Reagan 'made Falklands plea to Thatcher'

Ronald Reagan issued a last-ditch appeal to Margaret Thatcher to abandon her campaign to retake the Falklands and to hand over the islands to international peacekeepers, according to official British documents made public today.

Files released by the National Archives at Kew, south-west London, under the 30-year rule show that as British troops closed in on final victory, the US president made a late-night phone call to Thatcher urging her not to completely humiliate the Argentines.