The gift of the Chagos islands to Mauritius was in the worst tradition of the U.K. Foreign Office. They hear the demands of a foreign country. They see it would make life for them in that country easier if they agreed with them. They tell the Foreign Secretary it shows great diplomacy and world influence to accept the other government’s view. They explain it in terms of international law or international politics or some version of history that suits their case.
The Foreign Secretary is then meant to tell them that as skilled diplomats they need to push back on the other country’s view. They need to construct a U.K. case based on our national interest and sense of history. They need to set this out, as he will to Parliament, and to seek other international support where necessary. In some cases he should tell the officials there is no need to negotiate on the issue at all as we like the status quo.
David Lammy clearly did not grasp this need in this crucial case. He should have known the importance to the U.K. and US of the base on Diego Garcia and kept the freehold of that island. He should have pushed back on the legal arguments as these are international law subject to balance of political argument.
This came to light when Parliament is not in session with no prior statement or debate warning Parliament of a possible adverse conclusion to negotiations. This is a disgrace. The Opposition must demand a Statement and demand that any draft Treaty needs Parliamentary approval.
So will David Lammy now encourage the Prime Minister to give in in negotiations with the EU? Will he give in to Spain and allow Spanish/ EU officials to take over border control into Gibraltar?
Our country is not safe with this government. They want to give away territory and powers important to our national security. Both Chagos and Gibraltar are crucial military bases we need to control and look after.
When I was Single market Minister the Foreign Office and EU secretariat were always pressing for the U.K. to compromise to get a deal. It was important to be firm in identifying the numerous powers they wanted the U.K. to sacrifice that would not increase our exports but would further impair our ability to govern ourselves and to be flexible for our trade with the rest of the world.
October 4, 2024
Good morning.
They, and the likes of, Lammy especially, hate this country. They see it as racist (“I stand before you as a black man . . . “), colonial and injust. The giving away of the Chagos Islands is just the start. The likes of Spain and Argentina must be licking their lips.
Weak and anti-British. That is the WHOLE of Parliament, the Establishment and the Civil Service.
October 4, 2024
Seems so, but is was surely a Tory agenda too under Cleverly, Shapps, Cameron, Hunt, Truss and Sunak was it not?
It seems that the excellent David Starkey (like JR) has accepted that Jenerick’s political volte-face is genuine and he can now be trusted. After Cameron, May, Boris, Sunak I have serious doubts on this. After all the man still wants to puch Net Zero & so he is either lying to get elected leader, or is a deluded damn fool. Where does Jenerick stand on the net harm lockdowns and huge net harm Covid Vaccines, the Chagos gift to China, the Chinese Covid lab origins? So will the MPs rig it so Kemi is ditched before the members get a say? Is so perhaps the 20 or so sensible Tory MPs should resign and go to Reform as should most of the members.
Starkey’s excellent new videos are worth watching, in one he suggests that the new leader should promise to scrap net zero and warn those profiting from the public purse with this scam that the funds will be confiscated. As the proceeds of crime perhaps? Sounds reasonable to me. The only question to ask of pro net zero people is are they religious, deluded morons or evil crooks on the make or perhaps both? Look at all the declared interest of those in parliament and on the climate committee. Why is declaring them sufficient. It seems Ed’s brother David has some such interests too.
They are:- The fall of England and How Conservatism can save our Country.
October 4, 2024
Starkey suggest a Great Repeal Act to undo the Supreme Court, the independence of the BoE, the Equalities Act and the European Convention.
I would also undo Blair’s botched and damaging devolution and to stop Welsh Children being forced to learn Welsh. Plus repeal Sunak appalling Windsor Accord and May’s moronic Net Zero Act nodded through after 90 minutes of “debate” by our very foolish or perhaps on the make MPs.
October 4, 2024
English kids do still have to waste time learning the many mad and totally irrational english spellings though, but better than Welsh a bronze age language as Starkey calls it. Spellings should evolve like language and improve.
October 4, 2024
“It seems that the excellent David Starkey (like JR) has accepted that Jenerick’s political volte-face is genuine and he can now be trusted. After Cameron, May, Boris, Sunak I have serious doubts on this.
