The Chagossian First Minister has “dared” Sir Keir Starmer to remove him from the Chagos archipelago after setting up a permanent settlement on one of the islands.
Speaking to GB News from the settlement, Misley Mandarin declared the only “illegal” part of their demonstration is the Prime Minister “handing a British territory to a country like Mauritius”.
More than 50 years after the population was evicted from the British territory, a group of Chagos islanders alongside former MP Adam Holloway descended on Peros Banhos on Monday to set up their residence.
Speaking to GB News from the beach of the island, Mr Mandarin declared: “This is British territory and we hold a British passport. How this can be illegal?
“The only thing that is illegal is Keir Starmer handing a British territory to a country like Mauritius, which is not British.”
Highlighting just how far they are from the Diego Garcia base, which lies at the centre of the Chagos deal, he added: “Where we are now on Peros Banhos, the base is a two-day boat away.
“So here we are, perfectly safe, and I came here, Adam helped me a lot during this plan, and we are here to stay.”
Showing GB News their current camp set up, Mr Holloway said they have now “changed the facts on the ground” just by being there.
He explained: “The reality is, in the 1960s, the British Government wanted to stop having to pay for the occasional food ship to come here, the excuse used was that there was a new base. It’s 120 miles away.
“They were rounded up, they were put on ships, some of them in manacles, their dogs were gassed, and they were sent to live in poverty in Mauritius, where they were basically called unspeakable names and told they weren’t worth being educated.
“Finally, a lot of them came to England when the British Government finally gave them passports, and now the British Government, illegally, now are trying to turn this place over to Mauritius without asking him [Mr Mandarin] the democratically elected person. It’s quite extraordinary.
Chagossian First Minister Misley Mandarin has ‘dared’ Keir Starmer to remove him and his group from the Chagos Islands
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GB NEWS
“And what we’re hoping to do by having this a permanent settlement here, what we’re hoping to do is we have successfully changed the facts on the ground. Now, I hope the law and good sense will catch up with them.”
Sending a stark message to Sir Keir Starmer, Mr Mandarin “dared” the Prime Minister to remove him and his group from the island.
Mr Mandarin fumed: “Their excuse was that there’s nobody on the island, now we’ve got people on there. My dad was born in this place right now and got exiled, and he’s back.
“I dare Keir Starmer to remove my dad again. That will be a great crime against humanity again.”
A group of Chagossians alongside ex-MP Adam Holloway have set up a ‘permanent settlement’ on one of the islands
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GB NEWS
Agreeing with Mr Mandarin, Mr Holloway added: “And it really was a crime against humanity, to move a settled native population from a place is a crime against humanity.
“And what we’re doing now is we’re basically about to do the same thing, albeit by so-called human rights.
“Look, the human rights that matter here are the rights of these people who’ve lived in exile for 60 years. It’s morally indefensible from a geo-strategic point of view. Risking that base to China is a shocker.”
He asked: “And what on earth are we doing? Spending £35billion of your viewers’s money, which should be spent on defence on this thing?”
Declaring he has sacrificed “everything” to create the settlement on the island, Mr Mandarin explained: “I was a bus driver. I left everything for my homeland, I came here.
Mr Mandarin told GB News that his dad was born on the island before being exiled by the British Government
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GB NEWS
“When I was a bus driver, I would pay my taxes to Mauritius. Now I’m here, we are saving £35billion of your viewers money, British tax money. Just by me being here and claiming my island as British, because I’m British.”
Sir Keir Starmer signed a treaty with Mauritian prime minister, Navin Ramgoolam, on May 22, 2025, transferring sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago from the UK to Mauritius.
Sir Keir said the deal was vital as the UK would “not have a realistic prospect of success” if Mauritius pursued legal action.
He explained that the UK could have faced a provisional measures order “within a matter of weeks”.