Politics live: Trump warns Starmer is making ‘big mistake’ in fresh attack over Chagos Islands deal

Donald Trump’s change of position on the Chagos Islands deal shows the UK needs to maintain closer ties with Europe, Sir Ed Davey said.

Commenting on X, the Liberal Democrat leader said: “Trump’s endless somersaults in the Chagos Islands show why Starmer’s approach is doomed to fail.

“With Trump in the White House, Britain cannot rely on the US. It is time to strengthen our ties with allies we can trust, starting with our neighbors in Europe.”

The Independent’s White House Correspondent Andrew Feinberg:

President Trump said on Wednesday that he was urging Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer not to cede control of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius because a 100-year lease on Diego Garcia (the site of a major Anglo-American air base) would be a “big mistake.”

In a post on Truth Social, the former property tycoon said he had told Mr Starmer that “leases are no good when it comes to countries” and accused him of “losing control of this important island due to claims by individuals previously unknown” and that Mauritius’ claims to the islands were “fictional in nature”.

Mr Trump also suggested that Diego Garcia would be used in any US action against Iran “to neutralize a possible attack by a highly unstable and dangerous Regime – an attack that could be made against the UK as well as other friendly countries”.

“Prime Minister Starmer should not lose control of Diego Garcia for any reason by entering into a 100 Year Lease at best. This land should not be taken from the UK and if this were allowed it would be a disaster for our Great Ally,” he said.

Mr Trump added that the US would “always be ready, willing and able to fight for Britain”, while urging London to “remain strong in the face of Wokeism and other challenges put before them”.

The president’s outburst is the latest in a series of dramatic reversals of position regarding the Chagos agreement and the Diego Garcia lease.

Trump had previously criticized the agreement in a post on social media last month; He had accused Mr Starmer of “gross stupidity” in pursuing his plan to cede control of Chagos and linked the deal to his desire to annex Greenland on behalf of the US despite the objections of Denmark and the rest of NATO.

But weeks later he reversed course, describing the agreement as “the best deal” the Labor leader could have made.

Donald Trump has lashed out at Keir Starmer, saying he made a big mistake in the Chagos Islands deal.

This is another failure by the US president, who previously supported the agreement.

Here’s a timeline of his administration’s U-turns:

Trump says Chagos Islands talks will “turn out very well”

In February 2025, Trump stated that he would be ready to support the deal, saying: “They’re talking about a very long-term, strong contract, they’re talking about a very strong contract, actually about 140 years.”

“That’s a long time, and I think we’ll agree with your country.”

Speaking alongside Starmer in the Oval Office, he said: “We’re going to have some discussions about that very soon and I have a feeling it’s going to work out very well.”

Trump ‘welcomed’ the deal

Following the agreement’s announcement in May, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: “President Trump, along with other allies, welcomed the agreement because they see the strategic importance of this base and we cannot cede land to others who want to harm us.”

“After extensive interagency review, the Trump Administration determined that this agreement ensures the long-term, stable and effective operation of the joint US-UK military facility in Diego Garcia.”

Trump’s branding of Chagos Islands deal ‘an act of great stupidity’

In January, Trump launched an attack on Starmer, saying: “The UK giving away hugely important land is an act of HUGE stupidity and one in a very long line of National Security reasons why Greenland should be bought.”

Trump says deal is best deal Starmer could get

In February, Trump backtracked again and signaled support for the deal, saying it was “the best thing he could do.”

In a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump said: “I understand that the deal Prime Minister Starmer made is, in many people’s opinion, the best deal he could have made.”

US State Department “supports” Chagos agreement

The US State Department said in a statement on Tuesday that it “supports the United Kingdom’s decision to continue its agreement with Mauritius on the Chagos archipelago.”

Donald Trump’s opposition to Keir Starmer’s Chagos Islands deal is a “complete humiliation” for the prime minister, the shadow foreign secretary has said.

Dame Priti Patel said: “President Trump has once again publicly berated Keir Starmer and his Government for the ill-judged, unnecessary and expensive Chagos Capitulation. “This is an absolute humiliation for Starmer.

