. 71 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:44,160 There IS a white flag flying over Stanley. Bloody marvellous. 72 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:49,560 Attacking. Stand by. 73 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:55,720 'To understand why the war made such an impact on Britain, 74 00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:58,480 'we must try to see where it fitted into our past. 75 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:02,040 'Growing up in the aftermath of World War II, 76 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:06,280 'many of my generation were invited to rejoice, and keep rejoicing, 77 00:05:06,280 --> 00:05:08,200 'in Britain's triumph over Nazism 78 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:10,520 'through a series of terrific war movies.' 79 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:16,200 You're going to have a chance to hit the enemy harder 80 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:19,960 and more destructively than any small force has ever done before! 81 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:26,040 'The Falklands merged, almost seamlessly, 82 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:29,480 'into Britain's cherished legend of the Second World War. 83 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:33,720 'Victory in the South Atlantic 84 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:36,400 'inspired a revival of our historic enthusiasm 85 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:39,960 'for seeing ourselves as a warrior nation.' 86 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:48,920 I name this ship Ark Royal. 87 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:52,920 May God protect her and all who sail in her. 88 00:05:56,360 --> 00:05:59,280 'In 1950, the then-Queen launched the biggest ship 89 00:05:59,280 --> 00:06:01,600 'in the Royal Navy's history. 90 00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:05,120 'Ark Royal would become a symbol 91 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:08,160 'of British naval and military pretensions around the world. 92 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:09,440 'As war winners, 93 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:13,080 'we felt entitled to keep an empire we could no longer afford, 94 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:17,480 'together with armed forces around 750,000 strong. 95 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:22,640 'We kept fighting - in Kenya, Korea, Cyprus, Malaya. 96 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:26,320 'But Suez changed everything. 97 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:30,120 'The 1956 attempt to retake the canal 98 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:33,200 'became Britain's last big military adventure 99 00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:35,760 'before the Falklands War. 100 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:39,480 'An Anglo-French task force landed in Egypt and was pushing inland 101 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:43,240 'when the United States wielded its economic might 102 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:46,000 'to force a humiliating withdrawal. 103 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:49,600 'Suez became the foremost symbol of Britain's decline 104 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:51,840 'and retreat from Empire.' 105 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:56,320 'Totally and forever, Britain was on the way out.' 106 00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:00,800 'The United States rubbed in unwelcome truths 107 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:02,840 'about our shrunken status, 108 00:07:02,840 --> 00:07:06,800 'most notoriously when former Secretary of State Dean Acheson 109 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:10,480 'made a 1962 speech to West Point cadets.' 110 00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:16,480 'Great Britain has lost an Empire and has not yet found a role.' 111 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:21,120 Acheson's words prompted a memorable sketch 112 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:23,880 in the BBC satire show That Was The Week That Was. 113 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:32,080 Acheson's wild words have caused an international furore. Nonsense! 114 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:34,920 'That Was The Week played out a fantasy exchange 115 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:37,160 'between Prime Minister Harold Macmillan 116 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:38,480 'and President Jack Kennedy 117 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:42,960 'which seemed, to many British people, too true to be funny.' 118 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:47,080 Eh, what does Acheson think, Jack? It's Harold here. 119 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:49,960 Harold Macmillan. 120 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:52,720 M-A-C... Ah... 121 00:07:56,480 --> 00:07:59,080 I'm calling from London. 122 00:07:59,080 --> 00:08:01,240 Now, looky here, 123 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:05,320 this thing doesn't represent the views of your government, does it? 124 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:06,800 Oh. 125 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:13,080 'In 1968, HMS Eagle, Ark Royal's sister ship, quit Hong Kong. 126 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:20,640 'A nation that wants to call itself a great power 127 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:22,840 'must be capable of independent action. 128 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:25,320 'The Labour government's withdrawal of our forces 129 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:26,960 'from east of Suez 130 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:29,680 'proclaimed to the world that this was no longer possible 131 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:32,120 'for impoverished Britain.' 132 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:36,320 We are withdrawing more quickly, 133 00:08:36,320 --> 00:08:39,160 from the Far East and the Middle East, 134 00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:42,960 and making big consequential savings in defensive expenditure. 135 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:49,120 We are recognising that we are no longer a superpower. 136 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:57,120 'As part of a series of 1960s defence cuts, 137 00:08:57,120 --> 00:08:59,880 'plans to replace the striker carriers Eagle and Ark Royal 138 00:08:59,880 --> 00:09:01,960 'were branded unaffordable and cancelled. 139 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:10,640 'Within a decade, both ships would be decommissioned, leaving Britain 140 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:13,440 'without a big carrier to project power, 141 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:17,040 'and support so-called "out-of-area operations". 142 00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:21,560 'The BBC's James Cameron saw the end of the east of Suez era.' 143 00:09:21,560 --> 00:09:24,160 There goes the last of the gunboats. 144 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:27,800 She'll almost certainly never come back. We'll never come back. 145 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:30,600 Not in the way we used to think of ourselves. 146 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:34,000 But nobody seems to have decided 147 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:36,560 what sort of a future Britain wants. 148 00:09:36,560 --> 00:09:40,680 'Yet in 1975, a politician thrust herself 149 00:09:40,680 --> 00:09:42,600 'to the front of the national stage 150 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:45,160 'who did know what she wanted Britain to be. 151 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:50,160 'Margaret Thatcher was elected leader of the Conservative Party.' 152 00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:54,760 'We're not living up to the best in our character.' 153 00:09:54,760 --> 00:09:57,560 'With speeches delivered at the low point 154 00:09:57,560 --> 00:10:02,240 'of Britain's post-war fortunes, she offered a vision of a nation that might once again 155 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:03,520 'achieve self-respect.' 156 00:10:04,520 --> 00:10:08,120 The same spirit that made us a great nation is still there, 157 00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:10,760 but somehow we're not using it. 158 00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:16,240 There was an awful sense of the inevitability of decline. 159 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:20,760 An economy that was stuck in the past, in us, on the margins, 160 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:22,320 slowly slipping away, 161 00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:25,840 and everyone talking about "the British problem". 162 00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:30,800 I do not intend to be the first woman prime minister 163 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:35,520 of a mediocre and declining Britain. 164 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:41,160 Good afternoon, Prime Minister! 165 00:10:41,160 --> 00:10:43,840 'When the Conservatives won the 1979 election, 166 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:47,400 'Mrs Thatcher got her chance to reverse the nation's course.' 167 00:10:48,480 --> 00:10:50,920 There is now work to be done. 168 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:56,400 'But her first years saw strikes, soaring inflation, 169 00:10:56,400 --> 00:10:59,680 'civil disorder, and harsh economic medicine.' 170 00:10:59,680 --> 00:11:03,560 I will not change just to court popularity. 171 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:09,040 'Even Thatcher, the proponent of British greatness, 172 00:11:09,040 --> 00:11:10,600 'determined to save money 173 00:11:10,600 --> 00:11:13,960 'by imposing yet further reductions on the armed forces. 174 00:11:13,960 --> 00:11:17,080 'The Royal Navy was to shrink by 20%. 