It was back in October that word first broke of British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s intention to turn over the Chagos Island chain to the country of Mauritius. This impacts United States security directly, as our great ‘unsinkable aircraft carrier’ in the Indian Ocean, Diego Garcia, sits in the middle of the Chagos Islands.
This was a stunning move that the British were contemplating, for God knows what reason other than misplaced colonial guilt, Mauritian avariciousness, and general British squeamishness over threats by international courts.
This is the most fundamental legal problem with the Chagos deal.
No-one has ever – at any point – been able to set out by what mechanism the advisory opinion would ‘become a legally binding judgement.’
And so the entire rationale falls. pic.twitter.com/UbMvNQ1PcG
— Iain Mansfield (@IGMansfield) May 23, 2025
Everyone thought that Donald Trump’s election would put the kibosh on the deal – surely he would not allow such a potential disaster of a land swap to go forward, but the president-to-be was surprisingly sanguine about the whole thing.
Even without a strong US voice against the proposal, there has been enough of a hue and cry against it in the UK to keep it stymied this entire time – over eight months.
Out of nowhere, there was a sudden rush to get it all done and finalized yesterday.
A valiant group of opponents got word there was going to be a ‘hand it over’ signing ceremony and they rushed into court to try to stop it, but to no avail.
From a lawyer friend who has been involved in the legal case against the Starmer Chagos deal….he has allowed me to share this. pic.twitter.com/Q1NfxvjPwf
— James Melville 🚜 (@JamesMelville) May 23, 2025
Once Starmer had signed the paperwork, there was no chance of appeal against a foreign government…and the Chagos were gone.
No government should be allowed to give away British territory without a referendum..
we never ever consented to this betrayal ….,— Joe- Lincolnshire …. (@englandislost) May 22, 2025
Not only has Starmer absolutely incensed security hawks who are crazy with rage at the stupidity of the move in such a dangerous part of the world, he has people blowing gaskets over the terms of the agreements once they came to light.
They are not at all what Starmer had explained back in October when he first broached the subject to a nation already on its knees financially.
Besides an upfront payout, Starmer is giving Mauritius £101m a year to lease back Diego Garcia for ninety-nine years.
And no one bothered to ask the native Chagos Islanders what they thought about being handed over to the Chinese-friendly Mauritians as subjects.
Keir Starmer has signed a deal to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and lease back a key military base for £101m a year (for 99 years) cost to the UK taxpayer. And the 4,200 citizens of Chagos weren’t even given a say. Shameful. pic.twitter.com/IEeRdof4ak
— James Melville 🚜 (@JamesMelville) May 23, 2025
WE ARE CHAGOSSIANS AND WE ARE BRITISH
‘We need to remove Keir Starmer. He brings shame on the UK’
WATCH: A deeply emotional, passionate, and understandably angry response from the Chagossians to Keir Starmer’s treacherous decision to give away the Chagos Islands.
Keir Starmer should be utterly ashamed of himself. pic.twitter.com/brFYHbP8ZL
— Lee Harris (@addicted2newz) May 22, 2025
What a betrayal.
Not to mention, that’s a lot of cha-ching for something you already owned. But it’s not the correct figure, either, according to independent analysis, and the British are so furious, Starmer could well be facing an investigation for fudging the numbers.
Keir Starmer reported to watchdog for ‘lying to public’ about true cost of Chagos ‘surrender’
That £3.4B over the course of the lease works out to £30-43B when everyone else does the math.
Sir Keir Starmer could face an investigation by Britain’s statistics watchdog over “lying to the public” about the true cost of “surrendering” the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
Starmer has been reported to the UK Statistics Authority by furious Tories – who have urged its chairman Sir Robert Chote to properly examine the Prime Minister’s data.
He had claimed the deal would cost £101million every year for 99 years, meaning the “net present value of payments” under the treaty will stand at £3.4billion.
…But with rising inflation and additional schemes to fund “development projects” in Mauritius in mind, the true cost of the deal will reportedly surpass £30billion.
As a result, the Tories have accused Starmer of a “misuse of statistics” and a “statistical sleight of hand to hide the true cost to taxpayers of this surrender deal”.
“Independent analysis suggests that, once a conservative rate of inflation is accounted for, the true cost of the deal is likely to be in excess of £30billion,” Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge blasted.
Now, remember, the Chinese already have a firm foothold on Mauritius itself. Part of the concern with this ‘deal’ was that once the islands became part of Mauritius, that country could allow the Chinese to build themselves a schweet little naval base anywhere outside of our joint base they wanted.
In other developments along those lines, a sharp-eyed treaty reader found something interesting in the fine-print:
Wait, WHAT?! It gets worse…
In the small print of this ludicrous Chagos surrender deal, Keir Starmer has agreed to inform Mauritius of any military action that launches from Diego Garcia.
Keir Starmer has just made us all less safe.
This is absolutely INSANE! pic.twitter.com/97tYMD53xk
— Lee Harris (@addicted2newz) May 22, 2025
Aw, that’s nuthin’. Did I mention the Russians?
Well. How about the Russians?
BREAKING – Terms of a secret new ‘marine research’ deal just signed between Mauritius and Russia ignites further alarm over Labour’s naive Chagos surrender deal (via @PritiPatel) https://t.co/22vDXKvHUj pic.twitter.com/a2j94A4ftN
— Joe Rich (@joerichlaw) May 23, 2025
It wouldn’t surprise me if the Mauritians weren’t in bed with the Gott danged Iranians and North Koreans at this point, or would be if the North Koreans could keep a boat upright in the water.
But this is where it stands right this minute.
Keir Starmer is one of the biggest sneks ever on the international stage, and we can’t afford to play ball.
Let them settle their affairs about the rest of it.
Reform says they’ll shred the papers if they win, but we don’t have time for that.
I have yet to see any reaction from the States, but I’m about all up for just taking the base at this point.
Cover us – me and major dad are going in.
