Donald Trump has urged Prime Minister Keir Starmer not to proceed with the handover of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, calling it a 'big mistake'. In a post on his Truth Social platform, the US president warned that Starmer was 'losing control' of the strategically important Diego Garcia island, which hosts a joint US-UK military base.
Trump's latest comments mark a reversal from earlier this month, when he described the plan as the 'best' deal Starmer could make. The US State Department had officially backed the agreement on Tuesday. However, Trump wrote on Wednesday that the claims of entities involved in the deal were 'fictitious in nature' and that the lease was 'tenuous, at best'.
The US president also suggested that Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire might be needed to counter a potential attack by Iran, should Tehran fail to reach a peace deal with Washington. He urged the UK to 'remain strong in the face of wokeism' and not to cede the territory.
Trump's press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told reporters that the post 'should be taken as the policy of the Trump administration'. The UK's shadow foreign secretary, Priti Patel, described the situation as an 'utter humiliation for Starmer', while Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said the 'flip-flopping' showed the approach was 'doomed to fail'.
A Foreign Office spokesperson defended the deal, saying it was 'crucial to the security of the UK and our key allies' and the only way to guarantee the long-term future of the military base. Meanwhile, British authorities issued removal orders against four Chagossians who landed on a remote atoll this week in an attempt to complicate the transfer plans.
