Sir Keir Starmer’s Government lied to the White House over its Chagos “surrender” deal, a former Conservative leader has claimed.
Having jetted off to the US last week to speak with members of Congress, as well as top officials and ministers, Sir Iain Duncan Smith said they were being sold a “complete lie” by the British Government.
Last night, President Trump launched an extraordinary attack on Labour’s Chagos deal, just hours after Washington reiterated its official support for the £35billion handover agreement.
In a Truth Social post, Mr Trump said Sir Keir Starmer is making an “extraordinary mistake” by entering a 99-year lease over the archipelago’s military base.
The UK Government had sounded positive about its talks with the US – but the President’s latest tirade has indicated those sentiments have not come from him.
Mr Trump said: “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.”
Speaking on GB News earlier today, Sir Iain said: “They keep on saying that they’re going to get all sorts of legal attacks on them if they don’t do this.
“It’s utter ridiculous fairytale nonsense, and it’s a complete lie by the Government.”
‘The Government has rushed at this on a false premise,’ the MP told GB News
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The Government previously cited the International Court of Justice’s advice to cede the British territory, which was not legally binding.
“Because we exempted ourselves at the time of the coming-together of the ICJ, originally from anything to do with the Commonwealth nations,” Sir Iain said.#
“Of course we did, because that would affect the Falklands; it would have affected Gibraltar and Cyprus – so we were exempted. They could never make any ruling. That was a judgement.
“And, by the way, the chairman of that court was, in fact, a Chinese Communist Party individual,” he added.
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Sir Iain told GB News he binned off any speculation the UK could be dragged into a court of law because it is exempt under two articles from any action from the ICJ.
After the Americans argued it was linked with the International Telecoms Union, he shut down the claim, saying it was “all exempted”, apart from military activities.
He said: “Not a chance. There is no legal activity, so the Government has rushed at this on a false premise.
“It has not told the truth to the Americans. What we do know is that the Americans have an exchange of letters dating back to 1966.
“That exchange of letters has the force of treaty. And in it the US put the Diego Garcia base together on the basis that it was agreed that the UK would retain sovereignty. Full stop.
“The President has the right to say no. That’s in that treaty. And therefore, him saying no means ‘no, you cannot go ahead with it’.”
The Tory MP declared Britain should invite the Chagossians back to their homeland and allow them to run their own affairs, while Britain remains sovereign.
“The US would be happy with that,” he added.
GB News has approached No10 for comment.