PM David Cameron dramatically promised yesterday to fight Argentina if it
invades the Falkland Islands.
The Premier upped the ante with bolshy Argie leader Cristina Kirchner by
warning British troops were on stand-by to defend the territory.
His pledge came days after she accused Britain of stealing the islands and
demanded them for her own nation. The Sun responded by printing an open
letter in a Buenos Aires newspaper warning: “Hands off.”
Mr Cameron piled on the pressure as he warned British resolve remained
“extremely strong”. Asked if Britain would fight to keep the islands, he
declared: “Of course we would.
“We have strong defences in place on the Falkland Islands.
“That’s absolutely key — that we have fast jets stationed there, we have
troops stationed on the Falkland Islands.” And he said the UK would ALWAYS
be able to defend the islands from Argentina — despite sweeping defence
cuts.
“At £35billion a year, we still have one of the top five defence budgets in
the world,” he told BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show.
“We’ll go on having that scale of defences and we’re re-equipping our armed
services in a very, very effective way.”
In all, 255 British servicemen died in the 1982 Falklands War when Our Boys
repelled Argentina’s bid to take the islands. Three civilian Falklanders and
649 Argentine troops also died.
Argentina began its sabre-rattling again at memorial services last year to
mark the conflict’s 30th anniversary.
Last week Mrs Kirchner, 59, sparked outrage by claiming in an open letter to
Mr Cameron that Argentina was “stripped” of the islands 180 years ago.
In The Sun’s letter, printed in the Buenos Aires Herald, we pointed out
Britain had sovereignty there before Argentina existed.
Islanders will vote on whether to remain British in a referendum in March.
e.ashton@the-sun.co.uk