Kemi Badenoch Backs Trump, Describes Chagos Islands Deal As ‘Self Sabotage’
Kemi Badenoch Backs Trump, Describes Chagos Islands Deal As ‘Self Sabotage’
Badenoch said she believes the policy would weaken the UK and its NATO allies.
The leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, British-Nigerian Kemi Badenoch, has described the government’s agreement to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius as a threat to national security.
Her remarks follow criticism from United States President, Donald Trump, who called the deal an act of “total weakness” and “great stupidity” and said it would be noticed by rivals such as China and Russia.
Badenoch said she believes the policy would weaken the UK and its NATO allies.
“Paying to surrender the Chagos Islands is not just an act of stupidity, but of complete self sabotage,” she said.
She also said she agrees with Trump’s position on the issue and criticised Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s policy.
“I’ve been clear and unfortunately on this issue President Trump is right. Keir Starmer’s plan to give away the Chagos Islands is a terrible policy that weakens UK security and hands away our sovereign territory. And to top it off, makes us and our NATO allies weaker in face of our enemies.”
Badenoch said she discussed the matter with former Speaker Boris Johnson and said they shared the same view.
“Last night I met Speaker Johnson and we are united in that view. Britain’s and America’s interests align. Keir Starmer has the chance to change course on Chagos. Conservatives call on President Trump to reconsider Greenland too.”
The UK government has defended the deal, saying it was made for national security reasons to protect the Diego Garcia base, which is used for US and UK military operations in the Indian Ocean.
Some Chagossians have opposed the deal, saying they were not consulted after being displaced from the islands in the late 1960s and 1970s.
The US president, Donald Trump, earlier described Britain’s deal to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago, including an island hosting a U.S.-UK air base, as an act of “total weakness” and “great stupidity.”
Washington had last year given its blessing to the deal which gave the Indian Ocean islands to Mauritius but retained UK control of the Diego Garcia base under a 99-year lease, Reuters reports.
But Trump reversed that with a typically blunt Truth Social post saying: “Shockingly, our ‘brilliant’ NATO Ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital U.S. Military Base, to Mauritius, and to do so FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER.”
He added: “There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness … The UK giving away extremely important land is an act of GREAT STUPIDITY, and is another in a very long line of National Security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired.”
Trump’s attack heaps new strain on relations with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who this week spoke out against his ambition to take over Greenland by any means to counter the encroaching presence of rivals China and Russia.
Responding to Trump’s Chagos comments, the British government said the deal was made precisely for national security reasons. “We acted because the base on Diego Garcia was under threat after court decisions undermined our position and would have prevented it operating as intended in future,” a spokesperson said.
The Chagos’ six main atolls, among more than 600 islands, lie 500 km (300 miles) south of the Maldives and halfway between Africa and Indonesia, with about 4,000 people stationed there.
Britain forcibly displaced up to 2,000 indigenous Chagossians in the late 1960s and 1970s to establish the base on the Diego Garcia atoll, but has given sovereignty to former colony Mauritius which it is paying 101 million pounds ($136 million) per year to secure the installation.
