WIDE divisions within the Conservative Party over how the Government should respond to Argentina's invasion of the Falklands are revealed as Margaret Thatcher's 1982 private papers are made public.
While the Tories publicly presented a united front, briefing notes prepared for the Prime Minister demonstrate the polarised opinions she had to contend with in the early days of the crisis.
Until now the backroom deliberations have remained largely private, but the notes are among those released by the Margaret Thatcher Archive Trust as it opens its files from a year which came to define Mrs Thatcher's career.
They range from Ken Clarke, then a junior minister, arguing to "blow up a few ships but nothing more", to West Devon MP Peter Mills, who warned "my constituents want blood".
Historian Chris Collins, from the trust, said the papers reflected the "chaos" within the party and more widely following the surprise attack.
He added: "These papers reveal how stressful this situation was. It was a massive undertaking which tested her to the full."
On April 6, four days after the incursion, the chief whip, Michael Jopling, prepared a note for the Prime Minister saying: "You may like to have general reaction to events in the Falkland Islands."
Mr Clarke, along with Sir Timothy Raison, MP for Aylesbury, are attributed with the view: "Hopes nobody thinks we are going to fight the Argentinians.
"We should blow up a few ships but nothing more."
Mrs Thatcher has marked the comment with two blue biro lines.
Ian Gilmour, later Baron Gilmour of Craigmillar, said: "We are making a big mistake.
"It will make Suez look like common sense."
Five MPs urged Mrs Thatcher to "keep calm" adding "we can get away without a fight" while others were "all taking a hard line".
A similar note the following day described Stephen Dorrell as "very wobbly".
It adds: "Will only support the fleet as a negotiating ploy.
"If they will not negotiate we should withdraw."
Lady Thatcher is the first British prime minister whose private and official papers have been released in this way. The latest release is open to the public at the Churchill Archive Centre in Cambridge and online at www.margaretthatcher.org
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