35. Comedy in the Caribbean
As the situation deteriorated in the newly semi-independent St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, things took a turn towards comic opera. Robert Bradshaw, the St. Kitts leader who loathed Anguillians, threatened to invade their island, insisting that it had been taken over by the American mafia. In the meantime, Anguilla’s provisional government launched an abortive raid on St. Kitts. It hoped to kidnap Bradshaw and hold him hostage, until Britain recognized Anguilla’s independence from St. Kitts.
Britain sent an incompetent diplomat named William Whitlock, to try and solve matters. The Anguillians greeted him with pro-British posters, and crowds sang God Save the Queen. Whitlock responded by demonstrating his contempt for Anguillians, refusing to ride in a motorcade organized to receive him or to dine with the island’s leader. Instead, Whitlock had his flunkies toss out leaflets to the crowd – “as a famer might throw corn to fowl” in the words of an Anguillian newspaper – detailing his proposals for a settlement.