Who would Great Britain find to take Cumber's place? Who would want a job like that?
The new man turned out to be Willoughby H. Thompson, known as Tommy Thompson, who had been at one time Administrator of the Falkland Islands and most recently Acting Administrator of the British Virgin Islands. A trim, tight, neat, controlled man of fifty, Tommy Thompson became the third Commissioner of Anguilla in three months, and he lasted nearly two years. When he left, in March of 1971, it was not as a result of pressure from any direction at all; he'd finished his job there and that was that.
Tommy Thompson s job was to oversee the belated development of the island, guide and guard the Anguillans as they moved at last into the twentieth century, and keep things quiet on the island. The way he did it—and the only way it could have been done—was by legitimizing the actual leadership, which meant primarily Ronald Webster and Wallace Rey.
The effect of this was that the pro-British faction on the island was undercut and betrayed by the British. There was peace on the island, there was development, Ronald Webster didn't chop Tommy Thompson's head off, and the whole crisis was, as the diplomats say, defused. But in the process Great Britain broke faith with the only group on the island that had never broken faith with her.
The last paratroops were removed from the island on September 14, barely a month after Thompson's arrival. "At least the cowboys-and-Indians stage is out," he told reporters. And so it was; Ian Ball reported in the Daily Telegraph, "The farewells will be handled with proper British official decorum, not the turbulent scenes that usually take place whenever anything of a political nature occurs at Anguilla's airport. The Royal Engineers have put up a wire-enclosed area beside the terminal's hutment and hung on it a large sign reading: Waving base.'"
Thompson was obviously the right man for Anguilla if he could get the islanders into a Waving Base to wave bye-bye to the paratroops.
The defusing had worked in both directions. In a flag-waving piece in the British Sunday newspaper The People on August 31, there were these quotes: A policeman: "These people are basically nice—really beautiful people. They are honest to a fault." Colonel Norrie Giles, commander of Force Anguilla: "We're making the best of our time by doing what0 we can for the island. We're delighted that our arms are kept in the armoury and not on men's shoulders." Ronald Webster: "I realise that the troops and police are protecting us rather than occupying us." Tommy Thompson: "My job here is made somewhat easier than it might have been by tremendous cooperation from the islanders." And the author of the piece, Trevor Aspinall, describes this encounter with Ronald Webster: "As I left Mr. Webster, he dashed back inside his bungalow for a cloth and returned to clean the windscreen of my car. 'My pleasure,' he said. 1 think you will find that all our people would do the same.'"
Ronald Webster knows a great secret of public relations: no matter what attitude you're going to show, it's impossible to lay it on too thick.
Wallace Rey was Chairman of the Public Works Committee again, and the day after Tommy Thompson was sworn in as Commissioner there was a road-opening ceremony for a mile-long stretch of paved road just completed by the Royal Engineers, with local help. Wallace Rey cut the white ribbon and made the first speech; he'd never been so respectable in his life. Thompson made the second speech, in which he called Rey a "distinguished guest," and said, "It is his day-he is our Public Works man." He also said, "As I stand here with Mr. Webster this afternoon, we represent Her Majesty and Anguilla and we at this very moment are rather at the heart of things." He spoke of the value of teamwork and finished, "I know, Mr. Webster, you agree with that, don't you?" Mr. Webster did.
With the British having allied themselves with the opposition, Atlin Harrigan and his Beacon were finding the pressure increasingly stiff. A Webster supporter, Clive Smith, had presented a petition from Harrigan's constituency requesting Harrigan's removal from the Council, but when it was charged that Smith had signed a lot of the names himself—including Harrigan's brother's name—that attack subsided.
Lord Shepherd visited Anguilla in November, and the Beacons comment on the visit was in the form of an imaginary dialogue between two Webster supporters:
Ted: What do you think of L. S. visit?
Fred: I can hardly say. Remember he did not think very much of R. W. in Barbados in 1967? And still they were all good friends on L. S. visit?
Ted: Yes, I agree, even brought out their wives, too.
Fred: One thing got me kind of worried-
Ted: What is it?
Fred: You know L. S. saw our leader privately and after all L. S. has now sent in the Magistrate who was- held up in Antigua for some three weeks.
Ted: What's wrong with that?
Fred: Remember that R. W. did not want the Magistrate that would be appointed under the West Indies Act of 1967?
Ted: Yes, I see your point now. They kept the Magistrate in Antigua while L. S. got our R. W. to agree, then sent him here.
Fred: Now, you are thinking, old boy. But how will R. W. now explain this to the people?
Ted: He don't have to explain it.
Fred: Ah! But if he doesn't the people will start grumbling, and with the Beacon taking up every little thing it is bound to get out.
Ted: A pity they carried back the Beacon's press when they took it last March.
Fred: I hear they are making moves to close it down again but can't get no support on it.
Ted: They should be very careful about who they tell these things to . . .
Fred: The other thing is that R. W. should be very careful; some of his keen supporters are now grumbling, too . . . Then again, he is buying up all this land from the poor people all over the island instead of giving them good advice not to sell, because someday their children will have to buy it back at exuberant prices.
