A key aide for Donald Trump has warned the surrender of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius will jeopardise the “special relationship” between the UK and US.
The decision to cede the islands has been described as “haphazard” by former Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie.
It comes as Downing Street is hoping for a friendly start to the relationship between the new Trump regime and Sir Keir Starmer.
Wilkie, who is leading the current transition team within the Pentagon, told the BBC: “I think it was a calamitous decision, I don’t think there was much thought put into it. “
He added that President Trump considered the move to be “something that could impinge on that special relationship” between the two nations, and that the Diego Garcia military base, on the largest of the Islands, provides “leverage to project power”.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: ‘”Given Diego Garcia’s status as a key strategic asset, it is right to discuss the agreement with the new US administration.”
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Labour MP says NHS eating disorder services are ‘beyond broken’
A Labour MP has called for more funding for NHS eating disorder services, describing the current system as “beyond broken”
Richard Quigley, MP for Isle of Wight West described the “nightmare” of watching his own child battle an eating disorder.
He said: “To watch someone who is bright and funny and clever just look lost and scared because there’s no treatment coming – you feel like you’re letting your child down. We’re not just talking about a half day of training here.
“We’re talking about days over a year to fully understand the nuances of, not just eating disorders, but the different types of eating disorders.”
NHS England says it has invested additional funding to improve waiting times for eating-disorder services and more than £1bn a year goes into the provision of community mental-health care for adults.
Cooper and Starmer pledge tougher checks to stop youngsters buying knives online
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer delivers a statement at 10 Downing Street in London,
PA
Online retailers will be forced to put in place tougher checks to stop youngsters buying knives after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said it is “shockingly easy” for children to buy blades.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs it is a “a total disgrace” that Rudakubana, then 17, and with a history of violence, was able to buy a weapon online and promised new measures in the Crime and Policing Bill this spring.
Writing in The Sun, Starmer said: “It remains shockingly easy for our children to get their hands on deadly knives. The lessons of this case could not be clearer. Time and again, as a child, the Southport murderer carried knives. Time and again, he showed clear intent to use them.
“And yet, tragically, he was still able to order the murder weapon off of the internet without any checks or barriers. A two-click killer. This cannot continue. The technology is there to set up age verification checks, even for kitchen knives ordered online.
“We must now use it to protect our children from future attack and I will ensure that this happens.”