Trump slates Keir Starmer over Chagos Islands lease deal – in third U-turn on UK deal with Mauritius

Donald Trump has publicly lambasted prime minister Sir Keir Starmer over his plan to give up the Chagos Islands – in yet another U-turn by the US president over the issue, just one day after backing it.

Mr Trump warned the UK leader he was “making a big mistake by entering [into] a 100-year lease” with Mauritius over the islands, which are home to a joint US-UK military base.

“Prime minister Starmer should not lose control, for any reason, of Diego Garcia, by entering a tenuous, at best, 100 Year lease,” the president wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“This land should not be taken away from the UK and, if it is allowed to be, it will be a blight on our Great Ally. We will always be ready, willing, and able to fight for the UK, but they have to remain strong in the face of wokeism.”

open image in gallery

He said he had been telling Sir Keir that “leases are no good when it comes to countries”.

It was a dramatic change of stance, just hours after the US government had announced its support for the UK government’s agreement.

Ministers secured US backing for the Chagos deal last year, and the president even told Sir Keir he had “a feeling it’s going to work out very well”.

But the US president’s first U-turn came last month, when he accused Sir Keir of “great stupidity” for ceding control of the islands and linking the agreement to his desire to annex Greenland for the US despite the objections of Denmark and the rest of Nato.

He then reversed course earlier this month by describing the agreement as “the best” the Labour leader could strike. Then on Tuesday, the US government gave its official backing to the UK’s plan.

Sir Keir plans to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, in a deal the UK government says is necessary to secure the future of the crucial UK-US Diego Garcia military base, retaining control of the island with a 99-year lease to Mauritius.

Mr Trump warned that if Iran did not agree to limit its nuclear programme, it could attack the UK, and the US would need the airbase to “eradicate” such an assault.

open image in gallery

He posted: “Should Iran decide not to make a deal, it may be necessary for the United States to use Diego Garcia, and the Airfield located in Fairford, in order to eradicate a potential attack by a highly unstable and dangerous regime — an attack that would potentially be made on the United Kingdom, as well as other friendly countries.”

US and Iranian officials are locked in talks in Geneva over the country’s nuclear build-up.

The US leader also questioned the Chagossian people’s claim to their island.

He wrote: “Our relationship with the United Kingdom is a strong and powerful one, and it has been for many years, but prime minister Starmer is losing control of this important Island by claims of entities never known of before. In our opinion, they are fictitious in nature.”

Asked whether the president's latest Truth Social missive represented an official shift in American policy, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the post "should be taken as the policy of the Trump administration”.

“It's coming straight from the horse’s mouth,” she said. “When you see it on Truth Social, you know it's directly from President Trump.”

The government says the future of the Diego Garcia base has been threatened by recent international court decisions.