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A furious row has erupted between Labour and the Conservatives over a deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
Sir Keir Starmer’s government has announced that Britain will return the territory but will still have sovereignty over the Diego Garcia military base in the Pacific Ocean.
But the Conservatives have condemned the decision, with Tory leadership contender Robert Jenrick accusing Sir Keir Starmer of “surrendering” Britain’s strategic interests.
Former foreign secretary James Cleverly has also joined the backlash, branding Sir Keir Starmer “weak, weak, weak” despite being behind the first negotiations over the agreement when he was in cabinet.
A Labour source hit back accusing Rishi Sunak’s administration of putting the key UK-US base on Diego Garcia at risk during their negotiations.
They branded the territorial dispute a “legal car crash” left by the previous government which was “damaging the UK and the US’ national security”.
It comes as Boris Johnson revealed how he dismissed warnings over Dominic Cummings and the Barnard Castle row as “lefty journalists angry over Brexit”.
In his new book ‘Unleashed’, the former prime minister explained why he refused to sack his then-political adviser despite his infamous trip at the peak of the pandemic.
Furious Tories condemn Starmer’s Chagos deal despite them opening talks
More Tory leadership candidates have joined Robert Jenrick in criticising the British Indian Ocean Territory decision.
James Cleverly said: “Weak, weak, weak! Labour lied to get into office. Said they’d be whiter than white, said they wouldn’t put up taxes, said they’d stand up to the EU, said that they be patriotic. All lies!”
Fellow rival Tom Tugendhat said: “This is a shameful retreat undermining our security and leaving our allies exposed.”
He claimed the Foreign Office had “negotiated against Britain’s interest” and it was “disgraceful that these negotiations started under our watch”.
Mr Tugendhat added: “Lord Cameron rightly blocked them only to see it back under David Lammy’s complete failure of leadership.”
But the Tories were responsible for starting the negotiations over the deal when they were in power.
Former foreign secretary Mr Cleverly opened talks on the sovereignty of the archipelago in November 2022.
Britain treated Chagossians ‘shamefully’, says envoy
The envoy behind the Chagos Islands-Mauritius deal has said Chagossians were treated “shamefully” when they were removed from the islands in the 1960s.
Jonathan Powell told BBC Radio 4’s World at One: “What we did in the 60s, what Britain did, was wrong. We treated them shamefully.
“And that’s why previous governments have given them British nationality, British citizenship, and so on.
“So we setting up a fund that will be administered by the Mauritian government because this is now Mauritian territory, so we can’t say who goes back.”
But under the deal, Chagossians are not able to return to Diego Garcia, the UK-US military base in the Pacific Ocean.
He added: “Many of Chagossians are either Mauritian citizens or have the right to Mauritian citizenship.
“Going back to the islands … it’s going to be difficult. They’re very remote and very hard to live on, and the life there before was very difficult.
“But yes, we are committing ourselves to help on visits, and we’re committing to a fund to help on resettlement if that’s possible.”
We inherited ‘legal car crash’ with Chagos Islands
A Labour source has hit back at the Tories’ after the fierce criticism from leadership candidates over the government’s decision to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
They said: “Labour inherited a legal car crash that could have left this vital military base in the hands of the court, damaging the UK and the US’ national security.”
In 2021, the Conservative government was urged to end its “unlawful occupation” of the Chagos Islands by the prime minister of Mauritius after Britain’s claim to sovereignty was rejected by the UN court.
But the Foreign Office argued it had not been party of the court proceedings so it was under no obligation to comply with the ruling.
The UK then underwent a long period of negotiations with Mauritius to settle the issue.
The source added: “James Cleverly and the Tories tried and failed in 11 rounds of negotiations, putting our national security interests at risk.
“The new government did the deal to secure the base and shut off a potential illegal migration route.
“You wouldn’t get the US President applauding the deal if it put US interests at risk.”
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The BBC presenter accidentally sent the former PM her notes: cue, cancelled interview. And Ryan Coogan has a few confessions of his own…
ICYMI: Boris Johnson regrets not sacking ‘homicidal robot’ Dominic Cummings over Barnard Castle debacle
Boris Johnson has branded his former chief of staff Dominic Cummings as “weird” and compared him to a “homicidal robot” as he blamed him for his downfall as prime minister.
In his new autobiography Unleashed, the Mr Johnson charted the collapse of his relationship with Cummings from the high point of them working to win the EU referendum in 2016.
But he has alleged that Cummings lack of gratitude for his efforts to defend him over potentially breaking lockdown rules with an infamous trip to Barnard Castle in 2020 led to the former chief of staff using Partygate as a form of revenge.
Our political editor David Maddox has the full story below:
THE INDEPENDENT DEBATE: Who should be the next leader of the Tory party?
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Chagos Islands envoy brands Tory criticism ‘silly’ and ‘ludicrous’
Jonathan Powell, who was appointed only a month ago, has been at the forefront of the Chagos Islands’ negotiations.
The former Tony Blair’s chief of staff was also a key figure in negotiating the Good Friday agreement.
Mr Powell said the securing the deal was “genuinely historic” and he had negotiated “intensively”.
Asked about the criticism from Tory leadership candidates on the deal, he said: “I do think these comments from the Tory leadership candidates are a bit silly.
“James Cleverly was leading these negotiations not that many months ago with the Mauritian government [when he was foreign secretary].”
He added: “What this government has done has been able to conclude it, because that government managed to lose the trust of the Mauritian government during the process.
“So for the people who were involved in that negotiation to start criticising the outcome of something they couldn’t achieve is absolutely ludicrous.”
Grant Shapps joins Tory furore
Nigel Farage says ‘giving up Chagos Islands is strategic disaster’
The Reform UK leader told The Telegraph: “Giving up the Chagos Islands is a strategic disaster.
“Our American allies will be furious and Beijing delighted. Labour are making the world a more dangerous place.”
