UK held secret talks to cede sovereignty

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UK held secret talks to cede sovereignty

Minister met junta envoy in Switzerland, official war history reveals

Richard Norton-Taylor and Rob Evans
Tuesday June 28, 2005
The Guardian

Margaret Thatcher's government offered to hand over sovereignty of the Falkland islands at a clandestine meeting with a senior Argentinian official less than two years before the invasion of the British territory, it is revealed today.

Colleagues of the British minister involved set up a diversionary cover story to explain his absence, saying he was off to Switzerland to do a little painting with his wife.

The secret meeting is disclosed in the official history of the Falklands by Sir Lawrence Freedman, professor of war studies at King's College, University of London.

He reveals that in June 1980, the Foreign Office drew up a proposal, approved by the cabinet's defence committee, whereby Britain would hand Argentina titular sovereignty over the islands, which would then be leased back by Britain for 99 years.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/falklands/story/0,11707,1516277,00.html