Speeches, etc.

Margaret Thatcher

Christmas Message for the Falklands

Document type: Speeches, interviews, etc.
Venue: No.10 Downing Street
Source: Thatcher Archive: COI transcript
Editorial comments: 0945-1030 was set aside for Christmas interviews and messages. The message was embargoed until 1200 on 24 December 1985.
Importance ranking: Minor
Word count: 753
Themes: Defence (Falklands), Foreign policy (International organizations), Transport

To all our friends in the Falkland Islands, we send the message of a Happy Christmas and a Good New Year to you all.

On Christmas Eve, I and my family shall be gathered at Chequers all together once again. We will be entertaining a few friends around the Christmas tree, because that is really what Christmas is for—the family together with friends.

We will be thinking, too, of you, as we often do throughout the year. I know we are separated by 8,000 miles and I recall once during the campaign—indeed, it was the day when I was in my constituency and I knew the landings were going to occur—I recall saying that although you were 8,000 miles, you were really only a heartbeat away.

Today, that 8,000 miles seems to have shrunk with the building of the new airport at Mount Pleasant when it was opened in May. I was sad not to be able to come. I should like to have seen it. It was a great achievement by British engineers, British managers and British workmen to complete the work on schedule and in such a short time. I would like to send greetings to all of those who did it and to say thank you for the splendid way in which they worked to get everything ready.

Again, when I was with you, I recall some of your number saying: “Yes, we are so grateful for everything that [end p1] has been done, but we would like to see some tangible evidence that you are really going to have faith in our future!” I hope you will find that tangible evidence in this new airport, because it marks a new chapter in the development of the Islands—not only in your protection; it makes it so much easier for us to get people there—but also the possibilities for tourism, for exports, and to better communication between the Falkland Islands and the rest of the world.

But there have been other things going on too. I have watched the work of the Falkland Islands Development Corporation—less public, smaller funds, but very important, as they help with little amounts of money as well as large, and in giving advice to those who have helped to promote a spirit of enterprise and initiative in the trade in the Islands.

Of course, we were very interested in your election and we want to congratulate all the Councillors who have been elected to the Legislative Council. They carry very important responsibilities at an exciting period in the Islands' history, and we must not forget to say thank you to all those who are leaving the Council. Their service to the Islands was devoted and we are very grateful to them.

You in the Falkland Islands were born to freedom, born to democracy, and we must cherish and nurture it. We can never be complacent about it. At the heart of democracy is the right of every man and woman to have his or her say in how he or she is to be governed. That is what the British way of life is all about.

You know that we are committed to protecting your [end p2] right to determine your own future. It is one of the fundamental principles of the United Nations and I regret that at the recent General Assembly so many of our friends proved unwilling to face up to the real issues at stake. They are content to have self-determination for themselves, but not all of them content or prepared to vote for it for the peoples of the Falkland Islands.

We, as you know—and some of our friends—stayed true as ever, and we always shall be true.

1985 saw the departure of Rex Hunt. He and Lady Mavis HuntMavis have won a special place in the history of the Islands and I know in all your hearts as well as mine. They led you through the dark days; they shared with you the joys of liberation and faced with you the challenges of reconstruction, and I will never forget Rex 's steadfastness when he was in Britain, when he constantly gave us advice as to how the Islanders would react, what they would be thinking, the messages of reassurance that you would need, and I will never forget his broadcasts.

A new period has now begun, a period of looking to the future, and I am confident that the new partnership that Gordon and Joyce Dukes will forge with you will be every bit as successful in dealing with the new tasks and I know how much they were looking forward to taking over their distinguished office.

To all the servicemen defending your right to live in peace and security and to all those engaged in construction and development, I send my warmest wishes for Christmas and the New [end p3] Year. We do the same to the people of the Falkland Islands, but because you are just a very special part of the British family, we at this time send our love and renew our faith in the future that we are building together.