Speeches, etc.

Margaret Thatcher

Radio Interview for British Forces Broadcasting Service

Document type: Speeches, interviews, etc.
Venue: No.10 Downing Street
Source: Thatcher Archive: transcript
Journalist: Anne Armstrong, BFBS
Editorial comments: 1045. MT’s next appointment was at 1200.
Importance ranking: Minor
Word count: 1511
Themes: Conservatism, Defence (general), Education, Religion & morality

Q.

Prime Minister I should like to start by thanking you for allowing me to come to No. 10 Downing Street. I appreciate how busy you are. You have recently returned from talks in Dublin and you are about to leave for America. I think I am right in saying that it is some time since a Prime Minister has broadcast to the Services overseas at Christmas.

A.

Well, thank you very much for what you have said. Yes, we are busy, but you know there would be something very wrong with a Prime Minister if she wasn't busy. I did want to make time to do this broadcast. I don't know what previous Prime Ministers have done, but I just want to say that we are very grateful to all the Forces everywhere and for everything they are doing, and I wanted to say so myself.

Q.

Thank you very much. Your Government felt the need to place increased emphasis on Defence and you yourself are known to take a strong interest in the affairs of the Services. How important do you rate the work of the Armed Forces in national life?

A.

Very important indeed. I think there is one very great weakness of democracy and that is we tend to allow ourselves to be lulled into a sense of false security. We are all such peace-loving people, we want to have the opportunity to get on with our own lives with our families in our own way, and we assume that somehow everyone else is the same. And you know, they're not, and it is the duty of politicians to see that people are fully alerted to the threat on the facts as we know them available to us. Then when we have alerted them to the threat—because it takes such a long time to get yourself up to a stage when you can counter that threat—we constantly have the need to say to people: if you value the Western way of life, if you value everything that is British, English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish, then we simply must defend it, and we can never let go. And so I try all the time to give a lead, and I know that without our Defence forces our way of life and everything in which I believe would be vulnerable.

Q.

As we move into the 1980's, with pay comparability, conditions of service improving, an increased Defence Budget, the historic title of the Territorial Army restored and the latest announcement that those who were made widows prior to 1950 will now receive a pension, Servicemen and their [end p1] families are beginning to look into the future with much more confidence, Will your Government be able to maintain comparability of pay in the future?

A.

Well, I am glad that they are looking into the future with more confidence, and we are really rather pleased with some of the things that we were able to do, because we were determined to do them because we felt there was justice in the case. I do hope they will be able to look forward with an idea that there is a good future, a good career future for them, similar and equivalent to the service which they are giving to their country. We don't give our promises lightly, and we hope that we shall be able to honour every one of them.

Q.

A large proportion of our Armed Forces are serving with NATO. How important is our commitment to the NATO alliance?

A.

Oh, absolutely vital. Since we formed NATO we've not heard so much of the attack across Europe, and that is because our potential enemies knew that NATO was there and knew that we would honour the principle that an attack on any one of us is an attack on all, and we would each come to the others' aid. That is absolutely vital, and because it's been successful we mustn't let our effort dwindle in any way, we must keep it up. We, as you know, do a very great deal for NATO, in Britain. We have the largest European Navy, and certainly in the eastern part of the Atlantic we have the largest number of ready Forces. In the central area we have some 55,000 Forces committed to NATO. It is absolutely vital that the Free World stands together and honours its commitment to NATO. That is the most important message we can give to our potential enemies.

Q.

Because this year is the 30th anniversary of NATO, and of course in thirty years the world has changed an awful lot, and as you have just said NATO is as important to Britain as it was thirty years ago.

A.

Every bit as important. We shall only be secure if we join together in an alliance like NATO and stay true to it.

Q.

The Services and their families overseas have raised a considerable amount of money as their contribution to International Year of the Child. From Germany, I, and three delegates, attended the Youth Parliament and they were delighted to hear your opening speech. I know that you have taken great personal interest in United Nations projects. May I ask you why you have shown such an interest in the Year of the Child?

A.

Why, yes of course. Because this is what life is all about, and what really [end p2] makes the world go round is that most people want to give their children the benefit of something they didn't have, and to enable them to come into, somehow, a happier world. And at the moment what worries us is that there are a lot of things going on in the world which are extremely alarming. But the Year of the Child: yes, I went to that fantastic fair in Hyde Park—two days, thousands and thousands and thousands of children, and they had a marvellous time. And then, yes, I did go to the Young People's Parliament. You know, so often when I go to talk to, say, Sixth forms in schools in my own constituency, you will find an attitude, or an approach or the joining of an idea which is fresh and new because people haven't yet been conditioned in any way by the ideas around them, and they are still thinking of new ideas and fresh things. And you will often find you are asked questions which are so simple and so obvious and yet no one has thought of them, from a young person. They are seeing things differently, and it is because I am always looking for new and fresh things and always feeling that we ought to take a more positive approach to young people, that I spend quite a bit of time with them. You see, one of the things that has often worried me is that if you go to the United States there is a much more refreshing attitude there to helping young people to get on. I have never heard any of my American friends say: ‘well, yes come and work with us and by the time you've been here ten years you'll have learned; you will have forgotten all those ideas, and you'll have learned that they can't be done’. Not a bit of it. They say: ‘come on, you've got ideas, we may not have them, let's try them out, let's see’. I'm just anxious that we should take the same view, and the same approach in Britain.

Q.

Well I know your speech had in fact a great impact on the children because they have now gone back to Germany, and hopefully they are going to try and have a Youth Parliament in Germany next year.

A.

Well, I was trying there to put the moral aspect of politics, and the moral aspect of democracy, because democracy isn't about casting all your decisions on the state. Democracy is about taking personal decisions yourself and being personally responsible to them and for them.

Q.

Members of the Armed Forces and all the many civilians who support them throughout the world wish to be with their families at Christmas. This is all too often impossible. Some families will face separation for the third or fourth time, with Servicemen and women on duty perhaps at sea, in Northern Ireland, or Belize. Would you, Prime Minister, like to send them a message at this time of year? [end p3]

A.

I really would like to send both parts of the family a message. We are very grateful and appreciative of the work you do on duty and I would just like you to know that, and we also realise that this does mean great deprivation for your wives and families when you would normally be together at Christmas time. We appreciate that, too, and we hope that you will be able to get together at some later time. Nothing can compensate for being without Christmas together, but the Christmas together that is traditional, and in which we believe, wouldn't survive unless someone was prepared to defend it. Thank you both sides of the family for everything you do for us.

Q.

Perhaps we could end on a seasonal note with your favourite carol. Throughout the year British Forces Broadcasting plays record requests for Servicemen and their families, could I ask if we could make a little piece of history by playing one for the Prime Minister?

A.

Oh, that would be wonderful, if you would. Carols mean so much to me. I remember so much carol singing from my school days and from my earlier life. I always had a very great favourite, it's “It came upon a midnight clear, that glorious song of old/the angels bending near the earth to touch their harps of gold/Peace on earth, goodwill to men and heaven's all gracious king/the world in solemn stillness lay, to hear the angels sing” . Would you play that one for me?

Q.

Yes, we will, certainly. Thank you Prime Minister, and a very happy Christmas to you.

A.

Thank you very much, and a Happy Christmas to everyone, everywhere.