Thatcher rallying call to troops

God, for a brief moment it was like being in a time warp listening to Thatcher celebrate the twenty fifth anniversary of the Falklands war. If you can bear it you can listen to the old battle-axe here.

She said that in "the struggle against evil... we can all today draw hope and strength" from the Falklands victory.

There are many of us who think that Galtieri rescued Thatcher's career when he invaded the Falklands. At the time she was the most unpopular Prime Minister since records began and the country watched as she sent unemployment through the roof, touching three million, the worst unemployment since the Great Depression. When rioting broke out in Liverpool's Toxteth area, where 60% of the population were unemployed, it looked like Thatcher's government might fall. There were very many who thought that she would never get re-elected.

Then Galtieri invaded the Falklands and Maggie's Premiership was saved.

Of course victory obliterated all in it's wake. Had the British lost the war much more would have been made of Thatcher's savage naval cuts and her removing of the last British vessel protecting the Falklands, which raised the question in Galtieri's mind of whether Britain even wanted this colonial outpost.

But victory, of course, deemed such questions as unpatriotic and Thatcher went on to win the next election and redefine her entire career in the spirit of the Falklands war.

It's interesting to note that she still talks of it as something that we, as a nation, should still be celebrating.

She said "we should still rejoice" at the victory in 1982.

I'd have thought twenty five years later might be a good time to have got over a victory over a colonial outpost, but Maggie harbours no such doubts. Indeed, she feels that the spirit of the Falklands should inspire our troops in Iraq today.

She said the Falklands was a national struggle which the whole country "felt", and was "mercifully short".

Baroness Thatcher then turned to "our boys - and girls as well, of course" currently stationed in war zones who showed that "in a sense there are no final victories, for the struggle against evil in the world is never ending".

"So, as we recall - and give thanks for - the liberation of our islands, let us also recall the many battlefronts where British forces are engaged today," she said.

What chills me about Thatcher's talk of the never ending battle against evil is how Blairian it all is. Or is Blair simply the bastard child of Thatcher?

Twenty five years after the battle for the Falklands, Thatcher and Blair are still talking each others language. Still finding evil around every corner and demanding that Britain, for the good of the planet, confront it.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Or perhaps not. The main difference twenty five years on is that Maggie's war redefined her Premiership and rescued her from the brink of disaster. Blair's war took a popular young leader and destroyed his reputation on the rocks.

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Tags: Thatcher, Blair, Falklands war, twentyfifth anniversary