Trump’s Chagos dig poses massive strategic question for Starmer

Just yesterday, the prime minister floated the idea of ​​having a “calm discussion” with the United States.

He wakes up this morning to President Trump reviving the political Catherine wheel: whirling, unpredictable, colorful, and evoking reactions from every angle.

From every angle, including the UK aspect, and especially Sir Keir Starmer.

This moment, like never before, raises a huge strategic question for Sir Keir: What to do now?

He courted Donald Trump and built his foreign policy on being seen as a reliable, trustworthy ally of the president; He will not speak out publicly about himself.

After an extraordinarily difficult start for his government at home, Sir Keir’s relationship with the US president was seen by many as an unlikely success story.

Trump spoke very warmly of the prime minister in public, and Downing Street believed he had a stronger relationship with the White House than many European allies, which was to Britain’s benefit.

The government’s agreement on the president’s tariffs last year was talked about as a case study in the advantages of their relationship.

But now this. First Greenland, now the Chagos Islands.

The government defends the agreement to hand over the islands to Mauritius. announced last yearFollowing President Trump’s outrage on social media about this issue.

Senior sources make it clear that there are very good reasons for the agreement, noting that it has been publicly welcomed by the United Kingdom as well as the United States and Australia, two countries that are part of the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence alliance.

Ministers’ long-standing argument has been that legal challenges to the validity of the UK’s claim to the Chagos Islands threaten the viability of the key military base at Diego Garcia, valued by both the UK and the US.

They say their agreement secures the long-term future of the base.

It’s been almost a year since the president was first asked publicly for his opinion on the deal.

I remember; There I was, in the Oval Office of the White House.

The group of reporters suspected that the president might be skeptical about this. But we were wrong. He seemed supportive when we asked.

A few months later, when the deal was officially made last May, welcomed by the USA.

But now we see this huge change of heart expressed in a characteristic attack of capital letters.

And that may not be the end of it, even this week.

A decision on a new Chinese embassy in London, long coveted by Beijing and which critics have long said would be a major mistake and security risk, is imminent.

I know from my conversations that there are deep reservations in Washington about the UK’s receptivity to China.

Could the approval of a new embassy just weeks before the prime minister visit China be the next trigger for presidential outrage?

This seems entirely possible right now.