The governmentâs decision to give away the Chagos Islands including the crucial Diego Garcia naval base is a disgrace.
Mauritius is a friend of China with substantial borrowings from China to build infrastructure and a substantial trade with China. China is well known to be building her power across the South China Sea into the Indian Ocean.
Mauritius has been trying to annex these islands for many years without strong legal grounds. At the time of Mauritius independence the Chagosians were not Mauritians and the independence agreement made clear the Chagos  were distinct and many miles  away from Mauritius. Successive Conservative Foreign Secretaries were asked to look at the case and to talk to Mauritius about it. None were stupid enough to give the islands and the freehold of this important base away,
It is a disgrace that the new U.K. government has not talked properly to the descendants of the Chagosians who left the islands more than fifty years ago. They were not included in the discussions. They have a case about the way their families were treated. Some are now U.K. citizens living in the U.K. They were not people from Mauritius, settling there from Africa under French colonial rule.
It is bizarre that the government did not see the strategic importance of this Indian Ocean naval base to the US and U.K., and now argue that leasing it back from Mauritius is better than owning it freehold.
It is wrong that the government plans to pay lease payments for 99 years to get it back for a bit, when these payments are unfunded and the budget is tight.
Labour has sought to blame the previous government who rightly did not give in on this issue, They then seek to pretend it is a great result with the US in support. Of course the US is being helpful to an ally but they must be thinking what a mistake this is.
Parliament should debate and vote on this. The attempt to smuggle it through using prerogative powers was quite wrong. This needs an Act of Parliament to give away territory. Every  Labour MP should be ashamed of this proposal, uneasy about  the treatment of the Chagosians and alarmed at the governments cavalier approach to national security and to spending commitments for bad causes.
October 8, 2024
Good morning.
I have already expressed my views on this and the possible ramifications. What would like to add is something I have very recently learned about our new ‘Foreign’ Secretary – He has dual nationality.
Why ?
October 8, 2024
MARK,
Perhaps he he wishes to retire to Gyana in his dotage.
October 8, 2024
The sooner the better please.
October 8, 2024
“David Lammy has hailed the decision to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius as a deal to save a strategically important UK-US military base”
It has surely done the complete reverse of this? Do Starmer and Lammy think they are dictators?
October 8, 2024
What else can we expect from a Britain hating government. Gibraltar will be next to go followed closely by the Falklands. The Falklands are especially vulnerable because they are about to start opening up the oil fields, which go against the preaching of Red Ed.
The decision should be reversed immediately but we know that will never happen.
October 8, 2024
So has Tugendhat (dual British/French). And I expect Badenoch is dual British/Nigerian).
No man/woman can serve two Masters. Something to bear in mind ……
October 8, 2024
Only if you are a little Englander
October 8, 2024
Two masters – Well we had Ministers for “Women and Equality” and “Minister of State for Energy Security and Net Zero” both clear and direct contradictions.
October 8, 2024
Bringing nationality in is objectionable. What has it got to do you or the topic.
October 8, 2024
I would have thought nationality was very important. We are talking about the Foreign Secretary for God’s sake. Who knows which government is giving him orders.
October 8, 2024
Do you deny the concept of patriotism and the dilemma of joint?
October 8, 2024
Ooops!
âTouch the harp gentlyââŠ..
As my grandmother used to say.
October 8, 2024
Because no man can serve two Masters.
Anyone who wishes to become a Minister of the Crown should be required to surrender their non-British nationality …. to demonstrate their allegiance is solely to this country.
October 8, 2024
Everything. Meghan Markle is not a subject of the British Monarch nor is she a citizen of the U.K., yet she is officially a âPrincess of the United Kingdomâ.
Itâs called âcolonisationâ and âimperialismâ and I thought you were against that?
Or have you no objection to the Empress of India not being Indian and having no allegiance there to?
October 8, 2024
I thought her title was just Duchess of Sussex – I’m fairly sure Meghan isn’t a princess!
October 8, 2024
What does it have to do with the topic? Someone with split loyalty and a dislike of one part of your nationality’s past could affect your decision to give away our territory freely with scant regard to its current usefulness and the value of those islands; if we wish to dispose of them, why didn’t we sell them?
October 8, 2024
Iâll tell you what.
At this moment in history I would just LOVE to have an escape route.
Maybe many in charge have somewhere else to go?
But for me ( and my family) there is no far away refuge nor is there a Time Machine.
