The looming Brexit has sparked a diplomatic feud between the United Kingdom and Spain over the tiny territory of Gibraltar.
Former Conservative leader Michael Howard said Prime Minister Theresa May is ready to go to war to defend Gibraltar’s sovereignty, similar to how Margaret Thatcher battled Argentine forces on the Falkland Islands in the 1980s.
Gibraltar is internationally recognized as a British overseas territory, but Spain has contested the Brits’ legal claim to the region for hundreds of years.
“Thirty-five years ago this week, another woman PM sent a task force halfway across the world to defend the freedom of another small group of British people against another Spanish-speaking country,” Howard, who led the Conservatives between 2003 and 2005, told Sky News Sunday. “I’m absolutely certain that our current prime minister would show the same resolve in standing by the people of Gibraltar.”
Defense Minister Michael Fallon backed Howards’ claim, saying the government will go “all the way” to protect Gibraltar.
Alfonso Dastis, the Spanish foreign minister, responded by saying his country would not block a Scottish membership in the European Union.
The 30,000 residents in Gibraltar considers the idea of living under Spanish rule “absolutely awful,” according to Chief Minister Fabian Picardo.
“The U.K. goes to war over the principle of consent around the world and the people of Gibraltar have expressed their views to what they think the sovereignty of Gibraltar should be, democratically and freely,” Picardo told Sky News.
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