Dame Priti Patel has refused to admit Nigel Farage did some “heavy-lifting” behind-the-scenes which culminated in Donald Trump’s extraordinary intervention in Labour’s Chagos deal.
Joining Camilla Tominey on GB News, the Shadow Foreign Secretary insisted it was “absolutely misleading” for Reform UK to credit their leader for the climbdown this week.
But, since Mr Trump’s surprising outburst calling the controversial agreement “an act of great stupidity” on Tuesday morning, the President’s friend has been widely-credited for the raucous retaliation billowing across the Atlantic.
On Monday evening, Mr Farage raised his concerns with Trump ally and Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson on the People’s Channel, who is understood to have directly passed the apprehension onto the President later that evening.
That same week, Mr Farage attended the congregation of world leaders in Davos, where he is believed to have dined with the US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Previously, Mr Bessent declared the UK was letting down the US with its agreement to hand over British territory to Mauritius, a Chinese ally.
Now, after Mr Trump’s rebuke, Sir Keir Starmer has pulled the Chagos Island Bill from its scheduled debate in the Lords this coming Monday.
The withdrawal came the same day the Conservatives tabled an amendment called for a pause “in light of the changing geopolitical circumstances”.
‘This is deadly serious, and I don’t think this is about who takes credit,’ the top Tory told GB News
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Consequently, the timing of Labour’s withdrawal has raised questions over who should be credited for the climbdown.
Asking Dame Priti about Mr Farage’s role, Camilla said: “You have to concede, though, that it’s Nigel Farage what won it on GB News with pressuring the US Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday?
“You have to accept Reform and Nigel Farage and indeed this great news channel have done some heavy lifting on this.”
In response, the ex-Home Secretary said: “So your channel has and I’ve been on this programme many times talking about it.
“I do not accept that proposition at all, because it is diplomacy behind the scenes involving my party as well, and conversations with Speaker Johnson.
LATEST ON LABOUR’S CHAGOS ‘SURRENDER’:
Zia Yusuf lauded his leader’s actions in Davos this week
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GB NEWS/X – @NIGEL_FARAGE
“We’ve had conversations with Speaker Johnson about this too, and it’s not just him. I’ve had engagement with the State Department in America.
“We have Conservatives in Washington that have been making the case to the White House. So I think it’s absolutely misleading, if I may say so.
“This isn’t about who takes credit. My party believes in standing up for Britain and our national interests and our national security.
“This is not a flippant matter at all. This is deadly serious, and I don’t think this is about who takes credit.
“There’s a lot of painful work, a lot of forensic work that has taken place on this that not politicians don’t necessarily have to stand up and brag about it.”
Just yesterday, Reform’s policy chief Zia Yusuf heaped praise onto his leader on GB News, lauding his leader over “one of the most extraordinary diplomatic interventions for somebody who isn’t actually in the Government”.
He told the People’s Channel: “He’s managed to stop it. He’s managed to stop the ceding of British sovereign territory for no valid reason whatsoever.
“So imagine what he will be able to do, not just when he’s in Government, but when he’s the Prime Minister of this country,” Mr Yusuf cheekily added.