October 8, 2024
If you had a time machine and went back a few hundred years you would find no European presence in the Indian Ocean whatsoever-it started with the Portuguese and their extremely violent,destructive entry as they made their way round the coast of Africa.I thoroughly recommend a read of Roger Crowley’s 2016″Conquerors:How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire”:
“For thousands of years the Indian Ocean had been the crossroads of the world’s trade,shifting goods across a vast space from Canton to Cairo,Burma to Baghdad through a complex interlocking of trading systems,maritime styles and religions and a series of hubs:Malacca on the Malay peninsular,larger than Venice,for goods from China and the further spice islands:Calicut on the west coast of India for pepper;Ormuz(Hormuz),gateway to the Persian Gulf and Baghdad;Aden at the entrance to the Red Sea and the routes to Mamluk-ruled Cairo,the nerve centre of the Islamic world.
Scores of other city states dotted its shores.It despatched gold,black slaves and mangrove poles from Africa,incense and dates from Arabia,bullion from Europe,horses from Persia,opium from Egypt ,porcelain from China,war elephants from Ceylon,rice from Bengal,sulphur from Sumatra,nutmeg from from the Moluccas,diamonds from the Deccan plateau,cotton cloth from Gujarat.No-one had a monopoly in this terrain-it was too extensive and complex and the great continental powers of Asia left the sea to the merchants.There was small scale piracy but no protectionist war fleets;little notion of territorial waters;the star fleets of the Ming dynasty,the one maritime superpower had advanced and withdrawn.It constituted a vast and comparatively peaceful free trade zone:over half the world’s wealth passed through its waters in a commercial commonwealth that was fragmented between many players.This was the world of Sinbad.It’s key merchant groups distributed thinly around its shores from the palm-fringed beaches of East Africa to the spice Islands of the East Indies were largely muslims.”
I believe this,or a modern version of it,is how BRICS envisages the multipolar future of the region.With the new members(in the far east) that will be announced later this month and the members that joined at the start of this year (in the west of the region-Iran,UAE,Egypt,Ethiopia,Saudi Arabia),it will become clear that this is underway.
October 8, 2024
My sons have duel nationality, because I met a lovely lady whilst abroad and married her! đ
Simples!
October 8, 2024
So do my children as my wife has both English and Italian nationalities. It seems I too can have Italian too if I apply but I would have to pass an Italian test! Foreign languages – not my strong point. Plus the Italian embassy is not very easy to deal with.
Perhaps they will let me off if I can say I have a medical language disability or am too old to learn much more now?
October 8, 2024
Boris rightly gave up his US citizenship before running before PM.
October 8, 2024
Very good tax reasons to give up US citizenship as you still have to pay US taxes even if overseas.
October 8, 2024
Very hard to see any u-turn on this now. Seems like a huge error to me. One of the main points of recovering the Falklands was to make it clear to all we would never give up UK territory easily. This decision hugely undermines that, and does vast other damage to the region too.
October 8, 2024
Yes is does open the issue of great harm. Perhaps the PM is unaware of the activities of China in the South China Sea, where it has NO LEGAL right, according to the judgment of PCA. https://pca-cpa.org/es/cases/7/ to building sea and air bases on coral atolls and is harassing other nations’ lawful activities.
Second, the lesson of Hong Kong, where the PRC agreed to increasing democratic representation by the population, among other freedoms, is being ignored without penalty. So who is going to enforce this wonderful new deal?
October 8, 2024
+1
October 8, 2024
what else do you expect from the far left low life we have as a government!
Starmer is anti True Brits, democracy does not always work for the good of the country!
October 8, 2024
I agree 100%, a total disgrace how it has been done, a huge error.
October 8, 2024
Shocking and foolish decision but on par for the jokers in office. Can it be subject to legal recourse?
October 8, 2024
You spell it out succintly. Doyens of Labour have in the recent past been too close to chinese interests. Away from politics any Mauritian claim is spurious. For administrative purposes some 200 years ago they were lumped in together with the Chagos atoll by the then British government. To the best of my knowledge that is the only thread.
UK government have a financial and moral responsibility to return those Chagosians to their atolls, if that is their wish. We should be providing the accommodation and means of subsistence, even to the possibility of it as a tourist destination. That is the good that should arise from the bad way they were treated in 1968.
