𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

President Trump is wrong about Greenland. I’ve been very clear that the future of Greenland should be decided by the people of Greenland and Denmark. However, the President is dead right about Keir Starmer’s Chagos Islands surrender. Yesterday Trump wrote that handing over the Islands was an act of “total weakness” and “great stupidity”. I couldn’t agree more. In fact, Keir Starmer’s decision is not just an act of stupidity – and one that is costing British taxpayers £35 billion – but also an act of complete self-sabotage.

The Chagos Islands are one of the UK’s most strategically important overseas assets. They provide a stronghold in the Indian Ocean and host vital military bases that we and our allies rely upon. We know that the Labour Government’s claim to have been forced into surrendering the islands is completely bogus. There was never any realistic risk of an international court compelling the UK to hand them over.

Yes, the Conservatives began the talks. But we also walked away from them when we saw the terms that Mauritius was demanding. We would never have compromised our national security in this way.

But Starmer and his team came into office with different priorities. They want to strut around on the world stage. They want to go to dinner parties and tell their leftie lawyer friends about how they’re reversing the ills of colonialism.

It’s telling that the annual payments Labour have agreed to hand over to Mauritius even talk about “decolonisation” and “the wrongs of the past”.

The fact is that Keir Starmer and his Labour Government are completely out of their depth in the new international order. They are weak in a world that increasingly cares only about strength.

Mauritius and their Chinese allies don’t care a jot about Britain being nice. They want control of the islands because it serves their strategic interests.

The night before President Trump’s explosive statement, I chatted about the Chagos giveaway with the US Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson, and we agreed on the importance of always acting in the national interest.

Britain’s allies, such as America, are rightly asking what we are bringing to the table in a competitive world. Under Labour, the answer is weakness and confusion.

Just look at their decision yesterday to approve a new Chinese Super Embassy in London.

Our allies have made it very clear they’re uncomfortable with the prospect of granting China an enormous Spy Hub near the City of London. But Starmer seems more interested in cosying up to Beijing instead.

And what message does it send to both our allies and our enemies that despite talking tough on defence, Keir Starmer still hasn’t told us when he plans to ensure Britain spends 3 per cent of GDP on defence?

The first duty of any government is to keep its people safe. By dithering and delaying on defence spending, and kowtowing to China and its allies, Starmer and his team are doing the exact opposite.

It’s time for him to perform one of his famous u-turns and change course on Chagos. The Conservatives have defeated the Government again and again in Parliament on their Chagos surrender and the battle is not over yet.

I will always put the British national interest first.