175 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:21,800 'Its newest and most expensive ship, Invincible, faced the axe. 176 00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:27,680 'Her crew, which included Prince Andrew, were told their vessel, 177 00:11:27,680 --> 00:11:31,920 'pride of the fleet, was to be sold to Australia.' 178 00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:36,280 Naturally, we think we serve in the best ship in the Royal Navy. 179 00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:38,680 We're all very happy with her 180 00:11:38,680 --> 00:11:42,320 and we're most disappointed that she is going to leave us. 181 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:46,000 'The sale of Invincible was all the more painful 182 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:49,880 'because the ship heralded a new age in naval aviation. 183 00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:53,480 'Much smaller than the old Ark Royal, 184 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:55,560 'she could nonetheless provide a platform 185 00:11:55,560 --> 00:11:58,160 'for the revolutionary Sea Harrier fighter. 186 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:05,840 'The cuts devastated the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Henry Leach.' 187 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:11,680 He was a wonderful man, Henry Leach. He was a sailor's sailor. 188 00:12:11,680 --> 00:12:14,160 He and John Nott, the defence secretary, 189 00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:15,920 simply could not get on at all. 190 00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:21,600 John Nott was determined to castrate the Royal Navy. 191 00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:24,800 'For Leach, the sale of Invincible was the ultimate betrayal. 192 00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:37,600 'Just months before the outbreak of the Falklands War, 193 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:39,640 'the First Sea Lord was on a collision course 194 00:12:39,640 --> 00:12:41,040 'with his defence secretary.' 195 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:46,000 Modern sailors fight more of their battles ashore than they do afloat. 196 00:12:50,280 --> 00:12:52,280 One icy winter's day in November 1981, 197 00:12:52,280 --> 00:12:55,480 the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Henry Leach, 198 00:12:55,480 --> 00:12:58,680 took the slow, slow train to remotest Cornwall 199 00:12:58,680 --> 00:13:01,600 to interrupt defence secretary John Nott 200 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:04,120 in the midst of a shooting party 201 00:13:04,120 --> 00:13:06,640 to try to stop him selling the carrier Invincible 202 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:08,400 to the Australians. 203 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:15,600 'As a young officer in World War II, 204 00:13:15,600 --> 00:13:19,480 'Leach had been involved in the last big gun surface action 205 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:23,440 'by a British battleship, the sinking of the Scharnhorst. 206 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:26,280 'His father had been killed when the battleship he commanded 207 00:13:26,280 --> 00:13:30,320 'was sunk by Japanese aircraft, off Malaya.' 208 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:33,040 He'd been with his father the night before he was killed 209 00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:36,400 in the Prince of Wales, when it and the Repulse were sunk. 210 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:41,840 And Henry knew the value of aviation, the value of air cover. 211 00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:44,640 The main reason, of course, they were lost 212 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:46,720 was because there was no air cover. 213 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:50,680 He was determined to make sure that such things didn't happen again. 214 00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:55,640 'The Admiral reached the defence secretary's refuge, 215 00:13:55,640 --> 00:13:59,240 'Caerhays Castle in Cornwall, late in the afternoon 216 00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:02,120 'after an exasperating series of train delays.' 217 00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:09,320 After dinner, in this superbly traditional setting, 218 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:12,200 the doughty old sea dog and the politician sat down 219 00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:15,080 to have the bitter row which Mrs Thatcher herself 220 00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:18,200 had flatly refused to meet the Admiral for. 221 00:14:18,200 --> 00:14:21,280 Leach, like every sailor, wanted the Royal Navy 222 00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:25,200 to maintain the means to project power far abroad. 223 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:28,880 Nott had simply been mandated by the Prime Minister to cut costs, 224 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:32,400 scrap ships and concentrate defence in Europe. 225 00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:35,160 The Admiral could have saved his rail fare. 226 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:38,160 The defence secretary refused to budge. 227 00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:42,760 'The Thatcher government's brutal defence review 228 00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:44,760 'caused morale in the sea service to plummet. 229 00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:47,600 When you want to say something, say it. 230 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:51,080 'Young officers such as Chris Parry then was, racked their brains 231 00:14:51,080 --> 00:14:53,880 'about what to do to prove the Navy still served a purpose.' 232 00:14:57,280 --> 00:15:00,240 Everybody was bemoaning what that would mean for the Navy 233 00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:02,040 and also for our careers. 234 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:03,800 And then somebody said, 235 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:06,600 "What we need is a good war against somebody 236 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:08,720 "to prove to the public and the government 237 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:10,920 "how useful the Navy is." 238 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:12,760 And so, amid a couple of pints, 239 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:16,200 we started discussing who might be a suitable opponent. 240 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:18,320 You know, not too difficult, not too easy. 241 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:20,440 And we eventually settled on the country 242 00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:22,640 we thought was just about right. 243 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:25,240 And the real surprise was it was Argentina. 244 00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:31,880 'In April 1982, after decades in which budgets were slashed 245 00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:34,720 'and the Royal Navy deemed increasingly irrelevant, 246 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:38,640 'fate threw the Admirals a wildly-unexpected lifeline.' 247 00:15:40,040 --> 00:15:42,200 Admiral Leach got the miracle he needed 248 00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:44,120 to save his beloved carriers, 249 00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:45,880 not from the Thatcher government 250 00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:48,240 but from the military junta in Buenos Aires. 251 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:53,640 As soon as he heard Argentina was about to invade the Falklands, 252 00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:56,280 he rushed down to the House of Commons. 253 00:15:56,280 --> 00:15:58,480 Blazing with gold braid and ribbons, 254 00:15:58,480 --> 00:16:01,520 he found the Prime Minister with his old adversary, 255 00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:03,000 the defence secretary. 256 00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:09,320 "Britain," he said, "could and must sail a task force," 257 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:12,240 because, "if we do not, in another few months, 258 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:14,520 "we shall be living in a different country 259 00:16:14,520 --> 00:16:16,240 "whose word counts for little." 260 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:20,840 Leach's superbly melodramatic intervention 261 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:24,760 not only saved some warships from the scrap yard, 262 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:26,680 they also determined Thatcher to fight. 263 00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:30,680 HORN BLOWS 264 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:35,400 'HMS Invincible sailed for the South Atlantic just days later, 265 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:38,360 'the deal with the Australians suspended. 266 00:16:38,360 --> 00:16:41,560 'She was joined by Hermes, designated flagship 267 00:16:41,560 --> 00:16:45,800 'of the Royal Navy's biggest task force since Suez. 268 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:49,680 'Hermes had been reprieved from the breaker's yard. 269 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:51,600 'The Royal Navy had to requisition 270 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:54,120 'two of the country's most famous cruise liners 271 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:55,720 'to transport the troops. 272 00:16:56,880 --> 00:17:00,800 'Mrs Thatcher was determined to reverse the political humiliation 273 00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:03,160 'which some thought would break her government. 274 00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:07,000 'I sailed on Canberra. 275 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:08,880 'It was an emotional moment, 276 00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:13,280 'casting off for the 8,000-mile passage to the Falklands.' 277 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:18,960 'It was a weird feeling 278 00:17:18,960 --> 00:17:22,240 'to be preparing for war aboard a cruise liner. 