DURING the Falklands War 30 years ago, Britain had few friends.
Cabinet papers released today are a reminder of the unhelpful response of some UK allies at a time of need.
Despite the so-called special relationship, key members of Ronald Reagan’s regime were sympathetic to Argentina.
We read today that Mr Reagan made a late night telephone appeal to Margaret Thatcher to abandon her campaign to retake the islands.
The then prime minister gave the US president short shrift.
There were problems too with France, Britain’s Second World War ally but long-time rival, which wavered over Exocet orders to Peru that might have ended up in Argentina.
A blistering intervention by Mrs Thatcher with President Mitterand about the potentially disastrous effect on the Franco-British relationship, seemed to get the order postponed.
And it is no surprise that the anti-British Taoiseach Charles Haughey sought to put pressure on the UK during the war, happily to no avail.
The files released today show that Britain was fortunate to have a leader as strong as Mrs Thatcher in a crisis against a fascist regime.
Three years later she was reluctantly persuaded to strike a deal with a Republic that colluded in IRA terror, by rejecting most bids to extradite murderers, at the expense of unionists, who always stand shoulder to shoulder with other Britons when the country is at war.
It is said she was later disappointed that the deal failed to result in improved assistance from Dublin over security. That was no surprise to anyone here.
It is tragic that defending Ulster became the one weak link in the resolve of an outstanding British leader.
