§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish in the Official Report a copy of his letter of 28 February to the hon. Member for West Lothian.
§ Mr. PymThe text of the letter is as follows
Dear Tam,Thank you for your letter of 22 February about a report in the Buenos Aires newspaper 'La Razon' concerning the alleged timing of the Junta's decision to invade the Falkland Islands.I have so far only seen summaries of the article. It claims that, at the meeting on 12 January 1982, referred to in 'The Guardian's' article enclosed in your letter, the Junta secretly set up a military working group to consider the feasibility of such an invasion; that a tentative date later in the year was suggested for an invasion attempt; that this date was subsequently brought forward to May 1982; and that finally, in the light of events in South Georgia in the latter part of March, it was decided to launch an invasion on 1 April (then changed yet again to 2 April).I understand that the newspaper gave no sources for these assertions. It would be unwise to take such a story at face value. But even if the story were true, there would be no inconsistency between it and the conclusion of the Franks Report that the decision to invade on 2 April was taken at a very late stage, and probably (as paragraph 263 states) 'in the light of the development of the South Georgia situation'.440WYours sincerely,Francis