𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Sir Keir Starmer came under Donald Trump’s fire in a fresh attack over the the UK’s Chagos Islands deal. This came a day after his administration said he supported it.

In a post on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday night, the US president said the deal to hand sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius was “a big mistake” due to the presence of a joint UK-US military base.

The plans would see the UK lease back the base on Diego Garcia, but Mr Trump described this arrangement as “tenuous” and “no good”. Claiming the base could be vital for a US strike against Iran, and warning that Tehran could attack the UK, Mr Trump urged Sir Keir: “DO NOT GIVE AWAY DIEGO GARCIA!”

He added: “Our relationship with the United Kingdom is a strong and powerful one, and it has been for many years, but Prime Minister Starmer is losing control of this important Island by claims of entities never known of before.”

His comments came a day after the US State Department said it supported the deal that would return the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius. But it also comes after former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, a vocal critic of the Chagos deal, returned from a trip to Washington where he discussed the plans with members of the Trump administration.

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