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A former MP has planted the Chagossian flag on a remote island beach in a dramatic act of defiance against Sir Keir Starmer’s “surrender deal”. Adam Holloway en ex-British Army officer who served as a Captain in the Grenadier Guards, sailed through a British-imposed exclusion zone to land on Île du Coin on Monday alongside a group of Chagos Islanders determined to establish a settlement there.

The extraordinary scenes were captured on video as First Minister of the Chagossian government-in-exile, Misley Mandarin, held aloft a Union Flag and shouted “God save the King!” Mr Holloway personally helped the four-man group raise funds for the mission and worked on mapping the route they would take.

He remains on the island and intends to stay to help build a settlement intended to allow 322 people born there to return before they die. He said: “We’ve done this because Britain is about to make a catastrophically stupid mistake. We are now in a world of great power play. The base at Diego Garcia is absolutely critical to the security of the West.”

Mr Holloway, a former Tory MP who switched to Reform after leaving Parliament, is fierce critic of Sir Keir’s Chagos deal and branded it “crazy”. He said it was wrong to hand billions “to corrupt politicians in Mauritius rather than paying for our own defence.” First Minister Mandarin declared: “We are British Chagossians. We are from this island. And we are here to stay.”

The Conservatives have welcomed the extraordinary landing, with Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel accusing Sir Keir of betraying Britain. Dame Priti said: “The Prime Minister is betraying our country, our taxpayers and the Chagossian people with his Chagos Surrender.”

She warned Sir Keir’s decision to hand the islands to a country allied with China was putting Chagossians at risk of repression.

Dame Priti added: “Chagossians, many of whom have no desire to see the islands handed over to an ally of China, are now taking matters into their own hands. Labour’s deal, cooked up by Peter Mandelson and Jonathan Powell, should be binned. The Conservatives will continue to fight it every step of the way.”

The Chagos Islands were handed to Mauritius under a controversial deal agreed by Sir Keir’s Government, with Britain agreeing to pay billions for the privilege. Critics say the deal hands a vital military base close to a known Chinese ally, raising serious national security concerns.

The population of the Chagos Islands was controversially evicted by Britain more than half a century ago to make way for the Diego Garcia military base, which is jointly operated with the United States. Many Chagossians have spent decades campaigning for the right to return to their homeland, and some have never given up hope of resettling the islands.

Mr Holloway’s dramatic intervention puts further pressure on Sir Keir to rethink a deal already under sustained attack from Conservatives, defence experts and Chagossians themselves. The Foreign Office was approached for comment.