LL,
I am of the same opinion as you. Starkey also seems to think support for Reform will decline in the future. I don’t think that will be the case either.
October 4, 2024
‘English kids do still have to waste time learning the many mad and totally irrational english spellings though, but better than Welsh a bronze age language as Starkey calls it. Spellings should evolve like language and improve.’
Starkey is often a pompous old windbag who loves the sound of his own voice. So no surprise that he was banished from the media. You can get away with statements in student seminars that won’t wash on TV. The ‘Rudest man on TV’took a step too far.
As for Welsh, it is still used in North Wales – and in Wetherspoons, not just Eisteddfods. It is part of Welsh culture. Starkey pays no attention to that, just as he slags of the French with ‘all bad ideas are French’ and his other tiresome jokes.
October 4, 2024
I assume Chagos is a uniparty policy. Cameron doubtless thought I am not doing this before the election and getting the blame let the next Government get all the blame, But is was surely approved of by the F/O and Sunak/Cameron/Cleverly…in reality. They could have passed laws to stop this happening without referendums etc, has they wanted to stop it.
Reply I raised it with Cameron and he was against it. It did not happen under Conservative Ministers though some officials wanted it.
October 4, 2024
Thanks for your reply. It seems a mad thing to do to me. Surely bound to encourage other demands and demonstrate weakness to everyone. To do this without any parliamentary or people’s authority is criminal in my view.
October 4, 2024
“It seems that the excellent David Starkey (like JR) has accepted that Jenerick’s political volte-face is genuine and he can now be trusted. After Cameron, May, Boris, Sunak I have serious doubts on this.
LL,
I am of the same opinion as you. Starkey also seems to think support for Reform will decline in the future. I don’t think that will be the case either.
October 4, 2024
Starmer promises £22Bn of tax payers money to convert coal, wood and gas electricity generators, make them about 25% less energy efficient and capture the CO2 plant, tree, crop and seaweed food. CO2 that does net good anyway.
Great plan Starmer and Ed Miliband. £22Bn pissed down the drain. Worse in fact, wasted doing huge net harm and wasting energy! Plus they will have wasted £billions in admin. in taxing/stealing the money off you and you perhaps spent more changing habits to reduce tax liability. Totally moronic!
October 4, 2024
Mark B
It certainly looks that way.
Falklands next, South Georgia ?
It will certainly give encouragement to Argentina.
October 4, 2024
I wonder whether those who should have been protecting us these past horrible years have finally been shaken awake from their collective stupor?
October 4, 2024
And if Argentina attack again, could we defend the islands? Looks like ‘no’ right now. The Argies only ever want the oil round the Falklands, not the lands themselves which are pretty worthless. If they get their way, they will not have the net zero nonsense to hold them back and would exploit the oil for all it is worth, not ‘leave it in the ground’ as our utterly mad parties wish to do, to ‘influence the world’. Idiots all.
October 4, 2024
Morons or crooks on the make any other explanations for all the climate alarmists in parliament.
October 4, 2024
Who called people cranks and conspiracy theorist when they tried to point out what was going to happen.
As Neil Oliver says …could it be that Orwell was/is a traveller in time who took our story back to his era?
October 4, 2024
@Mark B +1, So very true, it isn’t even Politics or Diplomacy – it is just hat of the UK and its existence.
October 4, 2024
What about the Falklands. All that blood and treasure spilled to recover them. Notwithstanding the 800billion barrels of oil nearby. No doubt Milibrain will encourage giving the to Argentina to reduce the UK carbon emissions.
We have traitorous liars in Westminster and we need to sharpen our pitchforks.
October 4, 2024
It seems so. Did China pay any direct or indirect backhanders or other inducements?
October 4, 2024
Labour in power is similar to allowing our Ministry of Defence to be controlled by an enemy.
October 4, 2024
And our energy department, treasury, economy, housing, transport, business, education, the Home office, police, two tier Kier justice…
October 4, 2024
That’s what they intend …. signing us up to the EU Defence Pact and making us subservient to our continental frenemies.
October 4, 2024
Bloke
Indeed, I wonder how long before a Chinese influenced 200 mile exclusion Zone will be put around the Islands
For their own protection of course.
Yet another possible conflict area.
