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What is the future of the Falkland Islands? | Sir Max Hastings joins Simon Marks
Jul 17, 2026
Simon Marks is joined by historian and author, Sir Max Hastings, to discuss the geopolitical battle of the future of the Falklands, following the World Cup semi-final. Downing Street has backed calls for Fifa to investigate whether Argentina players broke rules by brandishing a banner in support of their country’s claim to the Falkland Islands at the World Cup. No 10 echoed remarks made earlier by Business Secretary Peter Kyle, who said the governing body should “thoroughly” probe the behaviour of the defending champions after they beat England 2-1 in Wednesday’s match in Atlanta. “The World Cup might not be ours, but the Falkland Islands definitely are,” a Downing Street spokeswoman said. Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp #SimonMarks #falklandswar #argentina #worldcup #news #politics #fifa #england #LBC LBC is the home of live debate around news and current affairs in the UK. Join in the conversation and listen at https://www.lbc.co.uk/ Sign up to LBC’s weekly newsletter here: https://l-bc.co/signup
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0:00
England versus Argentina. Not the football, although you can talk about that if you can still
0:05
bear to, but the geopolitical battle over the future of the Falklands. I mean, I know it's
0:10
stereotypical to imagine that we would be sitting here the day after they knocked us out of the
0:16
World Cup talking about the Falklands, but in this case, they started it. I mean, that banner last
0:22
night, thrown down from the stands and then picked up by several Argentinian players and paraded
0:27
across the pitch was a very pugnacious political statement. The Falklands are Argentinian, it read, except, of course, they are not
0:36
And for Buenos Aires, that particular goal remains completely aspirational. All eyes are on FIFA to see what kind of fines they will level
0:46
given the players' conduct breaks all the rules about political displays at the World Cup
0:51
Number 10 says it backs calls for a FIFA investigation. A spokesman for the Prime Minister said today
0:58
the World Cup might not be ours, but the Falkland Islands are
1:03
All eyes are also increasingly on Argentinian President Javier Malay in Buenos Aires
1:08
Only today, his government is accusing a Royal Navy patrol vessel, the HMS Medway
1:14
of making a military incursion into the country's waters. An illegal journey, the Argentine Foreign Minister called it
1:22
The British government says he's talking nonsense. But this kind of spat is exactly the kind of pretext that a country might use if it wanted to build the case for taking another military crack at the Falklands
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What are we going to do if they try that? Should we try to head it off through negotiations
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Is there any public appetite for going through 1982 all over again
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Let's be honest, it's not even clear we have the capacity to sail a task force halfway around the world anymore
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and this time we would be taking military action in a part of the world
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that Donald Trump, a good friend of Javier Malay's, says is his unique sphere of influence, not ours
2:05
How important is it to you that we stand up for the Falkland Islanders
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And if you served in the Falklands War, we'd love to hear from you. What's your view 44 years after Margaret Thatcher dispatched you there
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Are we going to spend eternity keeping the Falklands British? is it time to engage in some kind of negotiation it does seem time to ask you if there was an
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outbreak of fresh aggression towards the falklands by the argentinians what would you want us to do
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you can call me at 0345 6060 973 same number for whatsapp that it is for the phones you can text 84850 Joining me now to kick the conversation off Sir Max Hastings the historian former foreign
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correspondent for the BBC and editor-in-chief of the Daily Telegraph. He is also, even more
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importantly, author of the book The Battle for the Falklands. Max Hastings, thank you so much
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for being with us on the programme here on LBC this afternoon
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Your book very much argues that the 1982 conflict was a tragic, avoidable failure of diplomacy
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and that the war could have been averted if the British government, led by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
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had seized earlier opportunities. When you look at the way in which the temperature has been raised
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over the last 24 hours as a result of that banner being paraded on the pitch in Atlanta
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Do you worry that there's any possibility that we could be making the same mistakes all over again
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and slipping back towards a very conflictual relationship between London and Buenos Aires
3:45
Good afternoon to you. Good afternoon. I don't think one should talk about us making all the same mistakes again
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Where we have to begin with all this is that the world order is breaking down
3:57
in considerable degree because of the actions of Donald Trump. Donald Trump is a destroyer, not a builder
4:04
He's almost an anarchist in his approach to international relations. And obviously one thing we have to worry about
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back in 1982, when I was a correspondent down there during the war
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that although President Reagan was then sympathetic to the Argentine military junta, which then ruled the country
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but in the last resort, Reagan did have a soft spot for Margaret Thatcher
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his Secretary of Defense gave us absolutely vital assistance to conduct our end of the war
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and the United States had both the will and the clout to stop Argentina from behaving too outrageously
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well now we've got a situation which is very different and there must be a real question mark
4:50
whether if Argentina's leadership decided it won't have another crack at the Falklands
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it's perfectly possible that Donald Trump would publicly or privately encourage them to do so
