The US President went on a rant last week over the deal, which he branded ‘stupid’ and an ‘act of total weakness’ – despite the US welcoming the agreement last yea
Donald Trump is at odds with US spy agencies in his attack on Britain’s plans to hand over the remote Chagos islands, Keir Starmer has suggested.
The US President went on a rant last week over the deal, which he branded “stupid” and an “act of total weakness” – despite the US welcoming the agreement last year. He also questioned if the UK had made the £3.4billion pact because “they need money”, sparking fears that he doesn’t actually understand it.
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.
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Speaking to reporters en-route to China, 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.”
Sources in the UK Government remain calm about the deal, which Mr Trump cited as a reason for the US to take control of Greenland. Cabinet Minister Pat McFadden last week suggested the rant was an expression of the US President’s frustration at strong pushback from the UK and allies against his demands to seize the Arctic island.
The bill to ratify the deal had been expected to return to the House of Lords this week but the Government was forced to press pause on Friday after Tory peers tabled an amendment to frustrate the process.
A Government spokesperson said: “The Government remains fully committed to the deal to secure the joint UK-US base on Diego Garcia, which is vital for our national security. This is irresponsible and reckless behaviour by peers, whose role is to check legislation, not interfere with our national security priorities.”