For over two hundred years, Anguilla had been administered from the UK, with local representatives. As part of Britains
Disengagement from Empire, proposals were made for Anguilla to become part of St. Kitts and Nevis and for that whole to become independent. Anguilla held more antipathy toward St. Kitts and Nevis, than it did to the UK and as Anguillans felt under represented in the proposal, it began to look like this arrangement would never work.
In Jul 1967 local protests began and when the Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis sought to assert his power over the small island, civil disturbances began and the islanders eventually expelled the St. Kitts and Nevis Police Force. On 19 Mar 1969, rather heavy-handedly, Britain sent 2 PARA, which had been flown to Antigua the previous day and landed by the Royal Navy to restore order. Whilst the
peaceful invasion was a media disaster for Britain, it did produce a political solution and by 1971 Angullia was decoupled from St. Kitts and Nevis. In 1980, Anguilla became a British Overseas Territory.