279 00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:23,960 'Though, at that stage, 280 00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:27,640 'few of us really believed it would come to a fight.' 281 00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:31,960 'I'd reported many conflicts, 282 00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:35,760 'but never a big, British naval and military operation.' 283 00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:37,960 'There was something very special 284 00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:40,200 'about going to watch one's own people fight. 285 00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:42,720 MUSIC: "Rule, Britannia" 286 00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:53,240 'Slowly we came to understand that the Prime Minister, 287 00:17:53,240 --> 00:17:55,240 'having determined upon a showdown, 288 00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:58,000 'was throwing every resource at Britain's command 289 00:17:58,000 --> 00:17:59,760 'into her huge gamble.' 290 00:17:59,760 --> 00:18:01,200 Margaret Thatcher said, 291 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:04,640 once she'd determined on recovering the Falkland Islands, 292 00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:07,520 every single national asset would be mobilised 293 00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:10,400 in order to enable that to happen. 294 00:18:12,320 --> 00:18:16,440 'The amphibious force approached the Falklands after six weeks at sea. 295 00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:21,240 'War had, by now, suddenly become intensely real. 296 00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:26,160 'The task force faced a deadly threat from the Argentine Air Force, 297 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:28,320 'which battered the Royal Navy. 298 00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:33,760 'The British lacked many things in facing the enemy onslaught, 299 00:18:33,760 --> 00:18:36,880 'but their planes proved terrific. 300 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:39,880 'Simon Hargreaves is, today, a unique survivor. 301 00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:42,240 'Last among the South Atlantic Sea Harrier pilots 302 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:44,600 'who is still flying fast jets.' 303 00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:48,840 'He and his fellow airmen provided the air support 304 00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:52,360 'which alone made it narrowly feasible to recover the Falklands.' 305 00:18:56,320 --> 00:19:00,680 25, I was. Very much a surprise, and very exciting. 306 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:05,480 We were providing air cover, so just our presence there 307 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:08,440 provided protection for the ships in Falklands Sound. 308 00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:11,120 Pivotal to the success of the task force 309 00:19:11,120 --> 00:19:14,440 was the contribution of the aircraft carriers. 310 00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:17,520 'Thatcher's government had cause to be very grateful 311 00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:21,160 'that Invincible had not been flogged off. 312 00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:24,480 'Sea Harriers were responsible for the destruction 313 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:27,280 'of most of the Argentine aircraft destroyed.' 314 00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:29,200 We were very effective. 315 00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:32,840 I think it was 22 we shot down. For no loss. 316 00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:37,880 It really was the dawn of a new era for naval aviation. 317 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:46,000 Right, well, this is where we keep the funny old relics 318 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:47,640 from 30 years ago. 319 00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:50,480 Those boots walked from one end of the Falklands to the other, 320 00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:54,000 and they did me pretty good while it was going on. 321 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:57,440 That was my old parachute smock, which I haven't worn for 30 years, 322 00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:00,640 but I kept it because, gosh, it meant a lot to me 30 years ago. 323 00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:07,360 'In one way, most of us found that sodden island 324 00:20:07,360 --> 00:20:11,000 'comfortingly familiar, like Dartmoor or the Hebrides. 325 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:13,360 'But the icy cold and wet, 326 00:20:13,360 --> 00:20:17,760 'the need for thousands of troops, carrying heavy loads to walk, 327 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:22,840 'to "yomp", as Marines put it, imposed a huge strain on every man. 328 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:26,400 'The one big advantage we had in that conflict 329 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:29,200 'was that it was militarily simple. 330 00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:32,160 'If only we could take the islands' capital, Port Stanley, 331 00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:35,200 'where most of the enemy were dug in, we would have won.' 332 00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:41,640 That was a long, long walk. My God, it was rough. 333 00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:49,280 God, one remembers those marshes so well. Having one's feet always wet. 334 00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:53,040 And I never walked half as far as the Royal Marines and the paras. 335 00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:59,760 I never forget going over to talk to a young Royal Marine. 336 00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:03,560 I walked away. 20 minutes later, an Argentine air attack came in, 337 00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:06,560 a terrible explosion, and that was the end of him. 338 00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:09,680 And it was so strange thinking of that young man I'd been talking to 339 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:11,640 only a few minutes before. 340 00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:20,720 The fiercest fighting of the war followed. 341 00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:23,480 The British brilliantly exploited their skills. 342 00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:26,240 First, yomping, patrolling and mine-clearing, 343 00:21:26,240 --> 00:21:30,560 then staging night assaults on strongly-held enemy positions. 344 00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:36,240 'The superiority of our men 345 00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:38,800 'to the enemy's half-hearted conscripts really told. 346 00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:40,400 'However tough that campaign, 347 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:44,040 'it perfectly suited the qualities of Britain's armed forces. 348 00:21:44,040 --> 00:21:48,280 'On 14th June, the Argentines surrendered.' 349 00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:55,320 There was a huge exhilaration about marching into Port Stanley. 350 00:21:55,320 --> 00:22:00,040 Although filthy and utterly exhausted, 351 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:03,600 every man on the task force shared a euphoric high. 352 00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:05,880 CHEERING 353 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:08,360 HORNS HONK 354 00:22:08,360 --> 00:22:12,400 'Their arrival home sparked extraordinary British celebrations 355 00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:14,640 'of a kind unseen since 1945. 356 00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:19,440 'Many men returning from the South Atlantic 357 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:22,200 'felt that they landed in a different Britain.' 358 00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:28,840 When we left Portsmouth in March, 1982, 359 00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:32,240 I think we left a fairly demoralised, depressed 360 00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:33,920 and downbeat country. 361 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:38,640 When we came back in July we returned to a country 362 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:41,960 that had a spring in its step, that was confident again, 363 00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:43,480 looking forward to the future. 364 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:50,080 Few thought that the qualities which made this nation great 365 00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:52,400 still lived in its people today. 366 00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:55,080 A task force showed the way last spring, 367 00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:57,160 and our country found its soul. 368 00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:05,320 'The Falklands lit a candle of hope in many breasts 369 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:09,440 'that we weren't doomed forever to live with national decline. 370 00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:13,920 'The war had nothing to do with Britain's real problems in 1982, 371 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:17,040 'but it was nonetheless, for many of us, a transforming moment, 372 00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:20,520 'and sent the reputation of the armed forces soaring. 373 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:29,560 'Four pretty old men, sailing in Plymouth Sound in 2012, 374 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:34,000 'shared an experience in the South Atlantic that changed our lives. 375 00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:38,520 'Nick Vaux led 42 Commando to Falklands victory. 376 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:41,400 'Ewen Southby-Tailor, 377 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:44,040 'one of the few men who knew the islands inside out, 378 00:23:44,040 --> 00:23:47,520 'played a key role in guiding the task force. 