We are sad to announce the death on 26 August 2020 of Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan – to us, Martin, our friend and colleague, – who served as the South Atlantic Council Chair for 23 years. As a strong-minded and committed Labour politician, he was nevertheless warm, generous and tolerant to the multi-party coalition of people from politics, business, academia, faith groups, the diplomatic world and journalism, who formed the Council. Only when an individual was making impractical suggestions or speaking for too long did a hint of impatience show in Martin’s firm exercise of his role as our Chair.
When the SAC was established in January 1984, the decision was taken that the Chair should be a politician from the governing party, who was either an MP in the Commons or a member of the House of Lords. The Conservative MP, Cyril Townsend, was our first Chair, serving for eleven years. In 1995, Cyril failed to gain re-selection as a Conservative candidate, after major changes were made to the boundaries of his and the neighbouring constituency. Cyril resigned as the Chair, allowing the Council to find a Labour politician to replace him, in anticipation of a Labour victory in the forthcoming general election. The Scottish Labour MP, George Foulkes, had along with Cyril been one of the founders of the SAC. He recommended his close friend and political colleague, Martin O'Neill, to us as Cyril’s successor. We endorsed his suggestion and were delighted when George persuaded Martin to join us and become our Chair.
While Carlos Menem was President of Argentina, from July 1989 to December 1999, British-Argentine relations improved substantially. Menem’s Foreign Minister, Guido di Tella, had deep ties with Britain, having been in exile in Oxford – as a visiting fellow of St. Antony's College – during the period of military rule from 1976 to 1983. Later, when Menem became President, he and di Tella actively sought to improve relations with both Britain and the Falkland Islanders. Martin became Chair after agreements on fishing and oil exploration had been signed by Britain and Argentina. He led the Council in seeking to build on these achievements. In particular, he raised funds for the costs of travel and accommodation for delegates to the Argentine-British Conferences (ABCs). These were organised by the Consejo Argentino para las Relaciones Internacionales (the Argentine Council for International Relations – CARI) in Buenos Aires and the Anglo-Argentine Society, in London, collaborating with the SAC. Participants from Britain included a diverse range of people, who each had special knowledge and experience of Argentina and/or the Falklands, including some Islanders. Martin was key in persuading MPs and peers from across the political spectrum to join the British delegations. The four conferences that he attended and to which he made a wider contribution were
| Conference Dates | | Conference Location |
| 15-17 September 1995 | | Keble College, Oxford, UK |
| 25-27 October 1996 | | Centro Cultural América, Salta, Argentina |
| 12-14 May 2000 | | Wilton Park, Sussex, UK |
| 25-26 October 2003 | | CARI, Buenos Aires, Argentina |
The ABCs contributed to mutual understanding, but the opportunities for political progress in resolving the dispute declined after 2000. A period of political and economic upheaval in Argentina was followed by more radical, nationalist administrations under Nestor Kirchner from May 2003 to December 2007 and Cristina Kirchner from December 2007 to December 2015. The Macri administration made efforts in 2016-2017 to open up discussions again. Good relations were established between the Council and the new Argentine Ambassador to London, Carlos Sersale di Cerisano. However, the nationalists in the Argentine congress blocked progress on the Falklands/Malvinas dispute. Equally, the UK governments since 2010 became deaf to the Council and took the attitude that the status quo was acceptable as a permanent basis for Argentine-British-Falklands relations. In addition, from 2016, Brexit swamped out most other topics in British politics.
Martin served the Council as an MP from 1995 to 2005 and as a peer after 2005. The boundary and the name of his House of Commons constituency changed, but it always included Clackmannan. From 1979 to 1983, he represented Clackmannan and Eastern Stirlingshire; from 1983-1997, it was Clackmannan; and, from 1997 to 2005, it was Ochil. For the 2005 general election, the constituency was broken up, as was George Foulkes’ constituency. George and Martin were both inducted as life peers in June 2005, with the titles of Lord Foulkes of Cumnock and Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan, respectively. Both George and Martin became active members of the House of Lords, but were opposed to Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party. In particular, they were outraged with Corbyn’s failure to act on anti-semitism in the party. They both signed the Guardian advertisement in July 2019 by 67 Labour peers accusing Corbyn of having “failed the test of leadership” by not dealing with racism within the party.
Martin was diagnosed with prostate cancer in late 2014. He cut down on his commitments and resigned from his role as SAC Chair in October 2017. He continued a more-limited, active political life both in the Lords and with his outside interests, including the SAC, until he started chemotherapy in late 2018. Baroness Tessa Jowell initiated a Lords debate on cancer treatment in January 2018, knowing that she had not much longer to live. Martin made a wry, frank contribution to this debate, arguing for a public campaign to promote greater awareness of the symptoms of prostate cancer.
Had the political timetable been more favourable, Martin’s diplomatic and political skills would have taken him to high office. As it was, the SAC benefited from his leadership, through a difficult period in the Argentine-British-Falklands triangular relationship. The Council was pleased to be able to organise a special meeting in January 2020 to pay tribute to Martin and to present him with an antique map of the Falkland Islands.
Martin was born on 6 January 1945 and died on 26 August 2020. We extend our condolences to his wife Elaine; his sons, Michael and Peter; and his grandchildren, Annabel, Lucy and Alexander.