5:03
On the second thing, you mentioned capability. There's absolutely no way that we could fight the Falklands War all over again
5:09
It's all gone. We were just able to do it. It's 8,000 miles from home
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I always remember, I remember every bit of it. It was the most extraordinary adventure of my life, the Falklands War
5:21
and when it all began I remember us thinking it absolutely impossible that we can go to war in the year of our Lord 1982 over this stupid bit of real estate in the middle of the South Atlantic
5:35
And yet we did, and we just got away with it. I can tell you, when we were all tossing about on the waves, and when I say tossing about, those terrible storms in mid-Atlantic, 8,000 miles from home
5:49
It was a sort of miracle that we were able to pull that off. Now, today, the big thing that's changed is there is an airfield on the Falklands
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And theoretically, it's possible to fly reinforcements down there if Argentina looks like it's getting serious
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But what reinforcements? That the British Army and the Royal Marines have shrunk
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The Royal Navy, every time its aircraft carrier is put to sea, they seem to break down
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So there are two issues here. One is, are the Argentines serious about having a crack
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And we're still not at all sure about that. They are very prone to displays of bellicosity, which then actually fade away
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The second is, what will we do about it? And you raised all the important questions
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Do the British people have the appetite for another conflict over the Falklands
6:43
There are a lot of big ips. But I think the scariest one is that we have a near madman in the White House who is capable of jumping in any direction
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And nobody, least of all our prime minister, knows what Donald Trump might do
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I mean, it would be highly unlikely for Donald Trump, given the nature of his friendship with Javier Malay
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I mean, President Trump literally paid recently for Javier Malay's party to triumph in a round of elections in Argentina
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It seems inconceivable that President Trump would not back Argentina or would back the UK in any kind of a conflict
7:21
Can I put to you what Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has said on X today
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He's written that whilst I am disgusted at the behaviour of some Argentinian players last night
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the most important thing to do is to build up the Royal Navy quickly
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I mean, it's not possible to build the Royal Navy up quickly, is it
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even by Nigel Faragistan it's a pretty silly thing to say given the number of years it takes to build warships
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and those of us who've been arguing for many many years about the rundown
7:53
of the Royal Navy this is the sort of situation that many of us feared
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might arise but hasn't but I've always thought, I remember writing an article about two years after the Falklands war suggesting that we should negotiate with Argentina and I was sent for by Margaret Thatcher then still the Prime Minister who gave me a monumental bollocking
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and said, you of all people, Mr Hastings, should understand why it is unthinkable
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It would be a betrayal of our dead in the war to negotiate with Argentina
8:27
But needs must. And yes, I do think that Britain ought to think seriously
8:32
about negotiating because it would be so difficult, 8,000 miles from home
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so close in Argentina's backyard, that we have to consider not what sort of displays of union flag waving we might want to join in
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but what we physically and in terms of our armed forces are capable of doing
8:54
And so, Max, when you say negotiating, negotiating with what outcome in mind
8:58
what ought to have happened back in the early 1980s was some sort of leash back arrangement
9:05
with argentina but we have to put this bluntly this is not a i think it may be more acceptable
9:11
now but 20 years ago i would have been scragged for saying this but um i've always thought that
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argentina that the falklands matters far more to argentina than it does to us uh that in the end
9:25
And it's a leftover of empire, I'd say, a very long way from home
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Now, of course, one thing that's changed things about all this is that now they're talking about drilling for oil
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In fact, it seems highly likely they're going to start. And this is what provoked this new round of bellicosity from Argentina
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that I've always had my doubts how much it's going to come out of that
9:48
I'm always reminded of that wonderful scene in The Magnificent Seven when the guy who's run away comes rushing back into town
9:56
to join Yul Brynner for the final shootout. And he gets shot
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And as he's dying, he says to Yul Brynner, tell me about the gold
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Tell me about the gold that's here. I don't want to die a sucker. And I remember at the time of the Falklands War
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people saying to me back in the 1980s, surely there's got to be real stuff down in the Falklands
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to make it worth having fought this war. tell me about the gold and i'm still not totally sure whether there is the gold but argentina
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thinks there may be and if so argentina wants a piece of it and if you want my personal guess
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i think that a smart british government instead of just giving argentina two fingers would try and
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negotiate with argentina we do not have the means to fight a war down in the south atlantic
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again in the year of our Lord, 2026. So, Max, I'm enormously grateful to you
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for coming on the programme today. Thanks so much
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