Nigel Farage has warned Donald Trump “won’t put up with” Keir Starmer’s Chagos deal after the President publicly branded Labour’s plan to cede British sovereignty an “act of great stupidity”.
The Reform UK leader spoke with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during the Davos conference last week, where he raised the Chagos Islands.
Mr Farage warned Sir Keir Starmer risks creating a diplomatic crisis comparable to the 1956 Suez debacle should he press ahead with the plans.
“Scott has looked at all of this and has said it’s not in our interests, it’s not in the interests of the western alliance and frankly we’re not going to put up with it,” Mr Farage told The Times.
“Donald [Trump] has been obsessed with the Middle East, Iran, Ukraine, you name it.
“This has been seen necessarily to be an item six agenda. Now it is up the agenda.
“They could not have been clearer about how they feel about it: they are horrified about it.”
Nigel Farage raised the issue of the Chagos deal with Scott Bessent at Davos
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The Reform leader’s intervention comes just a week after President Trump branded Labour’s surrender deal as an “act of total weakness”.
Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Shockingly, our ‘brilliant’ Nato ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital US Military Base, to Mauritius, and to do so FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER.
“There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness.”
Under the proposed arrangement, Britain would return the archipelago to Mauritius whilst securing continued use of Diego Garcia, which houses a joint UK-American military base, through a century-long lease valued at over £30billion.
However, due to Mauritius’s commitment to prohibiting nuclear weapons within its territories, concerns have been raised that China will be allowed to expand its regional presence unchecked.
Mr Farage says that because of the Treasury Secretary, Chagos has now been elevated up the presidential agenda
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GETTY
According to Farage, the issue had previously been relegated to a low priority for President Trump, who has focused on Middle Eastern affairs, Iran and Ukraine. However, the Treasury Secretary has now elevated it up the presidential agenda.
“It’s taken time to get through that. Scott gets it completely.
“This has not been at the top of the president’s in-tray but because of Scott [Bessent] it now is.”
He went on to warn that should Sir Keir press ahead with the plan, “we’re going to find ourselves in the worst place since Suez with the Americans”.
Mr Farage warned that should Sir Keir press ahead with the plan, ‘we’re going to find ourselves in the worst place since Suez with the Americans’
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GETTY
Sir Keir Starmer was forced to withdraw his Chagos Island Bill on Friday after the Conservatives warned it could violate a US-UK treaty from 1966.
It was due to be debated in the House of Lords on Monday, but now Government lawyers must examine the significance of the historical legislation brought forward by the Tories.
In a letter sent late on Friday evening, the Government conceded an overhaul to the 1966 UK-US defence deal would be required before passing the controversial legislation.
Baroness Chapman of Darlington, representing the Foreign Office, wrote to Lord Callanan, the Shadow Foreign Minister, acknowledging the diplomatic requirements.
The minister’s letter stated the 1966 arrangement governing Diego Garcia “would no longer reflect the status” of the base following the sovereignty transfer.
Baroness Chapman confirmed that “the UK-Mauritius agreement will only be ratified when the relevant domestic law and international arrangements are in place.”