Falklands anniversary: Baroness Thatcher’s sympathy for Argentine mothers

“The two of us were just standing there,” said Mr Kydd.

“I thought: ‘Well, I can’t really in circumstances just say goodnight Prime
Minister, see you in the morning’.

“I thought something a little bit more profound was needed. The best I could
come up with was: ‘You must be so relieved it is over. It’s a special
moment’.

“I remember her response very well.

“She said: ‘Yes, Ian, it is. I am relieved I will be able to go to sleep
tonight without worrying about those terrible Exocets – and I’m sure
Argentine mothers will feel the same’.”

Mr Kydd said her reference to “Argentine mothers” surprised him.

“I don’t think I expected something so personal,” he added. “That’s probably
why it’s stuck so vividly in my mind.”

Mr Kydd said Mrs Thatcher – now Baroness Thatcher – was “resolute and
determined”. But he said he would not have expected her to be triumphalist.

“I think she felt very, very deeply, personally, about the boys, the soldiers,
the military who were out there,” he added.

“She wrote personal hand-written letters to the families of everybody who lost
their lives. She knew the risks and the dangers and how many lives had been
lost.

“She very clearly was worried about being woken up in the morning to the news
that another one of the ships had been hit.”

He added: “She would have been as aware and as conscious as anyone that lives
would be lost – and lives would be lost on both sides.”

Mr Kydd said Mrs Thatcher made a statement in the Commons at about 10pm then
returned to Downing Street to speak to journalists waiting outside Number
10.

He said crowds had gathered in nearby Whitehall – and Mrs Thatcher “couldn’t
resist them”.

“At the end of Downing Street, on Whitehall, there were a couple of hundred
cheering folk,” he said.

“The noise from the end of the street was overwhelming, with people singing
‘Rule Britannia’ and shouting and cheering. She just couldn’t resist them.

“She broke off from speaking to the press and went down to the end of the
street. It was quite chaotic getting 60 or 70 yards down to the public.

“There were very few police or protection officers with her because this was
not anticipated.

“She just shook hands with the public at the end of the street and journalists
were trying to ask her questions.

“It was a big, big moment. And I think she just felt there were these people
down there who had made the effort to come down to celebrate what was a
pretty amazing and important occasion.

“I think she just felt she ought to go to them.”

Television footage showed Mr Kydd standing behind Mrs Thatcher as she spoke to
reporters in Downing Street on the night of June 14 1982 – and showed Mrs
Thatcher shaking hands with members of the public.

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