Foreign Office, Whitehall,
London, Great Britain.
September, 1947.
It was a hungry and annoyed Ernest Bevin that laid his eyes upon a telegram that had arrived to the Foreign Office from the Argentinian Embassy one September morning. Hungry, because Sir Strafford's rationing still wasn't allowing a single Briton to enjoy a decent breakfast, and annoyed because the substitute they were now mixing into the rationed coffee frankly tasted like coal. Mr. Bevin was beginning to feel a headache approach, and briefly put down his glasses, looked away from the letter and lay back in his chair. He sighed. Lately, life hadn't been so good on him and the Labour cabinet. First Keynes had been unable to obtain a proper loan from the United States, and they were still suffering angered opposition for their determination to make India an independent state. As far as the war in Greece was concerned... He didn't want to think about it. Sometimes he was wondering if it hadn't been best had Labour lost the 1945 election, so that the Conservatives would have had to deal with the Herculean burdens that Attlee had assigned for him, but he always ended up chuckling: Clearly, had the Tories been the ones in power, the foreign affairs of Britain would have been in a catastrophic state. He had a duty to fulfill to his country, and his patriotism kept him from backing away every time it felt though.
...but Ernest found himself digressing in his own mind. There had arrived a telegram from the Argentinians and he needed to have a look at it. He reached for his glasses and took up the paper. "Interesting." Mr. Bevin noted, apparently President Peron of Argentina, a man the Foreign Secretary honestly neither trusted nor liked, was interested in buying the Falkland Islands from Britain. The sum he offered was, frankly, modest, but Britain needed a small boost to its finances, especially in these times of severe austerity. Besides, it was the Falklands he was selling to Argentina, not Ulster he was selling to the Republic of Ireland. Would anyone seriously give this much attention, especially when the talk was still mainly concerned with the Indian business?
In the next cabinet meeting, Bevin brought up the question and expressed his desire to accept Peron's offer. He was joined by both the Chancellor, Hugh Dalton and the President of the Board of Trade, Sir Strafford Cripps. Nye Bevan, eager to secure more fund for his ambitious plans gave his enthusiastic support. Herbert Morrison was the only one to express some skepticism, which may have been what gave the Prime Minister, Mr. Attlee, some incentive to actually go through with it. The general feeling in the cabinet was "Sure, why not?"
In the debate that followed in the House of Commons, no serious opposition was put up. Labour pretty much en masse supported the sale, and for what little mandate they had, Clement Davies delivered the support of the Liberal Party's nine seats. The Leader of the Opposition, Sir Winston Churchill found himself unable to support the sale and decided to speak up against it, but not with much efforts of course. He couldn't be seen giving much attention to these small islands in the South Atlantic after the independence of India. That would just look silly. Some Conservative backbenchers did of course offer some bitter speeches about how this was an assault on the entire history of the British Empire, but few took them seriously. One in particular, who's name the author has inconveniently forgotten, comically spurted out that this could have tremendous consequences to the future of their beloved country. But he was pretty much just laughed at by members of each side of the floor. Even Mr. Churchill found himself smirking while the backbencher delivered his speech. In the vote that followed, the supporters of the sale won a comfortable majority.
And so on the 1st of January 1950, the Union Jack was for the last time lowered in Stanley and the Argentinian flag was raised. It passed almost without mention in the British press at the time. After all, what importance, if any, could a continued British ownership of the Falklands, a few barely populated islands several hundred miles away from Britannia, ever have played in the Great Play of History?
Discuss.
London, Great Britain.
September, 1947.
It was a hungry and annoyed Ernest Bevin that laid his eyes upon a telegram that had arrived to the Foreign Office from the Argentinian Embassy one September morning. Hungry, because Sir Strafford's rationing still wasn't allowing a single Briton to enjoy a decent breakfast, and annoyed because the substitute they were now mixing into the rationed coffee frankly tasted like coal. Mr. Bevin was beginning to feel a headache approach, and briefly put down his glasses, looked away from the letter and lay back in his chair. He sighed. Lately, life hadn't been so good on him and the Labour cabinet. First Keynes had been unable to obtain a proper loan from the United States, and they were still suffering angered opposition for their determination to make India an independent state. As far as the war in Greece was concerned... He didn't want to think about it. Sometimes he was wondering if it hadn't been best had Labour lost the 1945 election, so that the Conservatives would have had to deal with the Herculean burdens that Attlee had assigned for him, but he always ended up chuckling: Clearly, had the Tories been the ones in power, the foreign affairs of Britain would have been in a catastrophic state. He had a duty to fulfill to his country, and his patriotism kept him from backing away every time it felt though.
...but Ernest found himself digressing in his own mind. There had arrived a telegram from the Argentinians and he needed to have a look at it. He reached for his glasses and took up the paper. "Interesting." Mr. Bevin noted, apparently President Peron of Argentina, a man the Foreign Secretary honestly neither trusted nor liked, was interested in buying the Falkland Islands from Britain. The sum he offered was, frankly, modest, but Britain needed a small boost to its finances, especially in these times of severe austerity. Besides, it was the Falklands he was selling to Argentina, not Ulster he was selling to the Republic of Ireland. Would anyone seriously give this much attention, especially when the talk was still mainly concerned with the Indian business?
In the next cabinet meeting, Bevin brought up the question and expressed his desire to accept Peron's offer. He was joined by both the Chancellor, Hugh Dalton and the President of the Board of Trade, Sir Strafford Cripps. Nye Bevan, eager to secure more fund for his ambitious plans gave his enthusiastic support. Herbert Morrison was the only one to express some skepticism, which may have been what gave the Prime Minister, Mr. Attlee, some incentive to actually go through with it. The general feeling in the cabinet was "Sure, why not?"
In the debate that followed in the House of Commons, no serious opposition was put up. Labour pretty much en masse supported the sale, and for what little mandate they had, Clement Davies delivered the support of the Liberal Party's nine seats. The Leader of the Opposition, Sir Winston Churchill found himself unable to support the sale and decided to speak up against it, but not with much efforts of course. He couldn't be seen giving much attention to these small islands in the South Atlantic after the independence of India. That would just look silly. Some Conservative backbenchers did of course offer some bitter speeches about how this was an assault on the entire history of the British Empire, but few took them seriously. One in particular, who's name the author has inconveniently forgotten, comically spurted out that this could have tremendous consequences to the future of their beloved country. But he was pretty much just laughed at by members of each side of the floor. Even Mr. Churchill found himself smirking while the backbencher delivered his speech. In the vote that followed, the supporters of the sale won a comfortable majority.
And so on the 1st of January 1950, the Union Jack was for the last time lowered in Stanley and the Argentinian flag was raised. It passed almost without mention in the British press at the time. After all, what importance, if any, could a continued British ownership of the Falklands, a few barely populated islands several hundred miles away from Britannia, ever have played in the Great Play of History?
Discuss.
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