UK defends Chagos Islands deal after Trump calls handover ‘act of great stupidity’

The UK government has defended a deal to give the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and lease back a key military base, after criticism from US President Donald Trump over its handling.

In a post on social media, Trump called the move an “act of massive stupidity” and “complete weakness,” months after he and senior US officials supported it.

In response, the UK government said it would “never compromise our national security”, while the Prime Minister’s official spokesman insisted the US still supported the move.

The UK signed a £3.4 billion ($4.6 billion) agreement in May, under which it will retain control. A British-American military base on the largest of the islands, Diego Garcia.

In a post on his platform Truth Social on Tuesday morning, Trump said: “Shockingly, our ‘wonderful’ NATO ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give up the island of Diego Garcia, site of a vital US military base, to Mauritius, and to do so for absolutely no reason.”

He added: “There is no doubt that China and Russia noticed this act, which is completely weak.”

He added: “It is extremely stupid for the UK to cede very important territory, and is another in a very long line of national security reasons to acquire Greenland.”

In response, the prime minister’s official spokesman said the United States supports the agreement and “the president openly acknowledged its strength last year.”

He added that it also has the support of the UK’s Five Eyes allies, whose other members – besides the UK and the US – are Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Asked if he could say categorically that the Chagos Agreement would go ahead, even though it was still going through parliament, the spokesman said: “Yes. Conclusively, our position has not changed.”

Earlier, a UK government spokesperson said it acted “because the base at Diego Garcia was under threat after court decisions undermined our position and would have prevented it from operating as intended in the future.”

They added that the agreement secured the operations of the joint US-British military base “for generations, with strong provisions to keep its unique capabilities intact and keep our adversaries at bay,” and noted that the agreement had been welcomed by allies including the United States.

British Foreign Secretary Stephen Doughty later said the government would “of course hold discussions with the government”. [Trump] The administration in the coming days will remind them of the strength of this agreement and how to secure the base.”

Mauritius Attorney General Gavin Glover said he still expected the agreement to go ahead.

He said in a statement that it was “important to remember” that the agreement “was negotiated, concluded and signed exclusively between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Mauritius.”

He added: “The sovereignty of the Republic of Mauritius over the Chagos Archipelago is already unequivocally recognized under international law and should no longer be a matter of debate.”

The agreement follows a long-running dispute between the UK and Mauritius – a former British colony – over sovereignty over the Chagos Islands.

The Chagos Islands were separated from Mauritius in 1965, when Mauritius was still a British colony. Britain bought the islands for £3 million, but Mauritius said it was illegally forced to give them up as part of a deal to gain independence.

Under the deal agreed in May last year, the UK will hand over sovereignty over the islands to Mauritius, while retaining control of the military base at Diego Garcia.

It is scheduled to lease back Diego Garcia for 99 years, at an average cost of £101 million per year. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said this was necessary to protect the base from “malign influence”.

Before signing the agreement, the UK offered Trump veto power, due to its implications for US security.

The president’s allies had criticized the plan, but during a Meeting with Sir Keir in the Oval Office Last February, Trump said: “I think we would be inclined to move forward with your country.”

After signing the agreement in May, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement: Washington welcomed the agreement.

He said it ensured “the long-term, stable and efficient operation of the joint US-British military facility at Diego Garcia”, which he described as “an important asset for regional and global security”.

Rubio added, “President Trump expressed his support for this huge achievement during his meeting with Prime Minister Starmer at the White House.”

Government draft law The implementation of the agreement between the governments of the United Kingdom and Mauritius is currently in its final stages.

Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch said on Tuesday in a Channel X post that the prime minister now has an “opportunity to change course on Chagos”.

“Paying for the surrender of the Chagos Islands is not just an act of stupidity, it is complete self-sabotage,” she said.

“Thank God Trump vetoed the surrender of the Chagos Islands,” UK reform leader Nigel Farage, who has long criticized the agreement, said in a post on the X website.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said Trump’s comments showed Sir Keir’s approach to the US president had “failed”.

“The Chagos deal was touted as proof that the government could work with him, and now it is falling apart,” Davey said in a post on X.

“It’s time for the government to stand up to Trump; appeasing a bully never works.”

Labor MP and chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Emily Thornberry, told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that while the UK should take Trump “seriously”, it should not take his comments “literally”.

She called his comments on Tuesday an example of “presidential trolling,” saying she was “all for keeping calm and trying to look the other way.”

Two British Chagossian women born in Diego Garcia – Bernadette Dugassy and Bertrice Pompei – want the right to return to their place of birth and say they have been left out of discussions about the deal.

Pompey told the BBC that she considered the US President’s criticism of the agreement a “good thing” but that they were “just words.”

“I want the deal to stop, not that,” Dugassi said via WhatsApp [see] money [given] To the Government of Mauritius.”

She said Chagossians must be allowed to “sit at the table and decide our future.”

Additional reporting by Alice Cady