379 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:49,680 'Peter Babbington won a Military Cross, 380 00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:51,560 'leading the assault on Mount Harriet. 381 00:23:53,120 --> 00:23:56,480 'The war made them, and the rest of the returning task force, 382 00:23:56,480 --> 00:24:00,480 'popular heroes, in a fashion unseen since 1945.' 383 00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:06,640 It had felt an incredible privilege to watch the task force 384 00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:09,560 in the South Atlantic do something very remarkable, 385 00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:12,040 to see the Brits really getting something right. 386 00:24:12,040 --> 00:24:14,480 But how did you feel after it was all over? 387 00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:15,920 The reception we received, 388 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:18,960 it didn't matter whether they were elderly people, 389 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:22,160 they were young people, it was extraordinary. 390 00:24:22,160 --> 00:24:24,200 It was right across the spectrum of society. 391 00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:27,760 Certainly, the drive home from Southampton in my car, 392 00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:31,280 with my son waving a green beret out of the window. 393 00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:34,000 You couldn't get through Bridport, 394 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:36,760 because of the pints of beer people brought out to you. 395 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:42,880 I think it cascaded down, 396 00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:45,160 for probably about the next five to ten years. 397 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:48,400 People felt they'd done a really good job. 398 00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:52,440 I believe it raised morale in the armed forces themselves, 399 00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:55,000 because they had the chance to do something serious 400 00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:57,000 and they did it well. 401 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:01,960 'The US military were mightily impressed. 402 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:04,680 'Peter Babbington witnessed their reaction first-hand, 403 00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:07,120 'when he described his experiences 404 00:25:07,120 --> 00:25:09,240 'to several thousand American Marines.' 405 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:12,160 I gave them a company commander's view 406 00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:15,040 of what had happened to the Falklands. 407 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:20,040 The audience was totally quiet, for the period I was speaking, 408 00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:22,640 and when I stopped to give them questions, 409 00:25:22,640 --> 00:25:28,040 the whole cinema just stood up, and started to applaud. 410 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:31,160 It was a standing ovation by these guys. 411 00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:32,600 It was quite overwhelming. 412 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:39,160 BRASS BAND PLAYS 413 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:41,320 'While the British celebrated 414 00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:44,080 'around the world, even nations with no cause to love us 415 00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:47,040 'were impressed by what our armed forces had done.' 416 00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:50,520 The Russians were absolutely astounded. 417 00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:54,400 They were actually hugely full of admiration, and also worried. 418 00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:57,400 They suddenly realised that a NATO country 419 00:25:57,400 --> 00:25:59,880 that wasn't America, a European NATO country, 420 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:03,000 would fight for a principle 421 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:05,920 and that, perhaps, NATO wasn't such a pushover. 422 00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:10,040 I'll never forget Egyptian journalists 423 00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:12,760 showing me the cover of Newsweek magazine 424 00:26:12,760 --> 00:26:15,600 with a picture of HMS Hermes steaming south, 425 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:18,240 and the headline "The Empire Strikes Back". 426 00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:22,280 It showed that Britain was not to be taken for granted, 427 00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:25,720 that here was a country prepared to fight back. 428 00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:30,240 MUSIC: "Rule, Britannia" 429 00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:33,040 'Margaret Thatcher found her personal standing 430 00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:35,400 'transformed by the war, 431 00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:39,320 'the sea change first signalled at the Beaconsfield by-election, 432 00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:42,560 'fought on 27th May at the height of the conflict. 433 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:51,560 'The Tories, at the start of the Falklands crisis, 434 00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:53,800 'were politically beleaguered. 435 00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:57,760 'They'd been losing by-elections to the SDP and trailed in the polls. 436 00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:02,760 'Beaconsfield would be a critical political test.' 437 00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:05,760 What was the expectation in the Tory camp 438 00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:08,000 before this by-election campaign started? 439 00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:11,280 The Tory hierarchy were terrified we were going to lose, 440 00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:13,840 and they threw everything at this by-election. 441 00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:17,320 They brought in professional agents from all round the country. 442 00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:19,040 They were spending so much money, 443 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:22,680 I, as treasurer of the party, refused to take the responsibility for it, 444 00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:25,560 cos I knew they couldn't keep within the financial limits. 445 00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:30,840 'The Labour candidate was a CND enthusiast 446 00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:33,720 'who would later experience such a transformation 447 00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:37,400 'that some people considered him Margaret Thatcher's successor. 448 00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:40,840 '29-year-old Tony Blair was fighting his first campaign 449 00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:42,800 'in a normally-safe Conservative seat.' 450 00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:48,640 Although we thought we would not win Beaconsfield, 451 00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:51,720 we thought we had a good chance of upping our votes 452 00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:52,960 from the last election. 453 00:27:57,480 --> 00:28:01,440 'The BBC's man covering the by-election was Michael Cockerell.' 454 00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:07,280 How much impact did the Falklands War make on the by-election here? 455 00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:10,240 It wasn't stated, but the whole Conservative campaign 456 00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:12,320 was wrapped up in a Union Jack, I think. 457 00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:14,400 I remember the Conservative agent saying, 458 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:16,440 "We don't need to do any canvassing here, 459 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:18,720 "the Ministry of Defence is doing it for us." 460 00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:21,760 THATCHER: Argentine nationals... 'Tim Smith, the Tory candidate, 461 00:28:21,760 --> 00:28:25,000 'brandished a message from Mrs Thatcher 462 00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:27,920 'proclaiming that the by-election was really a referendum 463 00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:32,600 'on the Government's conduct of the South Atlantic crisis. 464 00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:36,560 'Tony Blair thought there was only one proper answer to that.' 465 00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:38,800 Tony was definitely anti-war. 466 00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:41,080 A war just wasn't necessary. 467 00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:45,000 He said, "We must keep looking for a negotiated settlement. 468 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:48,680 "We can't let the wishes of the islanders determine the Falklands." 469 00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:52,840 We weren't prepared to fight an election on a war base. 470 00:28:56,640 --> 00:29:00,520 Suddenly, the whole country was behind Maggie Thatcher 471 00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:02,920 and we were completely floored. 472 00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:04,800 I think it was just so overwhelming. 473 00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:12,400 People were cheering when the Belgrano went down 474 00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:14,560 and it was really very sad. 475 00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:22,800 Smith, Timothy John. Conservative. 23,000... 476 00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:27,800 'The Conservatives won by a landslide.' 477 00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:34,960 Blair, Anthony Charles Linton. Labour. 