Derrick Hutton

Derrick Hutton (b. 1948) was the Prime Minister of the Falkland Islands Since independance in 1992 up to the 2004 General Election. He was Senator for Wickham and Fitzroy until election when he became the first PM. Pre-Independance he was the Mayor of Fitzroy and played a crutial role durin the Falklands War.

He was born in 1948 in Fitzroy to Angela and Steven Hutton and he attended School in Stanley and at the age of 16 left the island for the first time to attend Collage in London in which he got several degrees in Political Science, Economics and Chemistry, he was becoming an ideal candidate for Falklands Govenor. He is known for his 10 year plan and the formation of the Liberal Party of the Falkland Islands.

Early Life
Hutton was born in Fitzroy which is East of Mount Pleasant Air Base and South of Stanley, it is a relitively small settlement based on fishing and the nearby army base. He was borin in 1948 to Angela and Steven Hutton, Angela was a native islander and daughter of a fisherman whilst Steven was a brittish national who settled on the island after his time at Mount Pleasant Air Base was up. He went to school in Stanley and was well like and popular, he moved in with his Aunt and Uncle, Richard and Emily Fox in Stanley however each weekend he went back to his home in Fitzroy. Aged 16 he left the island for the first time to go to collage in London where he gained degrees in Political Science, Economics and Chemistry he also did work experiance at several B&B's and Hotels in London.

Return to Falkland, the War and 10 year recovery
In 1973 aged 25 he returned to the island where he became the first mayor of Fitzroy he was a prominent figure in the islands and known for his modernising stance on the islands believing that the natuaral resources on the islands should be exploited and used to fund a more modern islands. During his time as the mayor Fitzroy gained a small port from which boats from Stanley could access the settlement in half the time.

On the eve of the war luckily Hutton went on holiday to see collage friends in London, he was in the UK when Argentine forces invaded so he was a very useful source of information about the land and terrain of the Stanley and Fitzroy Area. He stayed in Peter Peirce's House where he devised his stratagey for modernisation of the Islands and Peters House became a HQ for the small Falklander Diaspora. Hutton's 10 year plan began with the formation of a independant republic the the sowing of thousands of trees and the exploitaition of natural resources plus the probable influx or immigrants from UK and Argentina wanting to exploit the market of the islands.

After liberation Hutton returned to Fitzroy where he began to make noticable appearences in the Falklandic News and he also gained a column in the Penguin News in which he influenced many people to ask for independance from the UK.

Independance
Hutton visited every settlement in the Falklands to ask for independance he began campaigning for a free Falklands, this included him visiting London on a mission for independance. Upon arrival in London he was granted a visit to the PM at the time John Major who after 1 month of negotiations he agreed to hold a referndum on independance. On results night 10 years after liberation the results were in and Independance was granted.

Hutton formed the Liberal Party which he made the promise: 'In 10 years we shall be Britains rival not its territory'. After another long and strenuous campaign he was elected with a 89% majority. Hutton began straight away with the 10 year plan which was laid out in the Parties Mainfesto and Huttons Book: Kelper Republic, He began a massive planting of trees in laid out areas for forestation (shown right), each of these areas would become a land for timber harvesting, this made the first wave of immigrants arrive from Northern USA and Canada who would harvest these massive swathes of forest after they had grown to reasonable size.

Hutton's popularity sunk however as the islanders felt that he was breaking promises and not focusing on what was best for the native people, the opposing Falklanders Party fed off this and the oppositon leader Andy Russo began a series of public 'attacks' against Hutton's administration.

Huttons 2nd stage in the plan was buying oil contracts from BP and Shell who each jointly drilled the oil off the coast of the islands, they struck one of the largest reserves in history which led to anger from the Argentine government who said in a statment: 'This is our oil, its on our land in our islands, we demand that it be handed over'. This statement however was ignored by Hutton who just kept on drilling. This show of defiance by Hutton gained him massive popularity on the islands leaving Russo's campaign in ruins and he resigned in 1994.

Hutton however was going through troubles in his family after his parents died within 2 weeks of each other he was left on borderline depperession and after a misscariage by his wife Laura he began to spiral down and emmerse himself in his work. After the success of the first 4 years Hutton was re-elected in 1996 election with almost 100% landslide making his opposition accuse him of vote rigging but he just shrugged off these alligations and continued on with his 10 year plan. The Economic prosperity attracted investors into Stanley and Fox Bay which became a major oil port whilst Stanley became a banking centre much like Reykjavik in Iceland.

