Word: thatcherism
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...minutes Haig discussed the situation with Prime Minister Thatcher in her upstairs study, then retired to the dining room for a steak-and-potatoes working meal. In all, Haig spent more than five hours with the Prime Minister. Her message, according to a top British official: "Stop talking about American even-handedness and tell the junta to obey the Security Council resolution to withdraw its forces. Only after this happens will we be prepared to talk about the future of the islands." Added a senior member of the British Cabinet: "While we want a diplomatic solution, we are absolutely determined...
...days before the landing, British officials insist?and their U.S. counterparts agree?that they became convinced of the reality of the impending attack only on March 31, just two days before the assault, when there were no British forces in striking distance to resist. To confuse the issue slightly, Thatcher later admitted obliquely that a British submarine was "about" in the waters, but it could hardly have prevented the invasion...
...after the attack, as the Argentines launched a mopping-up operation against 22 marines on the island of South Georgia, the full storm of recrimination broke over the Thatcher government. In the first emergency weekend sitting of Parliament since the Suez Canal crisis of 1956, both the opposition Labor Party and even many Conservative backbenchers called for the resignation of Foreign Secretary Carrington, Defense Secretary Nott, the man ultimately responsible for British military preparedness, and of Thatcher herself...
Lord Carrington took the criticism to heart. Prior to the emergency Commons session, he had told Thatcher of his intention to resign. The amiable and popular Foreign Secretary, who earned worldwide admiration for his 1979 negotiation of an end to the Rhodesian civil war, was unafraid of political criticism but felt strongly that his resignation was a matter of honor. Thatcher and Deputy Tory Leader William Whitelaw tried hard over the April
...weekend to dissuade Carrington, whom Thatcher viewed as a valued ally. He was one of the few members of the Cabinet who could exercise restraint over the headstrong Prime Minister. He once had the self-confidence to tell her, as she got ready for an important meeting with a touchy foreign leader, "Don't say anything for the first 30 minutes." Carrington turned down a face-saving ploy suggested by Whitelaw and Thatcher: the Foreign Secretary would offer his resignation, she would refuse to accept it, and he would then withdraw the proposal. Thus he would have done the honorable...