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But Thatcher's triumphal moment is unlikely to last. Two parliamentary investigations have been ordered into the conduct of the Falklands war. The first will examine the handling of earlier negotiations with Argentina for the islands. Many Labor M.P.s have been claiming that the Thatcher government misread Argentina's intention to invade. The other investigation will focus on the British Defense Ministry's censorship of information from the South Atlantic. Other questions are bound to arise, including Britain's decision to prune its conventional navy in favor of a strategic, submarine-based nuclear strike force, and the ultimate cost of Prime Minister Thatcher's determination to defend the Falklands.
Thatcher's commitment to British sovereignty and institutions in the Falklands has steadily hardened during the war. For the 1,800 Falklanders, she now favors a form of self-government just short of independence. In effect, the Falklands would cease to be a British colony and become a protectorate of the British Crown. Queen Elizabeth II would be represented by a High Commissioner with responsibility for defense and foreign affairs, who would govern with a six-member executive committee drawn from an elected legislative assembly of 20 to 30 members.
Thatcher still hopes to ensure the security of the Falklands with a multinational military force that might include troops from the U.S., Jamaica and Brazil. As an additional guarantee of the islands' security, she may even invite certain countries to station diplomatic representatives in Port Stanley. Though Thatcher refuses to budge on the issue of British sovereignty, Whitehall hopes that at some future date the Falklands will become a de facto multinational protectorate. But if Thatcher is unsuccessful in obtaining international guarantees for the islands' status, she is prepared to defend them by leaving 3,000 troops and major elements of Britain's naval task force in the South Atlantic.
The Prime Minister's attitude reflects not only her own hardheaded views but a phenomenon that is new for postwar Britain: an upsurge of nationalism similar to what France experienced in the 1960s under President Charles de Gaulle. Said a member of Thatcher's War Cabinet: "In the Falklands, Britain regained her self-respect, and in the process a new determination to play a major role in world affairs." That change could have broad implications. As Malcolm Rutherford, assistant editor of London's Financial Times, put it, Britain could "become more demanding toward Europe, less tolerant of the Irish Republic and generally a more awkward ally, taking a pride in British cussedness rather as the French took pride in being different under De Gaulle."