The next step is to put the Mauritian government and our FCO on hold. Then to have a referendom among surviving Chagosians to ascertain their wishes, and to act on it. Therebye moving to the moral high ground. It is not a party political question for Westminster, it is a morality one for the UK. What better way is there to promote democracy and our values, and to right a wrong. You might think that that should appeal to a beleagured SKS and his legal mind. Certainly a better memorial than anything from his first 100 days.
October 8, 2024
Will deluded Zealot Ed Net Zero Miliband do more harm than the foolish David Lammy it is a rather tough contest.
Sunak was appalling (and why on earth did he give up six months early) but this Government, as I expected, is truly appalling. 180 degree out on every single issue other than relaxing planning.
October 8, 2024
LL except for the 5 Reform MPs the whole government is appalling and we have another 57 months of terminal damage.
Free beer, no idea, sneer Kier will be gone within months and we have the prospect of being led by the fashionisa ginger growler.
How the world must be laughing.
I’ve just joined Reform, their broadcast last night was ace.
October 8, 2024
Perhaps about 10-20 Tory MPs who are reasonable. So a maximum of say 30 half decent MPs across all the parties out of 650? How do we escape this lunacy?
October 8, 2024
Reforms 5 MP have nothing to do with the Government.
Why did you not join the DUP – they have 5 MPs and in the crisis had 10 critical votes.
I joined and contribute to the DUP. Real conservatives to the quick. We need the DUP to expand to the mainland.
October 8, 2024
Would the DUP do a deal with Reform?
October 8, 2024
Unfortunately their performance is somewhat akin to watching clowns in a soap opera, only rather more serious.
October 8, 2024
It is a clear demonstration that Keir-Ching!’s Government is not working in the national interest …. and will subvert Parliamentary Procedures whenever it deems it necessary.
The Not-a-Conservative-Candidate for Party Leader, James Cleverly, scarpered from the Chamber yesterday. He could hardly provide any Opposition since he started the process. And Sunak, supposedly Leader of HMLO, was noticeable by his absence.
The British people have truly been betrayed by the Westminster Uni-Party. I wonder if Charlie-Boy was consulted?
I am reminded of the Robbie Burn’s poem: “Such a parcel of rogues in a Nation.”
October 8, 2024
Indeed who will rescue the UK from two tier Kier, Lammy, Ed Miliband, Cooper-Balls, Reeves and that Scum, Scum, Scum woman.
Listened to an interview Podcast with Dr David Owen the other day, he is still rather confused. He was positive about Labour and said they had some very good people. Alas he was not asked who they were. I see almost none. Wes Streeting says the odd sensible thing be he think we should keep quiet about the unsafe conviction of Lucy Letby so as to keep the families of the victim happy. What an idiotic position to take, are these families happier knowing that someone, almost certainly not the right person, is in jail for life?
October 8, 2024
Not very Cleverly at all is now favourite to win. It seems the MPs have decided to deprive the Members of a vote for Kemi looking at the betting odds. My money would be on Robert Jenrick to win. Has he really changed all his views or is he another dishonest, lying Chameleon in the Cast Iron, low tax at heart (I will stay on and deliver the referendum result either way) and deliver the notice to leave next day Cameron mode.
October 8, 2024
Badenoch is a protege of Gove …. and therefore just as untrustworthy. I wouldn’t blame the rump of MPs from wanting to deprive her of the opportunity.
October 8, 2024
Don’t know why you are complaining the previous government was threatening to renege on all kinds of international treaties/ agreements wherever it suited so can hardly be surprising about the Chagos Islands thousands of miles away – next thing up for review could be the Treaty of Utrecht especially if government decides on closer working relations with the EU – Brexit kicked it all off and Spain will decide
October 8, 2024
No International treaty can include one party surrendering territory, it is assumed that coercion is at play. This is International Law.
Every EU Treaty assuming power over the countries that became integral to the EU is a violation of International law.
Brexit was an instruction from the U.K. Sovereigns (in any republic the people are sovereign, and we have been a republic with a powerless Monarch as head of state since John signed at Runnymede). Nobody has authority to question Brexit.
October 8, 2024
+1 Lynn
October 8, 2024
In my opinion, David Lammy is totally unsuited to the post of Foreign Secretary. Whose idea was it to assign him to that role.
Mind you, the same could be said of the rest of the Cabinet. All bluster and talk – very little real action. Hopefully, the public is not fooled by them.