3,886. 478 00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:37,560 Labour's vote share in Beaconsfield was hard, 479 00:29:37,560 --> 00:29:40,240 and Blair lost his deposit. 480 00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:42,520 This would prove the only election he lost 481 00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:44,480 in a 25-year political career. 482 00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:50,560 We were all extremely disappointed that it had turned out so badly. 483 00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:54,760 I mean, Tony was really, really disappointed. 484 00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:05,440 We had thought that people might have thought about other issues, 485 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:08,120 and voted for us. 486 00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:11,000 But they didn't. 487 00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:14,920 Tony Blair, afterwards, said to Robin Cook, 488 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:18,720 "The thing I learnt from the Beaconsfield by-election 489 00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:22,160 "is that wars make prime ministers popular." 490 00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:24,720 'In Beaconsfield, as across the country, 491 00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:29,520 'a "Falklands factor" was becoming a potent political force.' 492 00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:32,880 # There's only one Maggie Thatcher One Maggie Thatcher. # 493 00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:36,680 Before the Falklands War, 494 00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:41,200 Margaret Thatcher was the most unpopular prime minister in British history. 495 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:45,400 After its end, almost 50% of respondents said that success 496 00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:47,760 had boosted their opinion of her. 497 00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:52,760 In April, the Tories lagged Labour in almost every opinion poll. 498 00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:55,840 By July, they were an amazing 27 points ahead. 499 00:30:57,000 --> 00:31:01,080 Public opinion hates long and inconclusive wars. 500 00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:03,240 But, my, how it loves a quick victory. 501 00:31:06,880 --> 00:31:11,120 Succeeding prime ministers have seen what the Falklands War 502 00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:15,400 did for Mrs Thatcher, did for her standing, did for her politically. 503 00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:20,360 It gave her a sort of aura. 504 00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:24,240 The Boadicea image, the warrior, wrapped in the Union Flag, 505 00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:28,320 going into battle and vanquishing her enemies. 506 00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:35,720 'The Conservatives went on to win the 1983 general election, 507 00:31:35,720 --> 00:31:39,240 'with some help from the dire state of Michael Foot's Labour Party, 508 00:31:39,240 --> 00:31:41,720 'but also from a popular revival 509 00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:44,080 'which had started in the South Atlantic. 510 00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:51,080 'Tony Blair was one of the few successful Labour newcomers in 1983, 511 00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:54,320 'winning the safe common seat of Sedgefield. 512 00:31:57,760 --> 00:32:02,040 'A quarter of a century later, the two past political adversaries 513 00:32:02,040 --> 00:32:06,040 'met again for the 25th anniversary commemoration of the Falklands War. 514 00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:11,320 'Blair was then in the last weeks of his own premiership. 515 00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:14,080 'He told an interviewer that, as national leader, 516 00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:17,600 'he would have responded to the Argentine invasion 517 00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:19,600 'just as Mrs Thatcher did. 518 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:21,320 'The Falklands conflict 519 00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:24,280 'left a legacy that powerfully influenced both, 520 00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:27,480 'and which is still evident in Britain's foreign commitments. 521 00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:36,200 'In 1990, Kuwait was invaded by the Iraqi Army, 522 00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:39,400 'sparking a new international crisis 523 00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:42,040 'in Mrs Thatcher's last months in power. 524 00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:46,000 'She urged the Americans to lead a stand against Saddam Hussein.' 525 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:50,120 Iraq's invasion of Kuwait defies every principle 526 00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:51,960 for which the United Nations stands. 527 00:32:53,360 --> 00:32:58,520 If we let it succeed, no small country can ever feel safe again. 528 00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:04,800 Thatcher promised British military support 529 00:33:04,800 --> 00:33:07,760 for the American-led coalition to free Kuwait. 530 00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:14,600 For decades, the great powers had been wary of joining wars, 531 00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:18,000 especially in the Middle East amid the threat of nuclear Armageddon, 532 00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:21,840 but the Falklands War made force seem once more 533 00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:25,640 a tactical option, including for British prime ministers. 534 00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:27,760 War became a useable instrument. 535 00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:30,440 It got us over the hump that, actually, you know, 536 00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:33,000 war would be so horrific that we wouldn't want to go there. 537 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:36,080 Actually, war wasn't that horrific. The loss of life wasn't that great. 538 00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:38,440 So, it made war useable. 539 00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:41,320 So that was the long-term foreign policy effect. 540 00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:48,360 53,000 British personnel deployed with the coalition to free Kuwait. 541 00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:50,160 The Falklands would be the last war 542 00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:53,760 Britain was capable of fighting alone. 543 00:33:53,760 --> 00:33:57,640 Ironically, renewed Defence cuts by Mrs Thatcher 544 00:33:57,640 --> 00:34:01,720 had left our military barely capable of fielding an armoured division. 545 00:34:03,560 --> 00:34:06,720 The operation was swift and successful. 546 00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:10,200 Once again Western governments got the message that war could work. 547 00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:13,400 I do think the Falklands gave us 548 00:34:13,400 --> 00:34:17,160 a delusion of the effectiveness of military power. 549 00:34:17,160 --> 00:34:21,840 I think it whetted prime ministers' appetites for this sort of thing. 550 00:34:21,840 --> 00:34:26,400 An important part of Mrs Thatcher's legacy to her successors 551 00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:30,320 was a view that Britain must be seen to walk tall in the world. 552 00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:32,360 15 years after the Falklands War, 553 00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:38,360 the former Labour candidate for Beaconsfield fought an election for the tenancy of Downing Street 554 00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:43,520 on a very different agenda from the one that he'd had back in 1982. 555 00:34:43,520 --> 00:34:45,760 BROADCAST: 'In a rapidly-changing world, 556 00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:48,760 'we seem somehow to have lost our sense of purpose.' 557 00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:50,520 SNORING 558 00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:55,840 'Now someone has emerged who is determined to give it back to us. 559 00:34:57,600 --> 00:35:00,360 'He is the most-talked-about politician of his generation.' 560 00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:05,240 Weeks before the 1997 election, Tony Blair delivered a speech 561 00:35:05,240 --> 00:35:08,600 in which he enfolded himself in the Union Jack 562 00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:11,440 in a fashion that came naturally to Mrs Thatcher, 563 00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:14,120 but then seemed amazing in a Labour leader. 564 00:35:15,720 --> 00:35:21,760 I am a British patriot, and I am proud of being a British patriot. 565 00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:24,680 The Britain in my vision is not a Britain 566 00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:29,040 turning its back on the world - narrow, shy, uncertain. 567 00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:34,360 It is a Britain confident of its place in the world, sure of itself, 568 00:35:34,360 --> 00:35:37,960 able to engage with the world and provide leadership in the world 569 00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:43,400 precisely because we are confident of our own place in the world. 570 00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:45,400 They wanted to recapture patriotism. 571 00:35:45,400 --> 00:35:48,120 And that speech in the lead up to the election was making it clear 572 00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:50,560 that he was patriotic, the Labour Party was patriotic, 573 00:35:50,560 --> 00:35:52,360 it wasn't the preserve of the Tory Party, 574 00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:54,400 and he saw Britain having a role in the world, 575 00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:56,280 and wanted us to have a leading position. 