Nigel Farage urges Donald Trump to intervene on UK's deal to hand over Chagos Islands to China-friendly Mauritius

Keir Starmer could face his first foreign policy clash with Donald Trump over the UK’s controversial surrender of the Chagos Islands. The Reform UK leader told the Mail: ‘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 said the danger is that the deal agreed by Labour in October – which hands control over the Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius but allows the US and UK to continue operating the military base on its largest atoll Diego Garcia for at least 99 years – could unravel as Chinese influence grows on Mauritius. Nigel Farage is lobbying his political ally Mr Trump to intervene and so force the UK to think again Former US President Donald Trump speaks during an event at the Mar-a-Lago Club April 4, 2023 in West Palm Beach, Florida Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos archipelago and site of a major United States military base in the middle of the Indian Ocean leased from Britain The British Indian Ocean Territory or Chagos Islands is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom situated in the Indian Ocean, halfway between Africa and Indonesia The Prime Minister will come under fresh pressure to cancel the proposed handover of the British overseas territory to Mauritius ‘Leasehold agreements sound wonderful but look at what happened with Hong Kong,’ said Mr Farage. A former Foreign Office source told the Mail: ‘I would be highly surprised if Trump didn’t at least try and put a stop to the deal.’ Allies of the new president slammed the decision last month to hand the British Indian Ocean Territory over to Mauritius, which is 1,300 miles from the archipelago The insider said it would be an ‘extraordinary U-turn’ if Labour were to abandon the deal, adding: ‘Ultimately if Trump really wants it to happen, they have ways of turning the screws on the government.