President Donald Trump could buy the Chagos Islands if Sir Keir Starmer’s deal with Mauritius collapses.
US sources have alluded that the idea should be seriously considered after ministers insisted the American purchase of the archipelago in the Indian Ocean would not happen.
This comes after the US President flip-flopped his stance on the UK-Mauritius deal over the Chagos Islands – initially backing it, but then U-turning, eventually calling it “a great act of stupidity”.
The Chagos Islands, a group of seven atolls comprising of move than 60 islands, is the home of Diego Garcia, a joint UK-US military base.
Under the deal with Mauritius, the UK would hand over the Chagos Islands to the East African nation and take out a 99-year lease for Diego Garcia, at an average cost of £101million a year.
However, US insiders have told the Sun that the White House is exploring other options in case the agreement collapses.
One American official said the ideal should be “taken seriously – until you don’t”.
They added: “While it wouldn’t be the first course of action if things get bogged down and frustration rise, the White House definitely doesn’t see it as impossible.”
A Washington insider said the possibility of the US purchasing the strategic archipelago should be “taken seriously”
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The future of the deal remains uncertain, as the UK Government have held off signing the deal in order to appease the “special relationship”.
Having been under British control since 1814, the Chagos Islands (officially named the British Indian Ocean Territory) were made an overseas territory in 1965 and paid Mauritius a £3million grant in compensation.
However, the east African nation have argued that it was illegally forced to give the archipelago away as part of an independence deal with Britain.
In the late 1960s, Britain and the US began building a military base on the island of Diego Garcia, where thousands of Chagossians were removed from the island in the process.
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