BREAKING: Donald Trump modifications his thoughts on Chagos deal AGAIN in newest rant at PM
Donald Trump has made yet another baffling U-turn as he once again lashed out at Keir Starmer over the Chagos Islands.
The unpredictable US President – who has previously backed the PM’s agreement with Mauritius – has reverted to criticising it. In a rant on his Truth Social site Trump whined that Mr Starmer is making a “big mistake”, just a fortnight after taking the opposite view.
It is the latest in a long-running saga in which the 79-year-old US leader appears to be confused about his position. Trump wrote: “I have been telling Prime Minister Keir Starmer, of the United Kingdom, that leases are no good when it comes to countries, and that he is making a big mistake by entering a 100 year lease with whoever it is that is ‘claiming’ right, title and interest to Diego Garcia, strategically located in the Indian Ocean.”
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AP)
Last month Trump backed down after branding the handover of the Islands as an “act of great stupidity”. Just a fortnight ago he admitted the agreement was “the best he (Keir Starmer) could make.”
Under the deal, the UK is ceding sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius after two centuries under British control, and then entering a 99-year-lease for the largest island, Diego Garcia, which houses a strategic US-UK military base. The agreement to lease back Diego Garcia is expected to cost the UK £101million a year.
Speaking to reporters last month, Mr Starmer said the Chagos deal had been raised with the White House several times since the President’s outburst.
He said: “The position, as you know, is that when the Trump administration came in, we paused for three months to give them time to consider the Chagos deal, which they did at agency level. And once they’d done that, they were very clear in the pronouncements about the fact that they supported the deal.”
He also pointed to supportive comments from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth. Asked if Mr Trump understands the deal, he said: “As I say there was a three month pause whilst his administration looked in detail at an agency level, because obviously this is about security and intelligence, and so it was an agency review that was conducted in the US before they then concluded that it was a deal they wanted to support, did support and did so in very clear terms.”