Ted: Come to think of it, I agree with you . . .
Fred: Have you noticed this commissioner is very nice to our R. W.? He keeps him informed about everything and our R. W. is very happy.
Ted: He will have to keep his eye open, though. These British boys are smart . . .
Fred: What do you think about the Civil Servants planning to strike?
Ted: That is something that has to be watched very carefully ... It is good our R. W. tried pushing them around, but he has to be careful and not overdo it . . .
Fred: Good thing about it is, how they supported the British when they came in, and now we and the British are hands and gloves with each other.
In January of 1971, when the announcement was made that Thompson would be replaced, the Beacons editorial comment was: "Mr. Thompson as Commissioner has done the job he was instructed to do and should be credited for so doing; that is to say, he has been able to keep the island quiet, he has been able to work with the more militant of the Council Mer-bers without many problems, though many times to the dissatisfaction of others and good government . . . We are not criticizing the Commissioner for the lack of proper administration, for we firmly believe that he is capable of administering if given the opportunity. The stumbling block in his way was due to the gross misunderstanding of some Anguillan leaders and the need to win their loyalty."
I talked with Tommy Thompson on Anguilla in March of 1971, just before his departure, and he gave it as his opinion that Ronald Webster would soon be starting a newspaper of his own and that then the Beacon would wither and die. He smiled when he said it.
Advice: the smallest current coin.
—Ambrose Bierce
30
A month after the invasion, the Conservative leadership in the House of Commons attempted to censure the Government for its recent actions in Anguilla. On April 23, 1969, Sir Alec Douglas-Home made the motion: "That this House deplored the inept handling by Her Majesty's Government of the situation in Anguilla."
The Opposition had by now marshaled its facts and was ready to follow Government spokesmen through entire groves of inaccuracy and vagueness. The debate didn't precisely rage, but feathers were ruffled,
and at the end the motion was only narrowly defeated: 286 to 239. Not a comfortable margin for a Government in power.
Sir Dingle Foot had suggested a Commission of Inquiry and one was formed at the end of May. Michael Stewart announced its formation to Parliament and gave the terms of reference the Commission would be starting with. It may be hard to believe, but the terms of reference began by saying, "Recognizing the fact that the island of Anguilla is part of the unitary State of St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla . . ."
Is it necessary to know any more about the terms of reference? One can already guess, sixteen words in, the only recommendation the Commission can possibly come up with at the end of its inquiry. But just to drive the point home, the second of the three terms of reference read, "Having regard to the resolution concerning Anguilla adopted unanimously at the meeting of Commonwealth Caribbean Heads of Government . . ." Which was the resolution calling on Great Britain "to confirm the territorial integrity of St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla."
The third term of reference? "Bearing in mind the problems and consequences that might arise from further fragmentation in the Caribbean . . ."
Given those terms of reference, the truculence of Colonel Bradshaw, and the explosiveness of the Anguillans, it's no surprise that it took six months to find somebody to head the Commission. At last a man with the right credentials agreed to take on the job. His name was Sir Hugh Wooding and he was a former Chief Justice of Trinidad-Tobago.
Having a Chairman, the Commission now quickly assembled the rest of its panel, none of them British, and they prepared to begin their inquiry.
The Commission's terms of reference caused immediate trouble on Anguilla. Webster announced that the agreement with Lord Caradon had been breached and that he would refuse to cooperate with either the Wooding Commission or Tommy Thompson. Thompson soon soothed him, assuring him that the British had no intention of reneging on any of their most recent promises, and after the Island Council had hired a lawyer from Barbados to advise them, Webster sulkily settled down again.
Atlin Harrigan was also troubled by the Commission. In an editorial in the Beacon of January 31, 1970, he wrote, "If the hands of the Commission are tied within the terms of reference as agreed between H. M. G. and Bradshaw, then we do not see how these Vise men' will come up with a solution."
They didn't. The Commission spent the spring of 1970 taking testimony on Anguilla, on St. Kitts, in the United States, in Great Britain, and anywhere else that anybody wanted to tell them anything, and then retired to consider what they'd been told. The Report was at first scheduled to be released in August but there was a delay, and it gradually became apparent that the Commission had conscientiously done what the terms of reference had required, which was to recommend that Anguilla go back with St. Kitts. The British held off the storm as long as possible but finally released the Report on November 6, 1970.
The Wooding Report is in two parts. The first part describes the situation in Anguilla and the history of the rebellion, and while it tends to smooth over the rough spots it's basically *a sound and sensible recital of the facts. The second part considers the potential solutions and opts for the return of Anguilla to St. Kitts, sugar-coated by thick icings of British aid and an extensive Local Council.
The Anguillan response was obvious and swift. The Beacon's editorial, titled "Wooding Report—A Waste," began, "It is with a feeling of utter disbelief and a sense of having been badly let down that Anguillans at long last receive the news of the Commission report."
Ronald Webster issued a statement to his people that said, in part, "My only comment is—these proposals are nothing to worry about! We've been assured that the British Government are not going to force us to accept any administration we do not want ... In the meantime, I call on everyone to continue to cooperate with H. M. Commissioner, and the British Personnel. They are our friends . . . Please be calm, do not get excited . . . May God bless your dear hearts and keep your spirit primed and matured." And the Anguilla Council formally rejected the proposals.
