Andrew Rosindell called for the UK to give up the Chagos Islands in 2021, a newly-surfaced letter shows – after The Mirror revealed he’d asked Joe Biden to help ‘decolonise’ the territory
Nigel Farage’s newest defector faces fresh accusations of hypocrisy after ANOTHER unearthed letter showed he demanded the Chagos Islands were relinquished.
Andrew Rosindell wrote to then-Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab in 2021 warning the UK’s failure to do so was undermining its credibilty. It comes hot on the heels of the revelation that he wrote to Joe Biden a year earlier saying the US must help “decolonise” the territory.
Mr Rosindell has repeatedly lashed out after the Government reached an agreement to return the islands to Mauritius. At the weekend the MP for Romford announced he was defecting to Reform, claiming Tory failure to hold the Government to account over Chagos was a “red line” for him.
READ MORE: Reform ‘hypocrite’ blasted as letter to Joe Biden about Chagos Islands emergesREAD MORE: Vile social media ads offer ‘jet boat’ Channel crossings as Labour pledges jail terms
In an interview on Talk TV this week, he lashed out at the Tories for even starting negotiations with Mauritius, branding it a “total betrayal” of our national security. But the letters indicate he was pushing for a similar deal.
Labour has accused him of “rewriting history” after the documents came to light. In his July 2021 note to Mr Raab, Mr Rosindell said the Government must respect a decision by the International Court of Justice, backed by the UN. This said that Britain had an obligation to give up its sovereignty.
Writing in his capacity as chairman of the Chagos Islands All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) he said: “The group believes that an overall settlment, which respects the will of the international community… is the only way to resolve these historical issues which remain a millstone round the neck of British diplomacy, standing and credibility.”
Mr Rosindell said they hoped “significant progress” would be made in achieving these objectives by the APPG’s next meeting in October. The letter came to light after The Mirror revealed the Tory turncoat had penned a letter to Joe Biden in January 2020 saying the islands must be decolonised.
After the Biden letter came to light, former Tory MP Sir Simon Clarke wrote: “This should be an unbelievable story. Sadly it’s clearly true.”
A Labour source told The Mirror: “The Tories and Reform are peas in a pod when it comes to rewriting history. It was the Tories that had 11 rounds of negotiations on Chagos and now want the public to forget it. And now it has been exposed that Reform’s latest recruit, Andrew Rosindell, was secretly begging the Tory government to act.”
They dubbed Reform and the Tories “fundamentally unserious” about national security. In his letter to Mr Biden – then the US President-elect – Mr Rosindell said: “Now is a propitious time to re-assess the long-term security and strategy of this vitally important joint base in the Indian Ocean. There is a need for a radical rethink of policy towards resettlement and the future of the Chagos Islands by the UK.
“Failure to recognise the right to self-determination and to decolonise Chagos is now the focus of international opprobrium which shows no sign of dissipating.”
Labour MP Luke Charters told The Mirror: “Opposition to the government’s deal might land differently if they weren’t coming from a party whose newest MP personally spent years advocating for this exact outcome. This is the same person who signed letters, and lobbied the British and even foreign governments to respect the ICJ ruling on the Chagos Islands.
“It’s a staggering act of hypocrisy from an MP and a party that proves time and again that it doesn’t know who or what it stands for.”
Mr Rosindell’s letter, written in his role as chairman of the Chagos Islands All Party Parliamentary Group, said US security interests would not be threatened by Mauritian sovereignty. And he said the UK remained committed to returning the islands to Mauritius when it was not needed for defence purposes.
The UK has agreed to transfer Chagos to Mauritius and lease back the island of Diego Garcia – where a UK-US military base is located – for 99 years. Mr Rosindell assured Mr Biden: “The main interest of the United States is the continuation and security of the base on Diego Garcia which would not be threatened by either resettlement, especially if it were on the Outer Islands or eventual Mauritian sovereignty. Chagossians and Mauritius want the base to continue.
“Mauritius has said it would offer the US a 99-year lease. Mauritius has also committed itself to facilitate and fund the resettlement of those Chagossians who wish to return.
“The UK remains committed to returning the islands to Mauritius when no longer needed for defence purposes.”
The UK and Mauritius signed a deal in May to give Mauritius sovereignty over the Chagos Islands after two centuries under British control. The Mirror has contacted Mr Rosindell for comment. A Reform UK spokesman said: “Andrew Rosindell’s support for the self-determination of the Chagossian people has been consistent and well evidenced throughout the past 25 years in parliament.
“He has always believed that the Chagossians should be returned to the Islands at the earliest opportunity and then to have a vote on their sovereignty. Whether that would be Mauritian, independence or to remain under the UK.”