576 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:04,160 Patriotism was a big theme of Blair's 1997 Labour election victory celebration. 577 00:36:06,440 --> 00:36:08,600 Britain's new leader did not start out 578 00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:10,840 intending to take the country to war, 579 00:36:10,840 --> 00:36:14,800 but crises have a way of making all our rulers see things differently. 580 00:36:14,800 --> 00:36:17,040 This is something that happens to Prime Ministers. 581 00:36:17,040 --> 00:36:21,480 once they've been elected, they realise they have more freedom of manoeuvre in foreign policy 582 00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:23,120 than they do in domestic policy. 583 00:36:23,120 --> 00:36:25,800 Trying to reform the welfare system or change the economy 584 00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:28,160 is a grinding, difficult political business. 585 00:36:28,160 --> 00:36:30,480 In foreign policy it's easier to make a decision 586 00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:32,520 and see it happen much more quickly. 587 00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:37,800 In 1998 a new Iraq crisis persuaded Tony Blair 588 00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:42,240 to participate in a brisk bombing campaign, 589 00:36:42,240 --> 00:36:45,280 after which he flew to the Gulf to congratulate RAF crews. 590 00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:48,400 He would end up putting Britain's armed forces in harm's way 591 00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:51,400 more often than any of his predecessors. 592 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:59,120 The following year, Albanian refugees began pouring 593 00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:03,760 in tens of thousands out of Kosovo amid a Serb reign of terror. 594 00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:09,520 Before deploying British ground troops on this new mercy mission, 595 00:37:09,520 --> 00:37:13,680 Blair consulted the victor of the Falklands War. 596 00:37:13,680 --> 00:37:15,840 He thought very long and very hard about it. 597 00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:18,560 He had many sleepless nights worrying about it. 598 00:37:18,560 --> 00:37:20,400 He asked me to bring Mrs Thatcher in, 599 00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:22,840 and I got Mrs Thatcher to come into Downing Street 600 00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:24,840 and meet with him and talk to him about it. 601 00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:28,320 It was someone who he could share the angst of that decision with, 602 00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:31,400 because she'd had to make a similar decision herself. 603 00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:34,600 The Kosovo intervention was successful. 604 00:37:34,600 --> 00:37:37,080 Blair, the Falklands sceptic, 605 00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:40,200 was becoming Blair, the enthusiast for committing troops 606 00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:41,960 to what he considered moral war. 607 00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:45,320 The British public seemed supportive, 608 00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:48,000 if by no means enthusiastic. 609 00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:51,960 The South Atlantic model for a quick, successful conflict 610 00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:53,400 still seemed valid. 611 00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:56,400 The Falklands itself created an expectation that actually, 612 00:37:56,400 --> 00:38:00,400 wars were short, sharp, decisive and delivered what you wanted to do. 613 00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:04,000 And ironically, we had a couple of coalition campaigns, 614 00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:09,080 the first Iraq War and the war over Kosovo in 1999, 615 00:38:09,080 --> 00:38:13,200 which conformed to the Falklands expectation. 616 00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:16,960 So for the last quarter of the 20th century, 617 00:38:16,960 --> 00:38:19,600 there was this presumption in the Western world, 618 00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:22,240 and particularly in Britain, 619 00:38:22,240 --> 00:38:27,200 that actually war was quite a good deliverer of policy objectives. 620 00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:33,920 But the Bush-Blair alliance, first to fight in Afghanistan 621 00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:37,640 and then to invade Iraq, changed everything. 622 00:38:37,640 --> 00:38:41,200 British governments now learnt the painful lessons 623 00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:45,560 about the perils of following our key ally too blindly, too far, 624 00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:49,000 despite all their mutual exchanges of flattery. 625 00:38:51,960 --> 00:38:55,800 Prime Minister, the entire world salutes you 626 00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:58,080 and your gallant people and gallant nation. 627 00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:05,440 Yet, contrary to the legend of Margaret Thatcher's cosy relationship with Ronald Reagan, 628 00:39:05,440 --> 00:39:09,240 the Falklands War tested the Anglo-American alliance to its limits. 629 00:39:11,280 --> 00:39:13,960 In 1982, it was a bitter revelation for the Prime Minister 630 00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:16,160 to discover that most of the administration, 631 00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:19,640 including the President, wanted to withhold support from Britain. 632 00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:23,560 It's a very difficult situation for the United States, 633 00:39:23,560 --> 00:39:25,880 because we're friends with both of the countries 634 00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:27,680 engaged in this dispute. 635 00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:31,920 Reagan was told by key advisers that a Falklands War 636 00:39:31,920 --> 00:39:34,960 might damage Washington's South American clients. 637 00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:39,880 UN Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick was foremost among those 638 00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:44,520 anxious for the welfare of the fascist junta in Buenos Aires. 639 00:39:44,520 --> 00:39:47,560 The Argentines of course have claimed for 200 years that they own 640 00:39:47,560 --> 00:39:51,840 those islands, and the British have claimed that they own those islands. 641 00:39:51,840 --> 00:39:55,560 And we have said we have no position on who owns those islands. 642 00:39:55,560 --> 00:39:58,680 Now, if the Argentines own the islands, 643 00:39:58,680 --> 00:40:01,400 then moving troops into them is not armed aggression. 644 00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:06,800 As British troops prepared to make their final push for Port Stanley, 645 00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:10,640 Kirkpatrick urged Reagan to make Thatcher hold back 646 00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:14,280 from humiliating Argentina on the battlefield. 647 00:40:16,880 --> 00:40:22,200 It was Memorial Day, 31st May, when America commemorates its war dead. 648 00:40:23,560 --> 00:40:27,240 After meeting Kirkpatrick, Reagan drove to Arlington Cemetery 649 00:40:27,240 --> 00:40:31,240 where, in a characteristically sentimental speech, 650 00:40:31,240 --> 00:40:34,360 he recalled World War II's sacrifice and principles 651 00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:38,000 at the very moment he was urging Thatcher to abandon both. 652 00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:43,440 Winston Churchill said of those he knew in World War II, 653 00:40:43,440 --> 00:40:45,400 "They seemed to be the only young men 654 00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:48,600 "who could laugh and fight at the same time." 655 00:40:51,200 --> 00:40:55,200 Each died for a cause he considered more important than his own life. 656 00:40:55,200 --> 00:40:59,440 To defend values which make up what we call civilisation. 657 00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:05,200 And how they must have wished that no other generation of young men 658 00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:08,880 to follow would have to undergo that same experience. 659 00:41:10,680 --> 00:41:13,240 On the same day that President Reagan spoke, 660 00:41:13,240 --> 00:41:16,440 he personally telephoned Margaret Thatcher on the hotline 661 00:41:16,440 --> 00:41:20,280 to urge her to accept a diplomatic compromise 662 00:41:20,280 --> 00:41:23,400 rather than inflict outright military defeat 663 00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:25,960 on Argentina in the Falklands. 664 00:41:25,960 --> 00:41:29,040 His administration believed that such an outcome 665 00:41:29,040 --> 00:41:31,000 threatened American interests 666 00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:34,120 and its crusade against the Left in South America. 667 00:41:35,320 --> 00:41:40,440 The Prime Minister rebuffed the President with brutal directness, 668 00:41:40,440 --> 00:41:43,200 saying, "I have to take them now. 669 00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:47,200 "I didn't lose some of my best ships and some of my finest lives 670 00:41:47,200 --> 00:41:51,600 "to leave quietly after a ceasefire without the Argentines withdrawing. 671 00:41:51,600 --> 00:41:53,840 "This is democracy and our islands, 672 00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:56,720 "and the very worst thing for democracy would be 673 00:41:56,720 --> 00:41:57,840 "if we failed now." 674 00:42:01,600 --> 00:42:04,480 Here, at a critical moment in our fortunes, 675 00:42:04,480 --> 00:42:08,880 was evidence of just how roughly the United States could treat us, 676 00:42:08,880 --> 00:42:12,600 exposing the limitations of the so-called "special relationship" 677 00:42:12,600 --> 00:42:16,240 at moments when our two countries' strategic interests diverged. 678 00:42:18,160 --> 00:42:21,600 It was amazing luck that the United States Defence Secretary, 679 00:42:21,600 --> 00:42:24,840 Casper Weinberger, was a staunch Anglophile. 680 00:42:24,840 --> 00:42:29,320 He, almost single-handed, secured critical weapons intelligence 681 00:42:29,320 --> 00:42:33,000 and logistical support for the British Falklands War effort. 