The 79-year-old US President yet again U-turned on the UK’s Chagos Islands deal – which the Government says is the only way of securing the long-term future of a joint base on Diego Garcia
The UK’s Chagos Islands deal will go ahead despite Donald Trump’s latest U-turn, a minister has insisted.
Alex Davies-Jones said the Government will plough ahead with the agreement as she faced questions over the 79-year-old President’s baffling outburst. Trump lashed out at Keir Starmer on Wednesday, 24 hours after the US State Department gave its backing to the agreement.
The controversial deal will see Britain cede sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius after two centuries. It will then lease back the largest island, Diego Garcia, which is home to a US-UK military base.
Justice Minister Ms Davies-Jones said the UK’s Chagos Islands deal is important for national security. But she admitted to Times Radio that she had not been told why.
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She said: “I totally understand how people will be wondering exactly the details of this. There is a lot that happens on that base that not even I know, that a lot of our Government ministers don’t know, and that is vitally important for national security as well.
“It protects us from terrorism, it is crucial, vital infrastructure for national security, not just here in the UK, but for our allies as well, for our Americans who use that base, and it is important.”
She said the Bill to ratify the agreement would return to Parliament as soon as the timetable allows, and conversations between the UK and the White House would continue.
Ms Davies-Jones said: “I think it’s really important to note that during his first meeting with President Trump, the Prime Minister reiterated this deal and President Trump backed it, and said that this lease was a strong lease.
“Just two weeks ago, the president again backed this and said it was the best deal available, and just this week the US administration reaffirmed their commitment to the deal.”
The Foreign Office said the agreement to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius is “the only way to guarantee the long-term future” of the Diego Garcia base. A spokesperson said: “The deal to secure the joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia military is crucial to the security of the UK and our key allies, and to keeping the British people safe.
“The agreement we have reached is the only way to guarantee the long-term future of this vital military base.”
The agreement to lease back Diego Garcia is expected to cost the UK £101million a year. In a surprise rant on his Truth Social platform, Trump described this as tenuous and said the agreement was a big mistake.
On Tuesday, the US State Department said it “supports the decision of the United Kingdom to proceed with its agreement with Mauritius concerning the Chagos archipelago”. Trump has previously rolled back in criticism of the agreement, saying on February 5 that it was the best deal Mr Starmer could have got.
In his latest post, 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.”
He went on to say that the base on Diego Garcia might be needed to mount an attack on Iran. The US President said: “This land should not be taken away from the UK and, if it is allowed to be, it will be a blight on our Great Ally.
“We will always be ready, willing and able to fight for the UK, but they have to remain strong in the face of Wokeism, and other problems put before them. DO NOT GIVE AWAY DIEGO GARCIA!”
The Government’s proposed legislation, due to be debated in the House of Lords, was pulled last month in the face of a Conservative-led amendment calling for a pause “in light of the changing geopolitical circumstances”.
Trump’s rant came after former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, a vocal critic of the Chagos deal, returned from a trip to Washington where he discussed the plans with members of the Trump administration.
The exiled first minister of the Chagos Islands said the PM would be a hero if he cancelled the deal. Misley Mandarin is one of four Chagossians who returned to the islands on a small boat this week to reclaim their homeland, told the BBC: “I’ll say Keir Starmer, as my Prime Minister, you have to look at this treaty again.”
And he added: “Don’t ratify that deal, cancel that deal and let Chagossians come back to their homeland as British.”