Donald Trump is ‘beginning to smell a rat’ with Keir Starmer’s ‘dodgy’ Diego Garcia deal, top Tory warns

The US President lashed out at the PM’s plan to hand Diego Garcia over to Mauritius.

Taking to Truth Social, Mr Trump declared Sir Keir’s Chagos Islands deal is a “big mistake”, ordering the PM to “not give away Diego Garcia”.

Discussing the latest delay in the Chagos deal, a spokesman for the Friends of the British Overseas Territories Robert Midgley told host Martin Daubney of a piece of legislation which could “exempt the Chagos Islands” from being given away.

Mr Midgley explained: “So on the 22nd of May 2025, the Defence Secretary made a statement and said this deal has to be done because of an imminent ruling from a court, from something called the International Convention of the Laws of the Sea, so that was the reason on the basis that the deal had to be done.

“And since then, MPs have been writing a series of ministerial questions to specialist ministers to ask them more about Article 298, a defence mechanism that exempts military bases, military territories from any sort of sovereignty dispute. So this is huge, and this could exempt the whole of the Chagos Islands from being handed over by Mauritius.”

Having received confirmation that Article 298 is “active”, Conservative MP Sir John Hayes declared there is a “clear contradiction” in the current legislation surrounding the Chagos deal.

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He told GB News: “We’ve written to the Speaker to send the contradiction between what was said on the 22nd of May by the minister and his answer to my question. So essentially, they said, this has to be done, if we don’t do this we will be sanctioned.

“They then say to me in the most recent answer to my question, the circumstances remain unchanged, we’re still part of this treaty, and our position is unchanged from 2003 and 2020.”

Suggesting Mr Trump’s latest criticism of the deal means he is “beginning to smell a rat”, Sir John said: “If this is unchanged, why are we in imminent difficulties and why do we have to do this dodgy deal with Mauritius?

“It now also transpires that the Americans are beginning to smell a rat, and yet the Government throughout have said we’re doing this with American support. It’s not clear, is it?”

Martin then expressed his support for de-facto Chagossian First Minister Misley Mandarin, who has travelled to the islands to create a permanent settlement there in protest of the deal but has since been threatened with removal by the British authorities.

As Martin suggested the “British Army evicting black men from their indigenous homeland” would be “utterly grotesque”, Mr Midgley was quick to agree.

He responded: “It would be absolutely grotesque. But the point we’re trying to make here, Martin, is Sir John, Sir Edward Lee and Sir Julian Lewis have written a letter to the Speaker to say there’s a contradiction, and Parliament has possibly been misled.

“So this is a huge moment for the Speaker to now figure out what’s going on with the Bill and whether it should be withdrawn.”

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Mr Mandarin told Nigel Farage on GB News the British authorities will have to “kill” him before he is removed from the territory in the Indian Ocean.

This comes after Mr Mandarin was served a removal order stating he has to leave the Chagos Islands, otherwise he faces three years imprisonment or a £3,000 fine.

He told People’s Channel when asked if he would comply with the removal order: “They have to walk over my body, drag me from the beach, put me on the boat – even kill me.

“I want to stay, this is my homeland, my homeland is a British territory. I’m British and I’m staying.”