RUSHES: Conservative Party Spring Conference: Ben Wallace speech

Conservative Party Spring Conference: Ben Wallace speech; Part 1 of 3ENGLAND: Lancashire: Blackpool:INTBen Wallace MP (Defence Secretary) speech SOT- Good morning Conference / before I begin, can you all join me in giving a very warm welcome to the Ukrainian Ambassador – Vadym Prystaiko / Vadym, we are extremely pleased to welcome you here today / conference, I can’t tell you how nice it is to be here / how genuinely nice it is to be home / not only because Blackpool is next to my wonderful constituency of Wyre and Preston North but also because Lancashire is where I live and because as a county it is one of the places that helped shape the modern Conservative party / if we can win in Lancashire, we can win the country - Every year in this town, veterans of my regiment, the Scots Guards, meet here to remember the Falkland Islands and the Battle of Tumbledown / this year it will be especially important as we mark the 40th anniversary of the liberation of the Falklands Islands from the grip of the Argentinian Military dictator General Galtieri / many said it couldn’t be done / that sending a force 8000 miles to the south Atlantic was an impossible task / but history is littered with those that underestimate this plucky island / General Galtieri was not the first dictator to do so / while many here will remember the amazing Sea Harrier and the battles of Tumbledown, Goose Green and Mount Kent we sadly can also remember the 255 British lives lost and also the lost lives of the young Argentinians who were sent so needlessly in order to save a dictator’s political position- There were many stand out contributions to that campaign / but Margaret Thatcher stood out for her leadership and determination to stand up for the values and freedoms we all hold so dear / by her leadership she equipped the forces with the most important weapon of all – the moral component: that deep sense that what we were fighting for was legal, justified and right / today that ...