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Another person whose spirits were boosted by the South Georgia victory was the Prime Minister. The day after the raid, Thatcher was greeted in the House of Commons with a roar of approval. She told the assembled M.P.s that the armed action "in no way alters the government's determination to do everything possible to achieve a negotiated solution to the present crisis." She also expressed hopes that Argentina would continue negotiations with Secretary of State Haig.
That evening, however, in a 50-minute television interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation, Thatcher gave the impression of almost relishing the prospect of the further use of force. Comparing the British handling of the Falklands crisis with her government's handling last February of a hijacked airplane that landed at Stansted Airport near London (the British refused to let the aircraft take off again), Thatcher argued, "That's the way to stop hijacking. Similarly, to see that an invader does not succeed is to stop further invasions and to really stand up for international law against international anarchy." Most Britons seem to agree: a survey by Market & Opinion Research International, a leading British pollster, showed that public approval for government handling of the crisis had climbed to 76%, up from 60% in a week.
But if Thatcher expected the parliamentary euphoria of Monday to continue, she was mistaken. The next day in the Commons, the first major crack appeared in the spirit of unity that has dominated the House since the British fleet first set sail on April 5. Opposition Labor Party Leader Michael Foot backed away from the idea of further military action and demanded that Thatcher refer the issue to the U.N. Said Foot: "If she will not respond to what I am asking, [Thatcher] will do great injury to our country all over the world."
Thatcher refused. She pointed out that Argentina has not complied with the Security Council's Resolution 502, passed on April 3, calling for removal of Argentine troops from the Falklands. Said a Thatcher aide: "Argentina is not only in defiance of Resolution 502, but has violated it further by reinforcing its troops on the Falklands." As she said on television, delaying the use of force is an aid to the Argentines, since as weather worsens in the South Atlantic "it will get more and more difficult for us to use a military option." Said Thatcher: "I have to keep in mind the interests of our boys who are on those warships, and our marines, to see that they can succeed in doing whatever it is we decided they have to do at the best possible time and with minimum risk to them." After the U.S. publicly backed Britain, Thatcher felt that sending Foreign Secretary Pym to the U.N. was a useful way to restore bipartisan harmony in Westminster.
Thatcher was confident that many Labor backbenchers did not share the misgivings of Foot and other members of his party's shadow cabinet. But there are members of her own party with less enthusiasm than the Prime Minister's for the protracted use of force in the Falklands. Thatcher has assembled both attitudes in a five-person inner War Cabinet that is collectively making day-by-day decisions during the Falklands crisis. Representing caution are Foreign Secretary Pym and Home Secretary William Whitelaw.