October 8, 2024
It’s the way its done – old pals act, favours to be repaid. No regard to ability or the good of the nation, which is why we always, always end up in the mire, whichever government is in power. We’ve been in one crisis or another for most of my life due to poor quality MP’s and their hare-brained ideas, Milliband being the latest and the worst. The whole system stinks and is made for politicians, not the paying public. Ever heard of a poor politician either in power or retired?
October 8, 2024
No mention of handing over the Chagos islands in the Labour manifesto. Along with no mention of removing the WFA…………..
What other surprises await us.
If only we had a Conservative party (with a leader) to oppose.
October 8, 2024
The appalling proposed WHO Pandemic Preparedness Treaty next perhaps.
October 8, 2024
If we’d had a Conservative Party that was conservative, we wouldn’t have this lot in charge!
October 8, 2024
I saw a face from the past – Jonathan Powell – was somehow involved in “negotiations” (ie. capitulation) (Why ?) and was telling us that the land surface of the islands was very small and so we shouldn’t be concerned about losing them. However, the land surface is not the whole story …..
“The Chagos Archipelago Marine Protected Area (MPA) covers 640,000 square kilometers (247,000 square miles) of ocean around the Chagos Archipelago. This area is twice the size of the UK’s land surface.”
October 8, 2024
Indeed what a moronic argument to make about the small land surface?
October 8, 2024
The landing deck of an aircraft carrier is even smaller in area!
By comparison, The Chagos Islands are harder to sink (and don’t break down quite as often)
October 8, 2024
Powell was also involved in the New Labour “negotiations” to give away NI and the welfare of our soldiers and police.
October 8, 2024
What is the point of Parliament if issues such as this are not debated and voted upon.
October 8, 2024
Exactly Alan. Is it now a dictatorship?
When the Tories had an 80 seat majority, it certainly didn’t feel like it. Every decision was challenged and overturned.
October 8, 2024
Having watched the Foreign Secretary’s statement to the house yesterday. I can only conclude David lammy has no idea how much damage his acceptance of this folly has already caused and how much damage plus costs it will create in the future.
His answer to the question of Chinese interference in future Mauritian policy regarding access to the Chagos islands was to say.
Mauritius is not in China’s African friendship group because they are friendly with India….
Henry the VII immediately came to mind when he gave that dismissive gem to the risks he has now initiated.
It would be worth pointing out, the chief legal advisor to the Mauritian government, who have never owned or controlled The Chagos Islands/Territory is a close associate/friend of Kier Starmer. They even and shared the same legal chambers, that is how much of an old pals act, giving away the Chagos Islands is.
October 8, 2024
Completely agree, this is utterly disgraceful and it reveals much about Prime Minister Starmer authoritarian style of government, The failure to properly debate the issue in Parliament further exacerbates matters. To have also avoided local consultation in the Chagos Islands is breathtaking arrogance. I do hope whatâs left of the Conservative Party Opposition will robustly take Messrs Stsrmer and Lammy to task in Parliament?
October 8, 2024
Chagossians living in Mauritius and speaking out against Mauritian sovereignty over the islands are faced with a ten-year gaol sentence. That might be why there has been no ‘local consultation’, Michael.
October 8, 2024
The National Energy System Operator (NESO), now under new management, has announced that Britainâs winter power supplies will likely outstrip demand by 8.7% this year – the greatest margin since the winter of 2019 to 2020
The closure of the UKâs last coal-fired power plant at Ratcliffe-on-Soar will have no effect on power availability and the taxpayer will avoid the enormous standby charges which were paid when it’s power was not needed.
The UK will be able to import cheap renewable electricity from Denmark this winter through the new Viking HVDC power interconnector, reducing our need to import expensive gas from Norway and Quatar for our CCGT plant. As ever with the interconnectors, we are also able to export electricity to Denmark when necessary.
Reply Dream on
October 8, 2024
Let us wait and see shall we.
Why are my bills increasing then ?
October 8, 2024
SG, I wonder wht resides in your head. If we get a beast from the east winter there will be no excess energy to import from Europe. When our 35 plus gw of windmills aren’t working we will be in a desperate position. I think ESO which is now nationalised is telling porkies. The previous owners were quite upfront about the dire straights of our electricity networks.
October 8, 2024
At this point we might be able to pay a handsome rate for electricity from other countries via interconnectors.
They are likely to value the unexpected income not available a few years ago. Should some outside event change the otlook what will we do when the supply is no longer there?