October 4, 2024
The only significance of the Chagos to the UK and USA is as a strategic military base. The population is NATO military.
Before our shifty PM signs anything I want to see NATO’s right to be there assured and China’s explicitly not. There are too many among the Labour party who have taken the chinese shilling, and I could not begin to speculate on the motivations within the Foreigb Office. Remember it was the FO who withdrew the Endeavour from the Falklands, signalling to Argentina our lack of interest in those islands. They cannot be trusted with UK or NATO interests.
So before any signing, it must be discussed in Parliament, after copies of any rewrite of the UK’s position re ownership is made available in the Commons library for all to see. If it is a diversionary tactic to shifty’s backhanders it has failed miserably. It just adds to the litany of events surrounding this bunch of anti British chancers who have effectively signalled that all British interests worldwide are up for grabs. We know that the US president is a surrender monkey, but what is the reaction in the Pentagon. No point in asking our ambassador as he is FO. Nigel might have a much better handle on it via his US connections.
October 4, 2024
@agricola – China paid for the agitation and Lammy with the rest of Labour will put China front and centre.
October 4, 2024
Unfortunately, once done, this cannot be undone.
We are going to suffer huge and uneccessary damage under this regime.
October 4, 2024
It is reported (by Guido Fawkes) that the KC who represents Mauritius is an old legal chum of Starmer. Expect more stitch ups and sell outs from these venal ministers.
October 4, 2024
Correction: he is chief legal advisor to Mauritius on the Chagos Is.
October 4, 2024
I assume he will be well paid for this “victory”?
October 4, 2024
Hard to go back on the announcement now it has been made. Do the MPs, residents & voters not get a say?Could Lammy and Starsi Starmer just give away Northern Ireland, the Falklands, Gibralter and the Isle of White one day on a whim too?
October 4, 2024
Once again our host omits to mention the role of the UN, which has declared Britain should give the island to Mauritius. Lammy has obeyed the UN. More surprisingly, SJR seems not to have noticed that the main island of Diego Garcia, where the US has a major military base, will remain under nominal British control.
Reply I am well aware of the 99 year lease clause. It needs the continuing goodwill of the new freeholder, a friend of China.
October 4, 2024
And look what happened to the lease of the New Territories in Hong Kong. We cannot predict the state of the world in 99 years time.
October 4, 2024
+1
October 4, 2024
What right does the UN have to decide the Chagos Islands belong to Mauritius? What claim have they ever had?
If you’re going to give the islands back to anyone, surely it must be the indigenous population and let them decide if they want another country to have sovereignty. But there, the former inhabitants of Diego Garcia won’t be permitted to return to their island. So much for the new-found sovereignty.
I heard too that the UK government will now be liable to Mauritius for rent on Diego Garcia, so the US air base can remain there. And the Labour government say they are short of cash!
October 4, 2024
@Hat man – just think the other 59 Islands that surround Diego Garcia will come under Chinese Military control. Do we get access to the sea ways and air space?
October 4, 2024
Aren’t we told these islands are going to disappear soon anyway thanks to global warming and rising sea levels? No great loss, then.
October 4, 2024
To obey the U.N. just emphasises the stupidity of the current Foreign Secretary. Both he and this Prime Minister are more concerned with how they are viewed on the global stage than they are in Britain. This unilateral decision just opens the door for the Chinese to spread their spying on not only the U.K. but our major ally the USA. I wonder what NATO would say about gormless Lammy and his early Christmas gift to China. By the way, the local people were not asked if they wanted to become Mauritian or not.
October 4, 2024
Sir John,
It is at times like these, we need a strong opposition. It is completely undemocratic to make such a decision without getting agreement with Parliament.
What will be next? Gibraltar, The Falklands, Northern Ireland?
If we had a Re run of the election, with people knowing what they know now, would more people turn out to vote and would Labour even have a victory, let alone a record majority?
October 4, 2024
Alas the even worse Labour was, given the FPTP voting system the only way to ditch the serial liars of Sunak’s deranged, net zero pushing Con Socialists.
October 4, 2024
Getting the ‘agreement of Parliament’ does not make it a democratic decision. Only 1 person in 5 voted for Labour yet, VERY UNDEMOCRATICALLY, they have a massive majority.