The islands population skyrocketed and Hutton began to turn over a new leaf after having a successful pregnancy. Hutton set up the islands first charity: The Hutton Trust which specialised in Deppression and Misscariages. Huttons life began to turn around and he was more popular than ever, he was compared to Alexander the Great and other prominant figures however his government was about to reach its first major test.

The Buoy Colossus Crisis
After Hutton ignored the Argentine claims over his oil, the argentines became increasingly frustraited and refused to recognise the independance of the islands saying they were theirs. The Buoy Colossus was the furthest west oil rig run by the BP-Shell operation and was the most likely target for an attack by Argentina. President Fernando de la Rúa decided to launch a full scale attack on the Buoy Colossus Oil Rig after subsiquent claims over its nationality Rúa decided to invade the rig in the night of 14th December using a highly trained stealthy team. On the invasion wasn't noticed by the Falklands Government until BP-Shell decided to visit the rig after communications were cut off only to notice that there were signs of dammage to the side of the rig and an Argentine helicopter was placed on the top aswell as 3 small argentine boats.

Hutton was paniced by the invasion fearing that this was the frist act in a 2nd War, Hutton decided to make an official announcement on live TV and Radio that night, he said this:


 * 'Three days ago BP-Shell lost all contact with the oil rig Buoy Colossus, today at around 3:00 am they sent a party to see what was wrong, upon arival they noticed signs of Argentine forces on the rig. There were several boats and a helicopeter with the Argentine flag on the side. We believe that this was a sign of invasion and occupation of this oil rig...'

Hutton was visibly shaken on TV however this wasn't mainly noticed by most Falklanders who more conserned about this second 'war'.

Hutton and UK made a joint deligation and they visited Buenos Aires where they were told that they were claiming what was theirs however the UK and Falklands Governments appealed to the UN for help, several major nations such as Brazil, USA, Germany, France and Israel all sent troops to the area surrounding the Oil Rig. Rúa saw this as a sign of aggretion by the world powers and he began to order them to leave, his stubborness resulted in Hutton and him confronting each other but when talks broke down for a 2nd time the ARA Colombus and FIS Duty were called to action, each ship confronted each other north of the oil rig, this was the closest that the country became to full blown war.

After a thrid attemt at talks with a joint Anglo-Falkland Deligation failed the time was decided to take action. The SAS and X-Regiment (Falkland Islands Special Forces) operated in the middle of the night via helicopter and ship drop in they retook the rig in Operation Fortune Dawn killing 1 Anglo-Falkland Soldier and 7 Argentine Soldiers. Argentina was forced to recognise the Falklands as an Independent nation plus its rights to drill oil in its Economic Zone.

Final Years and Retirement
Hutton was praised by his great handeling of the Buoy Colossus crisis even his opposition called him a 'great man'. The Hutton was however again to be faced with war, not at home but in the Middle East. After 9/11 200 men from the Falklands were sent to fight against Saddam, the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Iraq. His final few years focused on the growth of the Falklands, this was most noticable in the 'Greening' of the counrty with renewable sources of energy becomeing the main source of energy for the islands. Hutton retired just before the 2004 election. He currently lives in Fitzroy in a gated community however is regularly seen in Fitzroy and is well known and liked.

Hutton's house in 2009 was attacked by a former Argentine Officer, Rico Rodriguez who egged his house and chucked petrol bombs in his front garden, one set fire to his house however this was quickly quelled meanwhile a massive manhunt was undertaken after Rico who was eventually found in a tent near Johnson Harbour, Berkeley.

Family and Personal Life
Hutton is married to Laura Hutton (née Hamilton) who was born in Stanley, they met in highschool and got married after he returned to the Falklands after the war. They have tried for children but after a misscariage they both were put in depression but after a successful pregnancy their Daughter Sue was born in 1997. They are all Protestant Christians however they don't regularly attend church. Hutton is a prominent Biker and Golfer in his early years he won several golf competitions plus regulaly attends sporting events.

Honours

 * Nobel Peace Prize 2009
 * Imber Economics Prize
 * Time Person of the year 2000
 * Hutton Tunnel (to be finished)