October 8, 2024
The Donna Household Organisation (under the same management) has announced that a unicorn was spotted in her garden yesterday … and since that represents a 100% increase in the supply of unicorns in her garden since last winter, it is obvious that before long everyone will have a unicorn of their own.
October 8, 2024
As I type – Renewables 28%, Gas 32%, Imports 13%, Biomass 9% and Nuclear 13%
Of course none of this electricity is warming my home or will run my car when I go out later. It’s a fairly small part of our total energy needs. That’s just as well, as I already pay four times as much for my Electricity (per KwH) as I do for my Gas. As for importing electricity from Denmark, my understaning is that the Danish already have the most expensive electricity in the world. Are they going to give us a huge discount?
So how is any of this going to keep my utility bills down SG? The answer is that it isn’t and was never intended to do so. Milliband knows this and so should you. I don’t want to pay for Milliband’s fanatical beliefs, especially when the Chinese are still freighting 200M tons coal every year over their shiney new railway. That’s probably 1,000M tons of coal since it opened, just that one line….We really are bonkers aren’t we?
October 8, 2024
+1
October 8, 2024
Why do we need to import power if we are 8.7% in surplus Mr Cold? Surely we should be exporting and using the lucrative transaction to reduce each energy bill by âby ÂŁ300.00â.
October 8, 2024
Just on the constitutional point, would this really need an Act of Parliament?
Of course if Parliament says that it needs an Act then it will need an Act, but has Parliament ever said that?
https://websearch.parliament.uk/?q=treaty
One item in that search, the position since 2017:
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9247/
“The main formal limits on the Governmentâs treaty powers are that: (1) treaties cannot automatically change domestic law or rights in the UK; and (2) they cannot make major changes to the UKâs constitutional arrangements without Parliamentary authority.
Parliament (and/or the devolved legislatures) is therefore involved if domestic law needs to be changed in order to implement a treaty. But implementing legislation is not always necessary. Where legislation is needed, its provisions will be predetermined by the contents of the treaty. And increasingly this legislation will be only secondary (government-made) rather than primary (parliament-made).”
Reply Parliament is sovereign and it should insist on legislation and longer consideration. With a large Labour majority government will probably get away with it.
October 8, 2024
Parliament cannot say âit needs and Act of Parliamentâ when action has been taken under Prerogative powers.
When the Maastricht Treaty was unilaterally signed, removing British Citizenship from us all and making us all, including The Queen, a citizen of an alien, undemocratic, aggressive power – I.e when they surrendered our country, Parliament was told in terms that it could debate the issue but it could not change it. I believe by Hurd.
He was correct.
October 8, 2024
Itâs DECOLONISING.
Innit?
And they wonât stop there.
AND surely someone somewhere knew this was the intention. For like 14 years?
October 8, 2024
Since the sovereignty of the islands is involved shouldnât KCIII have the final say?
October 8, 2024
You need to understand that The Monarch has NO political power. Rightly so. All they can do is defend the British Constitution by appealing to the real sovereigns – the people – if politicians run amok. They have repeatedly failed to do so.
October 8, 2024
It has not been refuted that Cleverley gave this process impetus by mis interpreting an international courts decision, that was advisory as binding and frankly I do not believe that all the negotiations that would have been needed suddenly occurred on Lammys watch.
After their appalling performance and legacy over the last 13 years and complete disarray, currently, to try and gain political capital on this, is pathetic.
They might be slightly more believable about protecting British interests if they hadnât sold out Northern Ireland and continued to negotiate on the future of Gibraltar.
Reply Cameron replaced Cleverly and stopped any idea of giving Chagos away, with strong advice from some of us to keep the islands.
October 8, 2024
Reply-reply
No very clever then after all, and he wants to be a leader !.
October 8, 2024
I donât believe the FO suddenly revived the topic and got the negotiations/legals etc completed from scratch in the few months since Labour was elected.
October 8, 2024
I do. These civil servants seem to be running the show, and more and more about them and their political leanings are revealed.
October 8, 2024
How about a trip to the Supreme Court to overturn the decision as an abuse of perogative power?
October 8, 2024
All the legal twists and turns ( like the Supreme Court, quangos etc.) put in by previous Labour govt. are as ideological as this Labour govt. And were intended to scupper opposition to marxism for all time.
Our sins of omission ( govt. and voting population) have left us trussed up like a Winterval lentil loaf.
