𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

In one post, he described the Chagos deal as an “act of GREAT STUPIDITY” – an about-turn of his previous attitude to the decision, which he supported last year. But a UK Government spokesman said: “The UK will never compromise on our national security. We acted because the base on Diego Garcia was under threat after court decisions undermined our position and would have prevented it operating as intended in future.

“This deal secures the operations of the joint US-UK base on Diego Garcia for generations, with robust provisions for keeping its unique capabilities intact and our adversaries out.

“It has been publicly welcomed by the US, Australia and all other Five Eyes allies, as well as key international partners including India, Japan and South Korea.”

The US president, who is travelling to Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday for the World Economic Forum, made the claim as he ramped up his rhetoric on acquiring the Arctic territory.

Mr Trump fired off a flurry of posts on his Truth Social platform overnight on Tuesday about taking over Greenland, which is a territory of America’s NATO ally, the Kingdom of Denmark.

Opposition parties welcomed Mr Trump’s intervention.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: “Thank goodness Trump has vetoed the surrender of the Chagos Islands.”

Meanwhile, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Mr Trump was right to describe ceding the Chagos Islands as an “act of great stupidity”.