As Atlin Harrigan wrote in the Beacon, "Any recommendation that means a return of Anguilla to the State of St. Kitts-Nevis would only go into effect with the vast majority of Anguillans wiped off the face of this earth."
Great Britain never formally rejected the Wooding Report. But she never tried to do anything with it either. By the time the Report was published, there had been an election in Great Britain, Government had changed from Labour to Conservative, and the entire British cast had changed.
Luckily, the new people weren't going to start the mess all over from the beginning. Immediately after publication of the Report, M.P. Neil Marten (author of Theirs Not to Reason Why) asked for reassurance "that any settlement of this problem must be acceptable to the Anguillans." Mr. Joseph God-ber, Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, replied: "Yes. I am happy to give that assurance. It is our intention to seek to get agreement for the solution of this problem ... we would not seek to impose a solution in any way, but would seek to get one by agreement."
Which meant Colonel Bradshaw. He was invited to London in November of 1970 to talk things over, but of course he was the one party involved who liked the Wooding Report.
The talks between the British Government and the Colonel eventually broke down, as they had to. At the finish the Colonel put in one more request for arms, but once again the British turned him down, even though he'd explained he needed the rocket launchers and armored trucks for "internal defence."
Before leaving London, Bradshaw spoke to reporters and assured them it was untrue that he had threatened to make the Anguillans accept the Wooding Report by starving them out until they surrendered. All he had to offer the Anguillans, he said, was "love and amity."
But what about the rocket launchers? What about the armored trucks? Well, he really needed them. As he told the reporters, "All sorts of funny things are happening in the Caribbean."
Reason and judgment are the qualities of a leader.
—Tacitus
31
By the spring of 1971, Anguilla had been a British colony under direct British administration for two years. The status hadn't been formalized and the word "colony" was never used, but that's what it was. The British still acted on the assumption that their own ground rules prohibited them from formalizing the change, since in theory they had freed Anguilla back in 1967 and no longer had the legal power to alter the island's status, and Bradshaw had made it abundantly clear that he wouldn't willingly help legalize the new situation himself, but in fact Anguilla had stopped being a part of St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla on May 30, 1967, and all the Queen's horses and all the Queen's men would never be able to put that particular Humpty Dumpty together again.
This was all very uncomfortable for the British Government, which has traditionally preferred to coat its actions with the varnish of legality. And the sharpest thorn in the British side in the whole mess, other than the Anguillans themselves, had been their own principal ally, Colonel Bradshaw. His unwillingness to compromise, his tough line of talk, and his eccentric behavior had contributed greatly to the British rout, and Her Majesty's Government seemed prepared to do what it could to repay him in kind.
The St. Kitts Constitution called for general elections no later than September 1971. Colonel Bradshaw had originally planned the election for the spring, to coincide with the opening of his new Government-owned television station. He intended not only to campaign on the station, but also to present himself as the man who had brought television to St. Kitts.
But there were problems. A British company was doing the work and unfortunate delays arose. Bradshaw postponed the election, but the unfortunate delays postponed the television station even longer.
Bradshaw also made a rather serious public-relations error. Just as he'd always been there with the timely faux pas to help the Anguillans in their hours of need, he now seemed determined to assist the British in their unstated attempt to replace him with Billy Herbert.
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br /> Here's the situation: As unemployment has skyrocketed on the islands (reaching 40 to 50 per cent on St. Kitts, for instance), more and more men from British islands have become illegal immigrants in the United States Virgin Islands, holding jobs without work permits. American authorities, with that humanitarianism and subtlety that have become the American trademark in the last decade, took to rounding up these illegal workers and booting them off the island without giving them a chance to pack, collect their wages, make a phone call or say good-bye to anybody. Public outcry resulted in a visit to the American island of St. Thomas by the Prime Ministers of half a dozen other islands. Bradshaw was among them, and started badly. He'd chosen to travel in his field-combat uniform, including a .45 automatic in a holster at his waist; American authorities disarmed him at the airport.
But it was his departure that got the attention of the Caribbean press. The other Prime Ministers released a group statement deploring American callousness, and Bradshaw released a dissenting statement saying every nation had the right to throw out foreign undesirables and he thought the Americans were doing just fine. Since many of the ex-undesirables were adult Kittitians who were now back on St. Kitts in plenty of time for the election, this was perhaps not the cleverest statement of Bradshaw's political career.
Still, Bradshaw is a politician, in a very rugged political arena, and hasn't survived all these years through nothing but luck and braggadocio. A rumor current in the islands that spring had it that the British intended to take Anguilla away from St. Kitts just before the election, as a further swipe at Bradshaw's prestige; Bradshaw certainly heard it. He could see the television station not being finished, and he knew his popularity among the voters was waning.
Suddenly, on May 1, 1971, Bradshaw announced the election would take place on May 10. And if that wasn't enough time for anybody else, too bad; it was enough time for the Colonel.
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