682 00:42:34,200 --> 00:42:38,000 British policy-makers learnt their lesson from that experience 683 00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:41,880 that we better fight our future wars with the Americans or not at all. 684 00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:44,400 Since 1982, British defence policy 685 00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:47,240 has been ever more closely locked into alliances 686 00:42:47,240 --> 00:42:50,760 for political advantage and from military necessity. 687 00:42:54,440 --> 00:42:57,440 In 2003, Tony Blair's government 688 00:42:57,440 --> 00:43:00,080 deployed 46,000 British servicemen in Iraq. 689 00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:04,160 It was the last time in history that Britain would own soldiers 690 00:43:04,160 --> 00:43:08,680 to send such numbers to war, and the story had no happy ending. 691 00:43:12,240 --> 00:43:17,560 In 2006 the armed forces, fresh from perceived failure in Iraq, 692 00:43:17,560 --> 00:43:22,440 accepted a dramatically-expanded role in Afghanistan. 693 00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:25,760 Tony Blair dispatched a brigade to Helmand Province. 694 00:43:27,360 --> 00:43:30,320 The Falklands War was a huge challenge, 695 00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:33,720 but it provided a perfect theatre for the Royal Marines, 696 00:43:33,720 --> 00:43:35,600 paras and special forces 697 00:43:35,600 --> 00:43:39,080 to display their skills against weak opposition. 698 00:43:39,080 --> 00:43:44,040 Victory gave some people exaggerated ideas about what we could do. 699 00:43:44,040 --> 00:43:48,600 Fighting al-Qaeda and Taliban insurgents on their home turf, 700 00:43:48,600 --> 00:43:51,080 in highly political wars among the people, 701 00:43:51,080 --> 00:43:53,920 proved tougher than beating the Argentines. 702 00:43:53,920 --> 00:43:56,840 Generals much share with ministers blame for some of the things 703 00:43:56,840 --> 00:43:59,840 that have gone wrong with our wars since 1982. 704 00:43:59,840 --> 00:44:03,960 Their can-do spirit persuaded them to sign up for some under-resourced 705 00:44:03,960 --> 00:44:08,560 and ill-considered campaigns that have led to a lot of grief. 706 00:44:08,560 --> 00:44:13,640 You deal with a general or an admiral or an air marshal 707 00:44:13,640 --> 00:44:19,120 and he comes marching in, often in uniform, and says it can be done. 708 00:44:19,120 --> 00:44:23,720 And I've seen successive chiefs of the Defence staff 709 00:44:23,720 --> 00:44:27,400 manipulate prime ministers and senior ministers 710 00:44:27,400 --> 00:44:30,080 in a quite extraordinary way. 711 00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:35,120 In the case of both Iraq 712 00:44:35,120 --> 00:44:39,080 and Afghanistan, the military were very gung-ho, keen to be involved, 713 00:44:39,080 --> 00:44:42,640 because they wanted to remain an effective fighting force. 714 00:44:42,640 --> 00:44:46,720 It's by participating in wars in that way that they can do so. 715 00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:50,880 There's no doubt in my mind, 716 00:44:50,880 --> 00:44:53,280 from my experience in the Ministry of Defence, 717 00:44:53,280 --> 00:44:56,280 that the Army saw the interventions in Iraq 718 00:44:56,280 --> 00:44:58,680 and Afghanistan as their "Falklands moment". 719 00:44:58,680 --> 00:45:00,680 The ability to impress on the nation 720 00:45:00,680 --> 00:45:03,760 and politicians about their utility into the future. 721 00:45:05,160 --> 00:45:08,200 And there was this idea, frankly, that if you don't use forces, 722 00:45:08,200 --> 00:45:10,440 you're going to lose them. 723 00:45:11,880 --> 00:45:15,120 But in Helmand, the Army found itself fighting battles 724 00:45:15,120 --> 00:45:17,400 as fierce as any since the Falklands. 725 00:45:17,400 --> 00:45:20,200 And even when they won the firefights, they proved unable 726 00:45:20,200 --> 00:45:23,680 to force an outcome in an intensely political conflict. 727 00:45:27,400 --> 00:45:31,800 Just as we gained considerable prestige by our success 728 00:45:31,800 --> 00:45:35,400 in the war over the Falklands I think our prestige, 729 00:45:35,400 --> 00:45:37,840 particular in military terms, has been diminished 730 00:45:37,840 --> 00:45:40,960 by our participation in Iraq and Afghanistan. 731 00:45:40,960 --> 00:45:42,800 The two central factors 732 00:45:42,800 --> 00:45:45,000 which were not present in the Falklands, 733 00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:47,440 but which are the problem in Iraq and Afghanistan, 734 00:45:47,440 --> 00:45:49,640 are the question of the legitimacy of going in, 735 00:45:49,640 --> 00:45:51,160 the question of the local support. 736 00:45:51,160 --> 00:45:53,920 What really crippled us in the end in Iraq and Afghanistan 737 00:45:53,920 --> 00:45:56,120 is that the Iraqi or the Afghan population, 738 00:45:56,120 --> 00:45:59,000 in the end, didn't consent and support. 739 00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:02,520 And it's that political problem of winning over the imaginations 740 00:46:02,520 --> 00:46:06,120 of people that didn't bedevil us in the Falklands, and it has since. 741 00:46:07,640 --> 00:46:09,680 The South Atlantic conflict 742 00:46:09,680 --> 00:46:12,640 brought a joyous British public onto the streets 743 00:46:12,640 --> 00:46:16,280 to celebrate a swift success. 744 00:46:16,280 --> 00:46:20,080 The long campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, by contrast, 745 00:46:20,080 --> 00:46:22,520 inspired mass protest. 746 00:46:28,480 --> 00:46:31,640 The dead began to come home in a painfully public fashion, 747 00:46:31,640 --> 00:46:34,440 accompanied by rituals much more elaborate than those 748 00:46:34,440 --> 00:46:37,520 that greeted 1982 South Atlantic casualties. 749 00:46:39,240 --> 00:46:43,120 British society had become markedly more averse to risk, 750 00:46:43,120 --> 00:46:46,680 and more sceptical of the merits of sacrifice. 751 00:46:51,520 --> 00:46:56,080 At the end of the Falklands War, the parents of a British para, 752 00:46:56,080 --> 00:46:59,960 Pamela and Richard Jones, were toasting British victory. 753 00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:08,240 Everybody had been out celebrating. Everybody knew us. 754 00:47:08,240 --> 00:47:11,360 They were saying, "Oh, great, Craig will be back," 755 00:47:11,360 --> 00:47:13,480 all this kind of thing. 756 00:47:13,480 --> 00:47:15,600 So after celebrating the war's over, 757 00:47:15,600 --> 00:47:19,280 then we had the shock of being told he'd been killed. 758 00:47:19,280 --> 00:47:21,560 We'd believed he'd got through. 759 00:47:23,360 --> 00:47:26,000 He was the last soldier killed. 760 00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:31,600 He was killed at about 8:30 on the last day, 761 00:47:31,600 --> 00:47:36,640 and then overnight it all finished and they surrendered. 762 00:47:40,240 --> 00:47:42,280 Ashes to ashes... 763 00:47:42,280 --> 00:47:46,240 Most of the 255 servicemen who died in the Falklands 764 00:47:46,240 --> 00:47:49,360 were buried where they fell, in accordance with tradition. 765 00:47:49,360 --> 00:47:54,200 But the Joneses joined a campaign to have their son brought home. 766 00:47:55,280 --> 00:47:57,480 Amen. 767 00:47:57,480 --> 00:48:02,320 We wrote to so many people, and there wasn't any strong argument back, 768 00:48:02,320 --> 00:48:06,040 or strong letters back saying, "No, we can't do it," or whatever. 769 00:48:06,040 --> 00:48:09,160 So, they were thinking about it, then a few more letters went 770 00:48:09,160 --> 00:48:11,320 and other people wrote, 771 00:48:11,320 --> 00:48:14,920 and I think they realised then it was time to change. 772 00:48:17,520 --> 00:48:21,200 In November 1982, Craig Jones' body arrived home 773 00:48:21,200 --> 00:48:23,240 with those of 63 comrades, 774 00:48:23,240 --> 00:48:27,680 at a low-key harbour-side ceremony. 775 00:48:27,680 --> 00:48:29,880 The public scarcely noticed, 776 00:48:29,880 --> 00:48:32,640 but a precedent was set for the return of our dead 777 00:48:32,640 --> 00:48:36,760 from foreign fields that's now become a focus for public sentiment. 778 00:48:41,640 --> 00:48:45,920 After a six-month tour in Afghanistan, 779 00:48:45,920 --> 00:48:48,840 the 9/12th Lancers recently staged a homecoming march 780 00:48:48,840 --> 00:48:52,400 through Northampton, near where Craig Jones grew up. 781 00:48:55,280 --> 00:49:00,280 Parades like this seem to me very different from those of 1982. 782 00:49:00,280 --> 00:49:03,120 People turn out to applaud the courage and prowess 783 00:49:03,120 --> 00:49:07,280 of ordinary soldiers, not the cause for which they've been fighting. 784 00:49:11,320 --> 00:49:15,960 I've got a feeling that we may find that the Falklands 785 00:49:15,960 --> 00:49:21,440 was the last really popular war that Britain ever fights. 786 00:49:21,440 --> 00:49:22,960 A lot of young men died, 787 00:49:22,960 --> 00:49:25,600 but you could see something tangible at the end - 788 00:49:25,600 --> 00:49:29,000 that we'd given back the freedom of people who we consider our own. 789 00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:31,920 The Falklands felt very different, even at the time, 790 00:49:31,920 --> 00:49:35,560 from today's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, didn't it? 791 00:49:35,560 --> 00:49:39,640 In Afghanistan, we go on, year after year after year, 792 00:49:39,640 --> 00:49:43,080 and it's difficult to sometimes, for the man on the street, 793 00:49:43,080 --> 00:49:46,520 to understand why we're doing what we're doing 794 00:49:46,520 --> 00:49:50,560 and what will be - is there a tangible finish, or a finish line? 795 00:49:50,560 --> 00:49:52,960 Can someone draw a line in the sand and say, 796 00:49:52,960 --> 00:49:55,760 "Once we pass that, we've won?" 797 00:49:58,480 --> 00:50:00,640 Some politicians question whether, 798 00:50:00,640 --> 00:50:02,720 after the Iraq and Afghan experiences, 799 00:50:02,720 --> 00:50:07,440 the public will ever again support deployment of a big army abroad 800 00:50:07,440 --> 00:50:10,400 unless Britain is directly threatened. 801 00:50:10,400 --> 00:50:13,040 The Cameron government has been strongly influenced 802 00:50:13,040 --> 00:50:18,080 by public opinion in its decision to seek an early exit from Afghanistan. 