No More Boots On The Ground.

[nezza]

"We all crowded round the television in the office. Myself, Harold, Mary, Bernard and even Marcia and we saw the humiliating sight of British troops fleeing Vietnam almost like cowards. Hercules aircraft lifting off with desperate South Vietnamese clinging on for dear life and then losing their grip. Harold just sat there staring at the screen with tears in his eyes..."

(Joe Haines, Glimmer Of Twilight: Harold Wilson In Decline, 2003)

The premise is that the UK did send troops to Vietnam in 1967/8 and was forced to leave when the Americans pull out under Ford. What if following those events the UK decided to never send troops abroad ever again?

 

[stodge]

Would a Thatcher-led Conservative Party think the same way?

Perhaps not ideologically but the polls will tell them all they need to know.

I presume the UK troops stationed in West Germany as part of NATO remain - what of the Falklands in 1982?

 

[HexWargamer]

"We all crowded round the television in the office. Myself, Harold, Mary, Bernard and even Marcia and we saw the humiliating sight of British troops fleeing Vietnam almost like cowards. Hercules aircraft lifting off with desperate South Vietnamese clinging on for dear life and then losing their grip. Harold just sat there staring at the screen with tears in his eyes..."

(Joe Haines, Glimmer Of Twilight: Harold Wilson In Decline, 2003)

The premise is that the UK did send troops to Vietnam in 1967/8 and was forced to leave when the Americans pull out under Ford. What if following those events the UK decided to never send troops abroad ever again?

"Super appeasment" then ... too bad for anywhere 'abroad' that enjoys implicit British military protection for their independance ..
I woudn't hold out much hope for Northern Ireland for a start.
It won't just be the Falkland Islands ... there's lots of other islands 'left over' from the Empire days that are 'claimed' by nearby 'powers'
== Gibraltar, Malta, Channel islands ... half the Caribbean starting with Belize ...
I'm going to guess that the next door neighbours of not a few other Commonwealth countries will soon be dusting off their 'claims' ... not that an actual invasion is going to be needed == as soon as they realise they no longer have British protection they will quickly be inviting some other major power to 'adopt' them (or will surrender as soon as troops arrive on their border)