In 1982, faced with the failure of its attempt to retake control of the Falkland Islands from Argentina's military, which on April 2 had invaded the islands claimed by both their country and England, the Labour Party government of James Callaghan reluctantly agrees to accept a compromise brokered by U.S. Secretary of State Alexander Haig (pictured).Falklands Emergency Part 6 - Callaghan's Surrender by Eric Lipps
Under the terms of the agreement, which (somewhat hypocritically, considering the often hostile attitude of Haig's superior, President Ronald Reagan, toward the United Nations) cites UN Resolution 502 calling for a negotiated solution to the Falklands conflict, the islands will remain under the British flag and will retain, officially, their British name rather than the Argentinean 'Islas de Malvinas,' but Argentina will be de facto sovereign. Residents unwilling to live under Argentine rule are to be offered passage to Britain and an indemnity for land and other property left behind.
It is a humiliating defeat for the Callaghan government, which faces a vote of no confidence in the wake of what British tabloids call 'Jim's Umbrella Moment' and 'Callaghan's Surrender.' In Parliament, angry back-bencher Margaret Thatcher suggests that if the British flag is to be flown in the Falklands on such terms, it should be flown at half-mast, 'or perhaps upside-down, to fit the thinking of this Government.'
Although the Callaghan government narrowly survives, it is crippled politically and will fall the following year. Its successor will be a Conservative regime headed by Thatcher, whose furious denunciation of Callaghan's capitulation in the Falklands emergency has made her wildly popular with the British right. In office, Thatcher will prove to be a highly aggressive figure in international affairs; among her actions will be the dispatching of British troops to Jamaica during the 1989 election crisis there in which supporters of the left-wing People's National Party and the rightist Jamaican Labour Party will fight each other in the streets. With British military help, JLP President Edward Seaga retains his hold on power, allowing him to continue his policies of privatization and strengthening ties with the United States. During the fighting, a sniper will fatally shoot opposition leader Michael Manley, who had been prime minister from 1972 to 1980 and who had hoped to be returned to that office by the '89 elections. Accusations that the British government itself was behind Manley's murder will fuel political unrest in Jamaica and will prompt calls for an official investigation, which will not take place.
To be continued..