“It’s time for Starmer to finally see sense and cancel this terrible deal altogether. Giving up Britain’s sovereign territory to an ally of China and paying for the privilege is irresponsible and reckless and clearly undermines our relationship with our most important ally.”

“As Starmer, Labor and their left-wing lawyer friends threaten to undermine our security and defence, the Conservatives will continue to fight against the Chagos Surrender for as long as it takes.”

Last year Sir Keir reached an agreement to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius while retaining control of the UK-US military base on the island of Diego Garcia.

In return, England was promised a 99-year lease for the base for an average annual fee of £101 million at current prices. The government estimates this will mean a total cost of £3.4bn.

These islands are currently administered by the United Kingdom as the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) and have been administered in some form since 1814. In 1965, the United Kingdom and the United States formally separated the islands from Mauritius, creating a separate colony, for the purpose of common defence, and soon after forcibly removed the indigenous Chagossians.

Mauritius will be free to arrange for the resettlement of Chagossians to all islands in the archipelago, on terms, with the exception of Diego Garcia.

Analysis by The Independent’s White House Correspondent Andrew Feinberg:

It’s unclear what triggered the latest exchange regarding Mr. Trump’s Chagos deal and plans to lease back Diego Garcia, but the deal had been the subject of much transatlantic trouble even before the president’s victory over Kamala Harris in 2024.

In the months before American voters chose to return Mr Trump to power after four years of political exile following his 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden, legal experts siding with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage drafted advice for Mr Trump to break the deal if given the chance.

But Mr Trump signaled his approval of the deal at an Oval Office meeting with Mr Starmer last February, where he said he had “a feeling it would work out very well” and thought he would be “inclined to comply” with it despite fierce lobbying against it by Mr Farage and others.

In the year since then, he’s gone awry a few times; Most recently today he claimed to oppose the Chagos handover while encouraging the UK to “remain strong in the face of Wokeism and other challenges put before them”.

White House officials are not saying what led to the president’s latest change of heart, but his calls for “wokeness” are a strong indication that he now views the transfer to an African government as something akin to the reparations that many American progressives say are owed to the descendants of slaves.

No. 10 statements, which rely on invoking international law to justify the deal, are also likely to fail for Mr. Trump, who spent much of his first year in office pressing the United States to annex Greenland, the sovereign territory of NATO ally Denmark.

Donald Trump rejected the Chagos Islands agreement in January after previously supporting the agreement.

He then backed the deal again in February and backed down again on Wednesday.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith may have been involved in Donald Trump’s U-turn on the Chagos Islands deal after lobbying the Trump administration on the issue last week.

Sky News said the former Conservative Party leader is understood to have met with key figures from the White House, the national security council and the war and state ministries.

In a post on social media, he said: “President Trump is absolutely right to tell Starmer to stop the terrible mess. We reached an agreement with Mauritius.

“POTUS He understands how strategically important the air base at Diego Garcia is. This is a bad deal that will cost UK taxpayers £34.7bn.

Nigel Farage has backed Donald Trump’s call for Keir Starmer to cancel the Chagos Islands deal, which the US president said was a “big mistake”.

“Keir Starmer risks alienating our most important ally by handing over the Chagos Islands, the worst deal in British history,” the reform leader said.

“President Trump is right to say the Prime Minister has made a big mistake. Starmer should cancel this deal.”

Keir Starmer had previously accused Donald Trump of backing out of the Chagos Islands agreement in order to pressure the prime minister over his stance on Greenland.

Donald Trump, who had been trying to annex the territory, changed his mind about the deal last month and said it was “an act of great stupidity.”

Speaking at PMQs last month, Starmer said: “President Trump used different words about Chagos yesterday than the previous words of welcome and support he said when I met him at the White House.

“Yesterday he used these words to pressure me and Britain about my values ​​and principles for the future of Greenland.

“He wants me to give up my position and I’m not going to do that.”