October 8, 2024
Yes JM. It will be interesting to see their loyalty on display as Lammy has no loyalty to the UK.
JR said “Successive Conservative Foreign Secretaries were asked to look at the case”
“Asked to look at the case” by whom?
Reply By officials helping the UN global establishment and Mauritius by giving some credibility to their arguments.
October 8, 2024
You canât expect a man who believes that Henry VII succeeded Henry VIII to have any concept of geopolitics.
October 8, 2024
Henceforth ALL decisions will be based on ideology.
Nothing else!
No nice cuddly Labour beer and sandwiches and love of working people.
( Never was actually..but this is MarxistâŠgloves off!)
Puzzles me though.
In the last day or so one or two EXCELLENT pre âelectionâSunak videos have emerged in which he lays out with total accuracy exactly what we would get with a Labour govt. ( I knew but others didnât)
I CERTAINLY DID NOT SEE THEM BEFORE THE ELECTION
Why the poor little man in the rain?
Why werenât those vids emblazoned across the skies??
Why didnât he just WAIT for the rainbow?
Who pushed him out into the rain??
October 8, 2024
âThey then seek to pretend it is a great result with the US in support. Of course the US is being helpful to an ally but they must be thinking what a mistake this is.â
The current US administration is as keen to destroy their country as our Uniparty is to destroy the UK. They too have the policies of Net Zero and uncontrolled immigration , legal and illegal.
October 8, 2024
âMauritius is a friend of China with substantial borrowings from China to build infrastructure and a substantial trade with China.â
What direct pressure did China apply to the UK?
Cutting off the supply of steel, evs, wind turbines, solar panels and the metals and minerals for motors, generators, batteries and cabling? Removing their 150,000 âstudentsâ in UK universities?
October 8, 2024
Another example of labour wishing to discontinue any link with the past when the UK was truly global power – it also shows arrogance beyond measure as they try to assert their power and fail miserably. They have never been known to have any diplomatic skills.
Labour have no idea how to manage resources, get the best out of negotiations/ organisations or even run a large economy – perhaps that is one reason they want to shrink us down to size and make so much less of what we were. All very woke.
Even when they get us down to a 3rd world country on par with Cuba will they be content to stop the destruction. Labour mentality is that akin to a death wish. They know they can’t make thing better – they just don’t have the capability, but they are very good at wrecking the essence of anything that was once positive.
October 8, 2024
I get the distinct impression this is a Foreign Office stitch up . They got weak minded Tory Foreign Secretaries, like Cleverly, to go along with ‘negotiations’ rather than telling the UN court to get lost. They probably sold it to him to showing willing and currying faith with the ‘Global South’ but nothing need come of it, while their agenda was , when the opportunity arose, to give away the Chagos Islands. To give Cameron his dues he stopped it , but clearly the FO saw their opportunity when Lammy was appointed, his identity politics and anti colonialism was an easy thing to exploit .
This is after all the game the FO has played time and time again. They gave the Argentinians the idea that the Falklands were up for grabs, and that resulted in us having to take them back by force. Our ambassador to Spain was negotiating to allow armed Spanish guards to be stationed on Gibraltar, and when Raab found out he was furious , but it was Raab who had to resign for bullying the ambassador , and of course the whole EU project, the sell out of our country, was a FO project, with them hatching the plot to stab Mrs T in the back when she said ‘No, No, No ‘ to what was being proposed.
The Foreign Office is well named, for it sure as heck isn’t the British interests Office, in fact they look down their noses at us, and find it insulting that this wonderful Roll Royce of a service they offer is shackled to such a small country.
October 8, 2024
According to David Lammy Foreign Secretary, during his statement to the commons yesterday, we are handing over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands following a judgement from the UN âŠ..isnât it time we left the UN
October 8, 2024
China has undue influence on united nations
https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/mixed-report-card-china-s-influence-united-nations
October 8, 2024
One wouldn’t expect the Starmer government to have any regard for the national interest, but it might have had a care for India’s. This is a clear strategy on the part of China to encircle India.
October 8, 2024
So “Mauritius is a friend of China with substantial borrowings from China to build infrastructure and a substantial trade with China” – much like the U.K. then although we have not yet managed to get the soft loans?
