Britain’s Chagos disposal looks like an idea out of time

Of all the surprises thrown up by Donald Trump’s second term, among the most curious has been his courteous relationship with Sir Keir Starmer, Britain’s stiff, left-wing prime minister.

That changed on January 20th. In a post on Truth Social Mr Trump belatedly lacerated Britain’s decision in May 2025 to cede sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, to Mauritius. (Diego Garcia, a British-American base, will be retained on an initial 99-year lease.) “Shockingly, our ‘brilliant’ NATO Ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital U.S. Military Base, to Mauritius, and to do so FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER,” the president wrote.

The lease deal undermines Mr Trump’s argument that he needs to own Greenland in order to have a reliable base. Earlier in the week Sir Keir had criticised Mr Trump’s ambitions. In a rare rebuke, he called the tariff threats over the dispute “completely wrong”. That, it seemed, had also played on Mr Trump’s mind. “The UK giving away extremely important land is an act of GREAT STUPIDITY, and is another in a very long line of National Security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired.”

The decision of Sir Keir’s government to dispose of the Chagos Islands, motivated by worthy intentions, looks increasingly out of time—better suited to the 1990s in which much of the Labour Party gives the impression it would rather be governing.

Relic one: a reverence for international law. The decision had been prompted by an advisory ruling by the International Court of Justice, which said Britain had been wrong to cleave off the islands from Mauritius in 1965 as it prepared to grant its former colony independence. Such a concern for international law is out of fashion, at least with Mr Trump’s administration.

Relic two: the hope of consistency from the American administration. The White House had welcomed the deal, gushing about Sir Keir’s “monumental achievement” that secured the future of the base.

Relic three: expecting consistency from the British opposition. The bulk of the negotiations were held under the last Conservative government. That has not stopped Kemi Badenoch, the current leader, from denouncing the deal.

A bill to ratify it is in its final stages in Parliament. It now faces a bumpier time. ■