Nigel Farage is planning to raise Labour’s disastrous Chagos Islands decision with Donald Trump, it has emerged.
The Reform UK leader will “have the ear” of the White House, his colleague Zia Yusuf said.
Fears are already intensifying that the Mauritian government is moving to the Left after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer agreed to hand over the islands.
And Reform UK chairman Mr Yusuf claimed at a rally in Hackney, London, that the Chagossian campaign would reach the White House.
Mr Yusuf suggested that Mr Farage, a friend of the incoming US president, would “have the ear” of Mr Trump to advocate for the islanders’ cause.
The Clacton MP has already begun laying groundwork for such discussions, said Mr Yusuf. “I have spoken to people very closely associated with him about the Chagos situation and about the worry that the Mauritian government is moving further to the Left,” he added.
In a statement to Parliament, Foreign Secretary David Lammy defended the disastrous Chagos Islands decision by claiming a key military base could have been abandoned.
Mr Lammy said the UK was facing a choice of “abandoning” the joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia “or breaking international law”.
Speaking on GB News, shadow foreign minister Wendy Morton said: “It’s a huge deal because this is about UK sovereignty and the people today, this evening, we’ve been hearing them really reiterate their anger, their frustration, and it just feels that like they’ve been ignored.
“Where is the consultation? And if we really, truly believe in the right of self-determination, which I do, why haven’t they been listened to?
“This Labour Government, it felt like they snuck this decision out when Parliament was in recess. There’s very little time, no time, actually, to really ask questions, no opportunity to hold them to account.
“There are people here this evening, from Crawley, from Manchester, from around the country, and this is the strength of feeling.
“But if this is what this government is going to do to the British Indian Ocean Territories, what does that mean for other overseas territories?
“I’ve seen no members of the Labour Government here this evening at all.”
The controversial Chagos agreement will cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of pounds and will mean the UK will be paying Mauritius until as late as 2164 – much longer than the 99 years that have been made public.
The joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia is used by American forces to support military campaigns in the Middle East – and is seen as “essential” to countering China in the Indo-Pacific.
As MPs shouted “not true”, Mr Lammy told Parliament: “A binding judgment against the UK seemed inevitable. It was just a matter of time before our only choices would have been abandoning the base altogether or breaking international law.
“Without surety of tenure, no bases can operate effectively, nor truly deter our enemies.
“It impacted on our relationship with the United States, who neither wanted nor welcomed the legal uncertainty and strongly encouraged us to strike a deal.
“We have full Mauritian backing for robust security arrangements, including preventing foreign armed forces from accessing or establishing themselves on the outer islands.
“The base’s long-term future is therefore more secure under this agreement than without it.
“If this were not the case, I doubt the White House, State Department or Pentagon would have praised the deal.”
There are 47 Chinese development finance initiatives in Mauritius and trade between the two nations is growing.
But Mr Lammy clashed with furious Tory MPs over who was responsible for the deal, with Labour claiming negotiations began under the Conservatives.
