British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke out in defence of the UK’s giving up control of the Chagos Islands.
The agreement with Mauritius on the Islands will secure the long-term future of the joint US-UK military base on Diego Garcia, which he considers “the single most important thing,” according to Starmer. The deal drew some criticism because it might enable China to strengthen its military position in the Indian Ocean, and concerns have been raised about the future of other British Overseas Territories.
“The single most important thing was ensuring that we had a secure base, the joint US-UK base; hugely important to the US, hugely important to us. We’ve now secured that and that is why you saw such warm words from the US yesterday,” Starmer said.
The deal means that the UK and US military presence on Diego Garcia will remain in place for 99 years, renewable, with the UK paying an annual sum of money.
Criticism of the deal
Conservative Party leadership candidate James Cleverly opened the negotiations by saying he was hoping to conclude them by the end of 2023. Labour’s decision appears to have caused a rift in Cleverly’s campaign as former MP Grant Shapps, who is Cleverly’s campaign chairman, said he had blocked the deal.
As defence secretary I was so concerned about the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands that I blocked the deal from proceeding. Today, this government has announced it’s abandoned our sovereignty of the archipelago, including the militarily essential Diego Garcia, Shapps said on X.
The former Tory prime minister Boris Johnson said it was “crazy” to give up control of the Chagos Islands. He stated:
Why are we doing this? Sheer political correctness, desire to look like the good guys, desire to look as though we’re unbundling the last relics of our empire. It’s nonsense. It’s a bad idea in hard geopolitical terms, because the base in Diego Garcia is of huge strategic importance for the US, for the west, and it’s a key component of the Anglo-American alliance. It’s one of the things we bring to the table, has been for decades.
Johnson, however, also faced criticism from Representative Truss over the fact that he was the one who asked Liz to speak to the Mauritius Prime Minister.
It was Boris Johnson who asked Liz to talk to [the Mauritius prime minister Pravind Jugnauth] about this at Cop26, which she did. But she was absolutely clear that we would and should never cede the territory, according to a spokesperson.
Jonathan Powell, Starmer’s special representative in the UK-Mauritius talks who brokered the deal, dismissed the “silly” criticism from the Tories, noting that Cleverly had been “enthusiastically” negotiating not so long ago.