October 4, 2024
Mike,
We get, to some extent, the government we deserve. If people can’t or won’t be bothered to vote then we deserve the government which gets in. It is our own fault.
Parliamentary debate is our normal form of government. In my view, making this decision outside of Parliament and without debate is antidemocratic. Yes, it is true that the result may not have been different but, at least it would have been exposed to scrutiny by the general public and media before it could be passed. This was a grubby done deal by a grubby government and foes our country no good whatsoever.
I do hope The Speaker, when Parliament returns, makes a point of telling Sir Keir that his actions were incompatible with house procedures.
October 4, 2024
@Cliff I wonder if you voted Tory or Reform or something else. If every Tory voter had had the sense to vote Reform, we’d have a Reform government now. It is not true that we get the government we deserve. We have a structurally undemocratic voting system. We do not deserve a Labour government because only 1 in 5 voted for it.
October 4, 2024
@Mike Wilson – Yup, the mainstream UK Voter was disenfranchised by the Faux Conservatives – now their leadership contenders of the failed Parliamentary Group want to select a continuity candidate more of the same, no Conservatives, no Conservative will be on the next ballot papers. The Socialist WEF of project Blair, Brown, Cameron, May, Johnson, Sunak and now Starmer has destroyed a Nation.
More fool all of us for accepting their continuous stream of Lies.
October 4, 2024
We had a council by-election yesterday. Reform took the seat from Labour with a massive swing. Labour down 23% Conservatives down 18.2%. Hopefully voters are waking up and Reform is getting it’s act together.
October 4, 2024
Let us pray that it is so.
October 4, 2024
“He should have pushed back on the legal arguments as these are international law subject to balance of political argument”. I wonder if anyone has the slightest idea what this means?
October 4, 2024
@Lemming – what some wish to call International Laws are NOT, they are just agreements that one body will do one thing while it suits them and ignore them when it doesn’t.
October 4, 2024
“what some wish to call International Laws are NOT, they are just agreements that one body will do one thing while it suits them and ignore them when it doesn’t”. I do hope you don’t try that before the International Court of Justice or any other of the thousands of courts round the world that routinely apply international law
October 4, 2024
Lemming
Either nation states are legal and their people are sovereign and can decide via democratic voting what they want to do or international law is supreme.
Why do you want unelected bodies to rule you?
October 4, 2024
It’s one thing to ruin us (through taxes and the like), it’s another to give away territory. We might be able to recover from financial ruin, but we can’t realistically recover lost territory.
As for sovereignty, that’s slipping away and will also be very hard to recover. Dark times.
October 4, 2024
Surely the UK Government in the form of Keir Starmer and David Lammy cannot agree between themselves to give away territories across the world owned and controlled by the UK without a formal Act of Parliament.
This comes on the back of allowing Argentina to resume flights to the Falklands;Will the next step be handing the Falklands over to Argentina which so many UK soldiers fought and died for at great cost.
There must be many other things during the first 4 months of a Labour governement that David Lammy could be doing other than giving away UK sovereign territory.
October 4, 2024
Very very worrying. This government is rapidly proving a disaster for the Country, much worse than even I expected. This is a big boost for China. The chagos islands are no more part of Mauritius than the Falkland Islands are Argentine. Essential at the next election to get some sort of electoral tactics going to kick Labour out. A lot of damage will have been done by then.
October 4, 2024
As far as I can see, “International Law” is what anyone says it is at the time. It seems only to apply to weak woke nations, not to strong self-confident ones.
Lammy is truly a fool and, as for Sir Keir, I feel he is very much left of centre than his expensive suits would suggest.
October 4, 2024
@Michael Staples – correct, it is not a Law
October 4, 2024
The FCO see the Chagos Islands as nothing but trouble.
October 4, 2024
The damage this government could do (in multiple areas) in 5 years is potentially appalling. What can be done to damage control Sir John?
Reply Get behind effective Opposition in Parliament. Take to the airwaves. Put your complaints out there.
October 4, 2024
Almost nothing can be done, it seems the only sensible policy Labour has is relaxing planning. Every other policy they have is insane and totally anti-growth. Net Zero, open door low skilled immigration, VAT on school fees, tax increases, nationalisations, Non Dom abolition all total insanity.
The blame lies mainly with throw the towel in six month early, net zero, tax to death & unequivocal liar Sunak (and Cameron, May & Boris’s serial lies.
Will anyone trust Jenrick in 4+ years? I doubt it, if he is still pro Net Zero (moronic, lying or on the make – take you pick) then I will certainly not be voting for him.
October 4, 2024
Or Kemi, if the Tory MPs let her through to members.
October 4, 2024
Not only has David Lammy revealed his incompetence he has failed to ensure the matter is thoroughly debated in Parliament. This reflects badly on Prime Minister Starmer who displays authoritarian traits by seeking to allow Ukraine to deploy longer range missiles into Russia. Surely he should have overruled his Foreign Minister on ceding British
territory and insisted the matter was brought before Parliament? Why the urgency? Somethings wrong here!
October 4, 2024
Of course Lammy will give way in any future “negotiations” aka demands from foreign countries / organisations.
He and his Party have no pride in our country’s history and achievements and, sadly, neither do many CONservative MPs/Ministers, as Treason May and Lord Dave of Greenshill Lobbying demonstrated.
Keir-Ching! will probably give back Gibraltar as part of his EU “reset” and, if he thought he could get away with it, would handover The Falklands to Argentina without any consultation.
The Mandarins have been betraying their own country for decades and sadly, apart from Mrs Thatcher, so have our Prime Ministers.
October 4, 2024
I have yet to see a rational explanation as to why Chagos was of any benefit to the UK. The UK is a regional power in the North Atlantic/European area, of which Chagos doesn’t form part. Britain pulled out of “East of Suez” decades ago…and rightly so.
No doubt Chagos is of benefit to the USA, a Pacific area power, and it still has its base there.
October 4, 2024
Sea power is SO last century ( control of landmass is everything in the 21st century;Russia+China+Iran is checkmate as I have said before)and,besides,the US can’t even deal with the Houthis in Yemen(go to Telegraph Online today and see a videoclip of another British tanker-the Cordelia Moon- suffering a spectacular hit by one of their naval drones).The Houthis have broadened their target list to include any ship that has put in at an Israeli port within the past two years.
October 4, 2024
@ mickc – indeed, and one must assume the USA has been consulted and is content with these changes so far as its use of the Diego Garcia military facility is concerned. Previous UK governments had asserted their readiness to surrender sovereignty once the Chagos Islands were no longer needed for military purposes.
We likely lack the capability to defend the Chagos Islands so let us rejoice at relinquishing the obligation to do so.
October 4, 2024
formula 57 : “@ mickc – indeed, and one must assume the USA has been consulted and is content with these changes so far as its use of the Diego Garcia military facility is concerned.”
The current US administration is as treacherous as our own
October 4, 2024
Crocodile tears, last governments fingerprints all over it. 13 years to sort out the Foreign Office. Physician heal thyself.
October 4, 2024
+ 1
October 4, 2024
As horrendous and stupid as it is, it was the Faux Conservatives with James Cleverly that instigated the change of direction.
As with most of the really bad decision and direction being in acted on at the moment they were all created and started by the Faux Conservatives. Labour has just come along with more zeal and continued the destruction of the UK.
October 4, 2024
Even the discussion over Gibraltar was instigated, not shut down by the Faux Conservatives. Gibraltar is one of those International Treaties that other no longer want and wish to reneged on. Successive UK Governments as always capitulate
October 4, 2024
from Guido – “In summary, we are going to pay Mauritius a hefty sum to give them a territory we already paid them to keep; we have a 99-year lease on the island housing a very important military base, but Mauritius is now free to lease the others to whomever it pleases; all on the basis of a completely non-binding judgement by an international court:”
So is that 59 un-inhabited Islands to their new funder China
October 4, 2024
Every time this government opens its mouth I think they are wrong – this is so much worse than I feared and, unbelievably, worse than the Conservative government which struggled to do anything (government after all is best when it does least).
We haven’t had the first punishment budget yet and soon we can euthanise the old and infirm to free jup homes for more immigrants.
October 4, 2024
Does that also mean Starmer will force the large population of Chagos Islanders and their descendants now residing in the UK will be repatriated?
October 4, 2024
Wasn’t the gift of Diego Garcia to the USA in 1966 the perfect enactment of the UK’s status as poodle of the Americans?
Ian B, How many Chagos Islanders ‘and their descendants‘ in the UK?
October 4, 2024
Off topic:
A council by-election took place in the Marton ward, Blackpool, on Thursday 3 October 2024. Result:
Jim O’Neill (Reform UK Party) – 462
Labour – 334
CONservative – 254
Reform UK win.
October 4, 2024
Sooner the better
October 4, 2024
But presumably to have got this far by now, the negotiations would have had to have been at quite an advanced stage under the previous Government. How confident are you that they would not have done the same thing as their successors?
October 4, 2024
Completely off topic but Ed Miliband and his misguided disciples in the Department for giving away control of our heating and industrial capacity are dangerous zealots in charge of giving away our taxes for no good reason.
Who will rid rid us of these turbulent bigots
October 4, 2024
Starmer will get rid of Milliband in due course. He’ll have to.
This carbon capture initiative that’s costing billions. What benefit will there be to us from it ? It’s like one of the old Soviet make work schemes – paying for people to do entirely futile and worthless tasks.
October 4, 2024
Carbon capture. Madness. They could create more jobs by a digging holes department and another to fill them in. Perhaps Labour have removed the winter fuel payment to reduce their carbon footprint…..permanently? The whole of Westminster minus 5 are nuts!!!
October 4, 2024
From The Telegraph, another very stupid man “Britain should hold a referendum on its membership of the European Convention on Human Rights, Boris Johnson has said”
All Laws, Rules and Regulations in the UK are chosen, created, amended and repealed by our own Sovereign Legislators – Parliament. It the HoC, our MPs our Government are unable to accept that is why we lent them our power(empowered them) and pay them, they should resign.
All the UK’s woes are with the 650 individuals refusing their jobs, reneging on the honour we have bestowed on them.
The ECHR has no place in a democracy, its Courts have no place in a Democracy. It is another job for the boys, the legal eagles with their noses in the trough because it pays more than real job.
October 4, 2024
More from Boris – ‘Since 1978’s “living instrument doctrine” the ECHR has had to power to jump into a huge range of domestic issues and has increasingly actively intervened’
The only way that is permitted is if our Sovereign Legislators refuse their job and make some foreign entity without legitimacy their boss
October 4, 2024
Everyone would have seen the horror in today’s media of terrorist blowing up UK shipping in the Indian Ocean.
Successive Governments have refused the UK a Navy able to protect UK interest. Chagos Islands was part of that framework.
The only hope is that as Starmer and Lammy are Chinese stooges and as China will be given carte blanche to dump all their production on us with the extra help from Miliband(NetZero equipment) it will be the Chinese navy that gets to protect UK Shipping.
The unanswered question is as the UK is now unable to earn its way in the World, how do we pay for all the Chinese imports? Do we give them the Country?
October 4, 2024
Elsewhere – ‘Buenos Aires’ foreign minister Diana Mondino vowed to seek ‘full sovereignty’ of the Islands in the South Atlantic, which have never been part of her country’s territory.’
More Chinese agitation – ‘have never been part of her country’s territory.’ The only claim that Argentina can make is others want them to do it to justify their own ambitions. Lammy and Starmer as Chineses stooges are destined to comply. The self determination of a nation, just as the self determination of the UK is not to be allowed to get in the way of personal self-gratification of egotists
October 4, 2024
In addition to incompetence and bias against the middle classes and elderly, another crime of ‘surrendering British interests’ at the first opportunity can be added to the list.
Thank God Lammy and Starmer were not involved in the BREXIT talks or we’d really be shafted.
We should watch for the ultimate treachery as for sure Starmer will surrender us to the globalists and the UN-NWO at the very first possible opportunity.
October 4, 2024
The government will have okayed this first with the bogus, in my view, Biden Administration. The entire Judaeo-Christian West is not safe. It is truly disquieting.
October 4, 2024
Are the USA paying part of the fee we have to pay Mauritius for the next 99 years ?
October 4, 2024
The evidence so far is that the government is acting in the interest of the minority as did the previous government.
The minority has taken control of the civil service and the Labour administration is a willing collaborator.
October 4, 2024
‘Carbon Capture’ the latest ‘eco’ wonder from the lunatics running the asylum we now live in.
Best analogy I can think of is that this is like driving around with the air conditioning going full blast, with the windows wide open trying to cool the world outside. As for economic growth, how will this help? By selling carbon credits to useful idiots? It’s not a “growth” plan I’d want to bet my future on. It certainly will do nothing to help keep the lights on this winter…
October 4, 2024
Will Parliament get as say? – or is this a Privy Council Prerogative?
October 4, 2024
So we have given the islands away and we are paying an annual fee to Mauritius for the next 99 years. What’s in it for us ? There were no negotiations, just a capitulation.
October 4, 2024
This whole thing is peculiar. Chagos Island is 2,191km from Mauritius. The first inhabitants were enslaved Africans taken there by the French; later, indentured Indians arrived. “By the Treaty of Paris of 1814, France ceded Mauritius and its dependencies to the United Kingdom. In 1965, while planning for Mauritian independence, the UK constituted the Chagos as the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT)” Wiki. Purchased from Mauitius for £3m in 1965. The Portugese felt this island was isolated, lonely, economically and politically uninteresting. Has Portugal given up all their overseas territory?
How was this considered Mauritius territory?
“The archipelago consists of 58 islands covering approximately 640,000 sq kms of ocean located in the Indian Ocean halfway between East Africa and Indonesia. The Territory is administered from London, England and it is not a tourist destination. Access is restricted and a permit is required in advance of travel.”
“History and Timeline – 1967 – 1973 ‘the entire population’ of the Chagos Islands are forced to leave their homes, most moved to Mauritius or to the Seychelles. ”
How many people were there?
“1982 The UK government agrees to pay £4m into a trust fund for the Chagossians, set up under a Mauritian statute. 2016 a £40m support package to assist and compensate Chagossians living in the UK!”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/03/timeline-uk-history-chagos-islands-mauritius#:~:text=The%20entire%20population%20of%20the,and%20a%20crime%20against%20humanity.
October 4, 2024
Expect Mauritius to build a harbour within the next five years funded by China on the edge of the leased land.
October 4, 2024
From Guido:
Keir-Ching! “Do I hear any more bids for Gibraltar? Going once; going twice. Sold to Spain for a couple of weeks holiday, a nice pair of sunglasses and a case of Tempranillo.”
I do believe we “have the measure of the man.”
October 4, 2024
Now Prime Minister Starmer refuses to rule out signing away Gibraltar and the Falklands! So the message is clear: put your demands in now and await favourable consideration from this government.
Why oh why has he failed to add Scotland to the list, wretched man. Surely we must offload that in this “everything must go” sale – for does Mrs. Reeves not want a c.£15 billion annual windfall in perpetuity?
October 4, 2024
I know advisers to Ministers, advisers who are only in their twenties !
Yes Minister this ain’t.
October 4, 2024
I’m suspicious. Is the Foreign Office now full of foreigners? Clearly, they favour foreigners over British citizens or our allies.
October 4, 2024
Where’s the Opposition ?
……and £22bn labour carbon capture plan – where’s the oppostion
Labour manifesto – ‘We will invest in carbon capture and storage, hydrogen and marine energy, and ensure we have the long-term energy storage our country needs.’ …Carbon capture doesn’t get more than sharing its phrase within a sentence within a 136 page document ….and now it’s a £22bn policy
October 4, 2024
Where’s the opposition
If this is a new and important policy, shouldn’t it have been mentioned in the labour manifesto or at conference or in debate in the commons
October 4, 2024
It has been thus most of my life – the Empire winding down – Malaya, Kenya, Cyprus and Aden then the Suez debacle so it’s really time to call a halt and hand back the remaining outposts to the indigenous peoples because time has passed us by and no point in pretending anymore.
October 4, 2024
Is there any way of rerunning the general election.
NONE of these things were in the Labour manifesto. Not prisoner releases, not withdrawal of WFA, not amnesty for illegal migrants, not boom time for train drivers… none of it !
And Starmer sold himself to those who voted for him as Mr Squeaky Clean, which he clearly isn’t.