The UK has not suddenly alerted the US to the problems posed by the give away of Chagos. Nor has the President suddenly read a brief and got command of the issues.In his welcome condemnation of the folly of the deal he assumed the UK is being paid to surrender the islands. He will be even more stunned by the stupidity when he learns the UK is paying to give them away.
Some contributors here seem to think one word from Nigel Farage and the President is persuaded. This is clearly not true as Nigel could have told Mr Trump a long time ago and may have done do but the US went along with the folly. Presumably they did so because they did not want to disrupt their relationship with the UK government. They sought and were given assurances there would be no cost to them and they could still use the base for 99 years.
Over the last year there would have been exchanges between the 2 governments over this. It is extraordinary that the UK government,full of lawyers , missed the obvious point that the UK/US Treaty requires the UK to keep the Chagos freehold. Or maybe the lawyers thought this was a technicality the US would
agree to repeal.Strange they did not pocket that early.
There have also been many exchanges between leading UK Conservatives and Republicans, urging the US ruling party to think again. People have raised issues including Mauritius being an anti nuclear country, what would happen at the base if Mauritius issues fishing licences for the Chagos, settles people on islands close to Diego Garcia, grants rights to China etc.
The flurry of briefings had a reprise last week with the US Speaker in London. Briefings reached Rubio and Bessent in Davos. Someone half tipped off the President who came out strongly against the deal.
I was the first person to put to the media the fact that the UK signed up for the International Court with express exemptions for Commonwealth matters and defence. The ICJ could not make us give up Chagos. Someone else put out the need to get US consent to Treaty change. We do not know whose briefing got the President to change his mind. Trying to influence a President 2000 miles away takes many attempts by many people to land a key message.
We should also recognise the importance of the Chagos government in exile and the independent group who took the UK government to court over failure to consider the views of the Chagossians.