A senior Conservative today lashed out at ‘incoherent’ and ‘erratic’ Donald Trump for questioning the UK’s ability to defend the Falklands in the face of a new Argentine invasion.
New shadow foreign secretary Tom Tugendhat spoke out after the ageing US president suggested British forces would not ‘be willing to travel that far’ to defend the islanders right to self determination.
Mr Trump has previously indicated he might not back the UK’s sovereignty over the Falklands if Argentina launched an attack, and again waded into the dispute during a visit to Dublin on Saturday.
Speaking to reporters while sitting with Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Mr Trump suggested UK forces might be put off by a journey of ‘weeks by boat’ to reach the Falklands – despite the journey being the same ahead of the 1982 conflict won by Britain.
Mr Tugendhat told Sky News today that the president’s intervention was ‘completely incoherent, but it’s also, as we know, it’s erratic’.
He pointed out that islanders voted in a referendum by more than 90 per cent to remain British, adding: ‘What the Argentine government is trying to do is attempt a colonial takeover.
‘It absolutely has never been part of Argentina. So what they’re trying to do is attempt colonial occupation.’
Trump has previously indicated he might not back the UK’s sovereignty over the Falklands if Argentina attacked, and again waded into the dispute during a visit to Dublin on Saturday
Mr Tugendhat told Sky News today that the president’s intervention was ‘completely incoherent, but it’s also, as we know, it’s erratic’.
Speaking in the Irish capital about the UK’s ability to retake the Falklands, Trump said: ‘I’m not sure they’re doing that. They have a little problem with immigration.
‘They have a little problem with energy, and then have some other problems they have to take care of.’
He added: ‘I’m sure I’ll be called into that potential disaster, but if they do, I’ll probably be able to settle, settle it out.’
Mr Trump’s comments come amid renewed tension over the south Atlantic islands, whose population overwhelmingly favour remaining British.
Argentina’s president Javier Milei, an ally of Mr Trump, reiterated his country’s claim to the Falklands in a nationally televised address, saying the islands ‘are our future’.
His government has also imposed sanctions on people and companies involved in oil exploration around the Falklands and said it would file a criminal complaint against oil company Navitas Petroleum over its operations around the islands.
In the Commons on Wednesday, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the UK would be ‘relentless’ in defending the Falkland Islanders’ right to be British.
Although the US is formally neutral on the issue of Falklands sovereignty, Washington provided support for Britain’s campaign to retake the islands after the Argentinian invasion in 1982.
It sparked the Falklands war, which led to 255 British service deaths in just over 70 days. It also led to the deaths of 655 Argentinians and three Falkland Islanders.