803 00:50:20,240 --> 00:50:23,560 I believe the country needs to know there's an end point to all of this. 804 00:50:23,560 --> 00:50:25,880 So from 2015, there will not be troops 805 00:50:25,880 --> 00:50:28,120 in anything like the numbers there are now, 806 00:50:28,120 --> 00:50:30,400 and crucially they will not be in a combat role. 807 00:50:36,240 --> 00:50:39,160 It's a typical irony of history that after all 808 00:50:39,160 --> 00:50:42,640 our expensive modern wars, hot and cold, 809 00:50:42,640 --> 00:50:45,000 we discover that the latest threat to the West 810 00:50:45,000 --> 00:50:49,600 comes not from enemy missiles or invaders but from economics. 811 00:50:49,600 --> 00:50:53,360 Since the 2008 banking crisis exploded, 812 00:50:53,360 --> 00:50:54,880 we have been growing to realise 813 00:50:54,880 --> 00:50:57,520 that our children will live in a poorer country. 814 00:50:57,520 --> 00:51:01,000 Britain is not as rich or successful as we'd thought. 815 00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:03,440 And this impacts painfully on the Defence budget 816 00:51:03,440 --> 00:51:06,120 and on our ability to go to war. 817 00:51:11,240 --> 00:51:14,920 Well, here we are 30 years on from the Falklands War. 818 00:51:14,920 --> 00:51:17,520 And a visitor who landed for the first time from Mars 819 00:51:17,520 --> 00:51:20,080 since Margaret Thatcher became prime minister 820 00:51:20,080 --> 00:51:22,120 might think not much had changed. 821 00:51:23,480 --> 00:51:27,680 Angry trade unionists marching and striking, the economy reeling, 822 00:51:27,680 --> 00:51:30,640 Defence spending slashed. 823 00:51:30,640 --> 00:51:34,480 Today our governments believe that Britain can no longer afford 824 00:51:34,480 --> 00:51:37,440 the sort of armed forces that sometimes enabled us 825 00:51:37,440 --> 00:51:41,320 to punch above our weight and to win the Falklands War. 826 00:51:41,320 --> 00:51:45,400 Military might has gone out of fashion in Britain, maybe forever. 827 00:51:48,560 --> 00:51:51,040 Early in December 2010, 828 00:51:51,040 --> 00:51:56,200 the 1980s vintage carrier Ark Royal made its last voyage. 829 00:51:56,200 --> 00:51:58,160 To save cash, the carrier, 830 00:51:58,160 --> 00:52:02,160 along with the Harriers decisive for Falklands victory, 831 00:52:02,160 --> 00:52:03,640 were to be scrapped. 832 00:52:03,640 --> 00:52:05,480 It was one of those spooky days. 833 00:52:05,480 --> 00:52:08,320 Perfectly, sort of funereal sort of moments 834 00:52:08,320 --> 00:52:11,200 as the ship appeared with tugs out of the fog, 835 00:52:11,200 --> 00:52:14,680 and rather sort of mournfully sailed past 836 00:52:14,680 --> 00:52:16,800 into Portsmouth for the last time. 837 00:52:16,800 --> 00:52:20,960 It was very upsetting. Definitely shed a silent tear or two. 838 00:52:22,200 --> 00:52:25,760 The cuts were consequences of a so-called Strategic Defence Review 839 00:52:25,760 --> 00:52:29,280 that was really a ruthless cost-cutting exercise. 840 00:52:29,280 --> 00:52:32,880 Every such shake-up since Suez has cut our forces, 841 00:52:32,880 --> 00:52:35,400 even if few governments have been willing honestly 842 00:52:35,400 --> 00:52:37,840 to cut our commitments. 843 00:52:37,840 --> 00:52:40,320 But today we really are scraping bottom. 844 00:52:40,320 --> 00:52:44,320 Britain's Defence budget could fall below 2% of GDP. 845 00:52:44,320 --> 00:52:46,640 We're spending less of our national income 846 00:52:46,640 --> 00:52:49,000 on security than ever in modern history. 847 00:52:51,640 --> 00:52:54,800 We're getting pretty close to what I would call critical mass. 848 00:52:54,800 --> 00:52:59,320 Some people would say we've been below it. We've always taken risks. 849 00:52:59,320 --> 00:53:04,080 My worry is now the risks we're taking may well be unacceptable 850 00:53:04,080 --> 00:53:06,400 and catch us out. 851 00:53:09,360 --> 00:53:11,640 If you want to see the kind of hardware 852 00:53:11,640 --> 00:53:15,280 that won the Falklands War, it's now found only in a museum. 853 00:53:16,600 --> 00:53:20,040 A new generation knows almost nothing about our martial past 854 00:53:20,040 --> 00:53:23,040 or indeed about the Falklands. 855 00:53:23,040 --> 00:53:27,320 We all grew up to think of British history as a terrific, 856 00:53:27,320 --> 00:53:30,800 romantic pageant in which we fought endless wars and battles. 857 00:53:30,800 --> 00:53:34,520 And nowadays, I don't think the way you're taught history 858 00:53:34,520 --> 00:53:38,040 is anything like that at all, is it? Do you learn about Trafalgar? 859 00:53:38,040 --> 00:53:42,480 No, we don't. Would you know what year Trafalgar was? No. 860 00:53:42,480 --> 00:53:45,160 I mean, would you know about Waterloo? 861 00:53:45,160 --> 00:53:47,920 Any, anybody make a guess what year Waterloo was? 862 00:53:47,920 --> 00:53:52,080 Was it 1600s, or 1800s? 1815. 863 00:53:53,920 --> 00:53:56,080 Now, I think perhaps our generation, 864 00:53:56,080 --> 00:53:58,560 we grew up more to believe that being patriotic 865 00:53:58,560 --> 00:54:00,640 had something to do with fighting wars, 866 00:54:00,640 --> 00:54:02,640 and nowadays you all don't feel that. 867 00:54:02,640 --> 00:54:05,840 Maybe it's right that, in the 21st century, you should feel that way, 868 00:54:05,840 --> 00:54:07,800 but gosh, it's different. 869 00:54:09,520 --> 00:54:12,760 New generations know as little about our modern defence 870 00:54:12,760 --> 00:54:15,800 as they do about our fighting past. 871 00:54:15,800 --> 00:54:18,320 But they may yet be surprised to find that soldiers, 872 00:54:18,320 --> 00:54:21,800 or our lack of them, will still matter as the 21st-century advances. 873 00:54:23,920 --> 00:54:27,400 I think we shall live to be sorry if we forget history 874 00:54:27,400 --> 00:54:31,040 and treat Britain's defence capability as an optional extra. 875 00:54:31,040 --> 00:54:35,080 I'm no supporter of reckless military adventures, 876 00:54:35,080 --> 00:54:37,200 for some of Blair's wars seem madness, 877 00:54:37,200 --> 00:54:40,640 but a grown-up country should have grown-up armed forces. 878 00:54:40,640 --> 00:54:44,120 I don't want to see more so-called "moral interventions" 879 00:54:44,120 --> 00:54:48,120 but I do want Britain to be capable of defending its interests 880 00:54:48,120 --> 00:54:51,280 against its enemies, heaven knows who, where or when. 881 00:54:59,560 --> 00:55:01,960 Every nation is hopeless at predicting 882 00:55:01,960 --> 00:55:04,480 what the next war will be like. 883 00:55:06,360 --> 00:55:08,560 Where's the threat coming from? 884 00:55:08,560 --> 00:55:11,920 What you have to do is to have the kind of forces 885 00:55:11,920 --> 00:55:17,080 which can react quickly to the unexpected, 886 00:55:17,080 --> 00:55:20,640 and I would think that's a lesson from the Falklands. 887 00:55:23,880 --> 00:55:26,080 You cannot have forces that are too rigid, 888 00:55:26,080 --> 00:55:28,880 too focused on specific threats, 889 00:55:28,880 --> 00:55:32,520 or you won't have the capacity ever to go and do things where 890 00:55:32,520 --> 00:55:36,400 you are not involved in wars of choice, you're in wars of necessity. 891 00:55:41,320 --> 00:55:44,800 British governments in future need to show better judgement 892 00:55:44,800 --> 00:55:47,760 about staying out of the wrong wars. 893 00:55:47,760 --> 00:55:50,080 But strong armed forces give us 894 00:55:50,080 --> 00:55:52,840 a standing in the world that still matters. 895 00:55:52,840 --> 00:55:56,040 We can't afford just to resign from the international stage, 896 00:55:56,040 --> 00:55:59,720 and in addition to soft power, ambassadors and aid, 897 00:55:59,720 --> 00:56:03,520 we also need sometimes to be able to use hard power. 898 00:56:03,520 --> 00:56:07,400 This isn't just about romantic nostalgia for a lost past, 899 00:56:07,400 --> 00:56:10,880 it's about being able to defend our vital national interests 900 00:56:10,880 --> 00:56:14,360 against enemies, unless we think we'll never have any again. 901 00:56:17,120 --> 00:56:19,600 One of the best results of the Falklands War 902 00:56:19,600 --> 00:56:24,280 was that it caused the fall of Argentina's military dictatorship. 903 00:56:24,280 --> 00:56:26,800 The country's been a democracy ever since, 904 00:56:26,800 --> 00:56:31,120 but Britain's 30th anniversary present from the current government 905 00:56:31,120 --> 00:56:36,160 is a bombardment of angry words, renewing its claim to the Islands. 906 00:56:39,160 --> 00:56:41,800 Argentine TV broadcast an advertisement 907 00:56:41,800 --> 00:56:45,800 professing to show what life would be like on the Falklands 908 00:56:45,800 --> 00:56:47,800 if they become Las Malvinas. 909 00:56:47,800 --> 00:56:51,320 ADVERTISMENT: Wake up, it's a beautiful morning. Have a nice day. 910 00:56:54,080 --> 00:56:56,280 The 1982 story isn't over. 911 00:56:56,280 --> 00:57:00,040 Britain faces real dilemmas about how to respond to Buenos Aires, 912 00:57:00,040 --> 00:57:04,320 and the bad news is that we're increasingly diplomatically isolated, 913 00:57:04,320 --> 00:57:07,200 even from the United States. 914 00:57:09,200 --> 00:57:14,360 We want very much to encourage both countries to sit down. 915 00:57:14,360 --> 00:57:17,440 Now, we cannot make either one do so, 916 00:57:17,440 --> 00:57:20,120 but we think it is the right way to proceed. 917 00:57:22,600 --> 00:57:24,880 HYMN: "Praise My Soul, The King Of Heaven" 918 00:57:30,160 --> 00:57:33,200 After the 1982 war was over, 919 00:57:33,200 --> 00:57:36,280 the British gave thanks for victory in St Paul's Cathedral. 920 00:57:40,520 --> 00:57:42,680 Among scores of memorials to our conflicts, 921 00:57:42,680 --> 00:57:47,560 some of which saved the nation, the Falklands now has its place here. 922 00:57:50,800 --> 00:57:54,040 For me, the war was a supreme romantic adventure, 923 00:57:54,040 --> 00:57:58,280 a freak of history that I shall be forever grateful to have shared in. 924 00:57:58,280 --> 00:58:01,080 But it seems almost as remote from modern Britain 925 00:58:01,080 --> 00:58:03,720 as Trafalgar or Waterloo. 926 00:58:05,000 --> 00:58:07,360 We should remember it though, with pride - 927 00:58:07,360 --> 00:58:09,520 something Britain did really well. 928 00:58:09,520 --> 00:58:11,160 We stood alone in a good cause 929 00:58:11,160 --> 00:58:14,040 against the dictatorship's armed aggression. 930 00:58:14,040 --> 00:58:17,400 We fought and won the Falklands War. 931 00:58:17,400 --> 00:58:21,120 I think it'll come to be remembered as the last really popular conflict 932 00:58:21,120 --> 00:58:23,160 Britain ever fights. 933 00:58:24,680 --> 00:58:26,920 But as for its place in history, 934 00:58:26,920 --> 00:58:30,040 it looks to me like a last imperial hurrah. 935 00:58:32,000 --> 00:58:34,520 # Hallelujah, hallelujah 936 00:58:34,520 --> 00:58:39,680 # Glorious in His faithfulness. # 937 00:59:09,000 --> 00:59:11,360 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd