Dear Dr. Dalyell,
Thank you for your letter of 30 October.
The answers to your questions are covered by the detailed Annex to my letter of 19 September to Mr. George Foulkes. On 2 May 1982, there were clear and unequivocal indications available to the Government that the Argentine Navy, including General Belgrano, provided a real and direct threat to the Task Force. In the light of that threat, the precise position and course of Belgrano at that time were irrelevant. That was why the report that Belgrano had reversed course was not made known to Ministers at the time. No evidence has at any time become available to the Government which would make Ministers change the judgement they reached on 2 May that the Belgrano posed a threat to the Task Force.
Yours sincerely
Margaret Thatcher