Thatcher right over Falklands - PM

Prime Minister Tony Blair said that going to war over the Falklands was "the right thing to do" and took "a lot of political courage" from his predecessor Margaret Thatcher.

Mr Blair's comments come 10 days ahead of the 25th anniversary of Argentina's invasion of the islands on April 2 1982.

Baroness Thatcher herself is on Friday marking the milestone by meeting members of an air crew she sent to bomb Port Stanley airfield during the war.

She will meet eight ex-RAF flyers who took part in the famous Black Buck missions during a tour of the Bruntingthorpe airfield hangar in Leicestershire, when she will also see a Vulcan bomber flown in the conflict, which is currently being restored.

Speaking to historian Simon Schama in an interview for the 10 Downing Street website, Mr Blair said he was convinced Britain was right to respond to the Argentinian invasion with force.

"I have got no doubt it was the right thing to do... for reasons not simply to do with British sovereignty but also because I think there was a principle at stake, which is that... a land shouldn't be annexed in that way and people shouldn't be put under a different rule in that way," said Mr Blair.

"When you look back on it and you talk to the people who were there at the time - and as I say I wasn't even in Parliament at the time - I think it took a lot of political courage actually to do that."

Mr Blair pointed out that the 266 British personnel who died in the Falklands were more than those who have so far died in Iraq or Afghanistan.

It is hoped that the Vulcan bomber being viewed by Lady Thatcher on Friday will take part in official ceremonies to mark the anniversary of the end of the war in June.

Backers of the restoration project hope the plane will be returned to flight in time for a fly-past. They are still appealing for money to help fund the remainder of the work on the XH558 in time for the June 17 deadline.