Nigel Farage slams Starmer's 'damaging capitulation' on Chagos Islands

by · Mail Online

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is under pressure to call an emergency debate on Monday on Labour's surrender of the Chagos Islands after Nigel Farage complained that the 'damaging capitulation' occurred while MPs were away from Westminster.

The Reform UK leader's move comes as diplomatic sources revealed Sir Keir ­Starmer's humiliating handover of the Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius, a close ally of China, had been rushed through before a potential Donald Trump victory in next month's US Presidential election.

Trump's allies have complained that the deal represents a strategic coup for Beijing.

The move – plans for which were first revealed in The Mail on Sunday last year – have triggered fresh speculation about the future of the Falkland islands and Gibraltar after the Prime Minister refused to guarantee that no other British Overseas Territories would be given away.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage speaks during the party's conference in Birmingham on September 20
Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos archipelago and site of a major United States military base in the middle of the Indian Ocean leased from Britain
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is under pressure to call an emergency debate on Labour's surrender of the Chagos Islands

Argentina's foreign minister Diana Mondino said of the Chagos deal: 'We welcome this step in the right direction and the end to outdated practices. With concrete actions and not empty rhetoric, we will recover full sovereignty of Las Malvinas.'

Read More

BREAKING NEWS
Chagossians in UK accuse Keir Starmer of treating them like ­'second-class citizens'

Her post was shared by Argentina's President Javier Milei,who has previously endorsed the country's 'unwavering claim' to the Falklands.

In a letter sent this weekend to Foreign Secretary David Lammy and copied to Sir Lindsay, Mr Farage wrote: 'The strategic importance of the Chagos Islands to our nation and to our most important ally, America, is well known... The future of the Chagos Islands was announced when the House was not sitting, meaning that members of all parties remain in the dark about so many aspects of this decision.

'This has led to speculation about the future of the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar.

'It is vital the House is given an opportunity to scrutinise the origins of the Chagos Islands deal and to debate its many implications... given the seriousness of the situation, a vote must then take place.'

The Reform leader will also submit an Urgent Question on Monday concerning the protection of British sovereignty around the world.

Be the first to commentBe one of the first to commentComments
Do YOU think Starmer engaged in a 'damaging capitulation' on Chagos Islands?
Comment now

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks at a press conference in Brussels on October 2 
An aerial view of the air operations area and runway at the Diego Garcia base 

This newspaper revealed in May last year that the White House had expressed 'serious concerns' about plans to surrender the Chagos, given that the islands host the highly sensitive Anglo-American military base on Diego Garcia, known as 'the unsinkable aircraft carrier in Indian Ocean'.

Read More

BREAKING NEWS
Furious Tories accuse Keir Starmer of 'surrendering' Chagos Islands after historic deal

The British base, which is leased to the US Navy, is home to 1,700 military personnel and includes port facilities, an airstrip, a support structure for submarine fleets, a sophisticated radar centre and US Space Operations Command.

The Pentagon argued thatBeijing was looking for a similar military foothold in the region and is even possibly eyeing Diego Garcia. Under last week's deal,the UK will ensure operation of the military base for 'an initial period' of 99 years.

US President Joe Biden publicly welcomed the 'historic agreement', saying it secured the future of a key military base which 'plays a vital role in national, regional and global security'.

But Republicans reacted angrily, with Idaho Senator James Risch, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a Trump supporter, arguing that it 'gives in to Chinese lawfare'.

A diplomatic source said: 'This was all rushed through shamelessly because Lammy was worried that if Trump wins he will throw a spanner in the works. This is not good for our relations with the Republicans.'

The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) or Chagos Islands (formerly the Oil Islands) is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom situated in the Indian Ocean

The row has also dealt a blow to the leadership ambitions of former foreign secretary James Cleverly, who condemned the move last week as 'weak, weak, weak', only for it to emerge he had opened talks over the islands soon after taking over the Foreign Office in November 2022.

Boris Johnson fulminated against the decision in yesterday's Daily Mail, writing: 'This is what happens when you are governed not by Blairites – as [Labour] pretended to be at the election – but by Leftie ideologues, people who secretly or openly hate such vital concepts as US hegemony, 'Western values', Nato and an independent British nuclear deterrent.'