Donald Trump’s ‘stupidity’ remark leaves Chagos deal in tatters as UK cabinets plan
Health Secretary Wes Streeting admitted there has been ‘a shift in position in Washington’ after Donald Trump’s administration initially agreed to the Chagos deal
Donald Trump previously backed the deal, but changed his mind(Image: AP)
A senior minister has said the UK is trying to “resolve” issues with Donald Trump over the Chagos Islands deal.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting admitted there has been “a shift in position in Washington” after the US initially agreed to the deal.
Mr Trump previously backed the deal, but changed his mind in January, calling a deal to transfer sovereignty of the islands “an act of GREAT STUPIDITY” in a social media post.
The UK has now shelved the plans, given a lack of formal approval from the US and time running out for the legislation to be completed before the parliamentary session ends in the coming weeks.
A new Chagos bill is not expected to feature in the King’s Speech next month. Officials insist the deal hasn’t been entirely abandoned.
READ MORE: UK hands over remote Indian Ocean islands after decades-long battle
Asked if the Chagos deal was “dead”, Mr Streeting on Sunday morning said: “No, look, t he United States is going through its own process at the moment, and, it is fair to say there has been a shift in position in Washington.
“We’ve been clear throughout that the objective is to make sure we secure the Chagos Islands for the long term in British and American interests.
“I think there are lots of people in the US administration who understand what we’re trying to achieve, who support that objective. We’re working with the Americans to try and resolve that, because we’ve been clear that we wouldn’t act without the Americans, because this also concerns their interest as well.”
The deal would have seen the UK hand over the Chagos Islands – an overseas territory located in the Indian Ocean – to Mauritius. The territory includes the tropical atoll of Diego Garcia, which houses a strategically important UK-US military base. The UK would pay an average annual cost of £101million to lease back the base.
Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch are both fiercely against the deal and have been pressuring the Government to scrap the deal.
Asked about critics’ opinion, Mr Streeting said: “We’ve seen extraordinary hypocrisy on the part of the Conservatives, who were also negotiating the Chagos deal. They understood when they were in government the importance of this and swiftly changed their tune on the other side.
“And as for Mr. Farage, the extent to which that man, that plastic patriot, is prepared to fly to Washington on a regular basis, to slag off his own country to American audiences, I think is utterly shameful, and why we should take his claims to be a patriot with a pinch of salt.”
The Tories and Reform UK both welcomed the deal being shelved.
Former Foreign Office permanent secretary Lord Simon McDonald told the BBC Radio 4 that the government had “no other choice” than to shelve the deal. “The UK had two objectives, one was to comply with international law, the second was to reinforce the relationship with the United States,” he said.
“When the president of the United States is openly hostile, the government has to rethink, so this agreement, this treaty will go into the deep freeze for the time being.”
