An aide to Donald Trump has slammed the Government’s decision to give up the Chagos Islands as “calamitous”.
Robert Wilkie, who is leading the US president’s transition team in the Department of Defence, warned the decision threatens Britain’s special relationship with the US.
He said: “I think it was a calamitous decision, I don’t think there was much thought put into it. It was haphazard and not thinking about the long term.”
Mr Wilkie told how he had seen the instructions received by those coming in and said he did not believe much thought had been put into the deal and its long-term implications.
He warned that although deterrence was stronger with Britain in the picture and that Mr Trump believes the decision is “something that could impinge on that special relationship”.
Sir Keir Starmer had hoped to push the Chagos deal through before Mr Trump took office on Monday.
The Prime Minister hopes to hold talks with Mr Trump in Washington within weeks as the “special relationship” faces strain, with high-profile Labour figures having expressed critical opinions about Mr Trump in the past.
Mr Trump is weighing up whether to approve the appointment of Lord Mandelson as the UK’s new ambassador in Washington, the fate of the Chagos Islands deal and the extent to which tariffs will hit Britain.
He was already feted with a grand state visit to the UK, hosted by the Queen in 2019.
Precedent for second-term US presidents who have already made a state visit is usually tea or lunch with the monarch at Windsor Castle, as was the case for George W Bush and Barack Obama.
But nothing should be ruled out when it comes to Mr Trump, who is first ever US president to be a convicted felon in the wake of his New York hush money trial.