October 8, 2024
..and why did the UN allow Mauritius to claim the Chagos Island …..we took them off France 300 years ago
October 8, 2024
There is a lot wrong with the spin as such it has become a pack of lies. The Chagos Islands were never a possession of Mauritius. So how can something they never had be handed back? The Chagos Islanders as is customary were never consulted as to the hand over, and it would appear as the original inhabitants they will not be allowed back home.
The man working for the Mauritius on the legal side of stealing the archipelago is well known to 2TK, apparently they are part of the same Legal Chamber – which suggest based on track record another backdoor stitch is taking place. One Law for Kier and another for the rest.
October 8, 2024
In 2012 Simon Reeve made a documentary about the Indian Ocean for BBC2.
He visited East Africa, Seychelles, Sri Lanka and North West Australia. In all these places the Chinese were funding and building new ports.
This was 12 years ago. Chinese think long. Unfortunately, our leaders only think about their own short term interests
October 8, 2024
It would be more than reasonable that if a change was necessary it should be the Chagos Islanders that gets to make the decision – or are they classed as non-human a non-people?
The overlords that have become the Political Class ignore those, particularly those that are affected
October 8, 2024
Completely agree.
October 8, 2024
Spot on, Sir John. Adding: Starmer in his total decrepitude and deceitfulness of mind (btw, not his fault..This is part of his fate)..sought to carry matters out when Parliament was in recess. Worra plonker the man is. Dangerous and treacherous to boot. The word ‘treason’ comes to mind. Look what was always done with traitors…Bring the notion back. It would calm a few political idiots’ feeble and febrile minds…
October 8, 2024
It seems unlikely, but there could be method in the governmentâs madness for getting rid of the Chagos Islands.
Apparently the islands have become a destination for âirregularâ migration from Sri Lanka. Clearly this could become yet another migrant route to the UK.
There is also the thought that the less military bases we have in far flung parts of the world, the less opportunities are provided for our government to spend our money meddling in foreign conflicts.
October 8, 2024
The Royal Prerogative must be abolished.
October 8, 2024
YES
October 8, 2024
Just another example of the increasingly authoritarian stance this government is taking, things being ill thought through and with an increasing lack of transparency & arrogance. Just another demonstration of what has already been stated at other times, that they / he have / has no intention of giving us a running commentary on things. To bypass Parliament with no chance of debating the bigger picture and what appears to us plebs as having cast aside the status, opinions and considerations for the future of the thousands of Chagossians here is utter failure on all counts.
October 8, 2024
What does it tell us about our education system that Starmer and Lammy can make this decision? Likewise, the previous government that started the negotiation also had a lousy education.
Where there is no vision, the people perish, and the last conservative and this Labour government lack vision.
Have we ever had such low-calibre leaders? I felt Sunak, Hunt, and Cameron were useless, with not a conservative bone or thought between them! But in less than three months, we have seen that Starmer, Reeves, and Lammy are even worse. They do not have a long-term strategic thought between them all. And that is before Mad Ed Net Zero destroys the UK on the altar of a non-existent threat of Global Warming/Climate Change, which has been going on for thousands of years!
October 8, 2024
To use an excuse that we are better off leasing the base for 99 years with an annual rental, than owning it outright without any payment, is so irrational it could only come from a Labour Government desperate to signal their shame at our colonial history.
Furthermore, why do the few people who migrated there from Africa have any more right to it than the British who migrated there? As to a territory a 1,000 miles away should have any claim is beyond me.
October 8, 2024
I’m glad you wrote that, Michael; I’ve been thinking the same thing. When the British took over from the French, why didn’t we return the slaves once we freed them to their homeland?
Do immigrants to a nation own the land after a certain number of years living there, taking over landowners’ rights with no payment? So, with the migration levels to London as they are, when the UK is regionalised, who will own the UK’s capital city and have the rights over the land?
October 8, 2024
Latest opinion poll
“The poll, conducted between Oct 5-7 put Labour on 29 per cent of the vote and the Tories narrowly behind on 28 per cent.” when we thought it was the worst, most corrupt Government on record yet they are still ahead of the faux Conservatives, who want continuity and have a desire to stay in step as a wing of the UniParty. We have been disenfranchised and we are being deliberately pushed and forced towards Reform no matter how disjointed, and a marmite party they may seem. All because the Parliamentary Group of faux Conservatives haven’t recognised being shadows of liberal Democrats/One Nationalists has nothing to do with aligning with the centre ground of the UK People, the People that are Conservatives in actions and deeds each and every day. Conservatism isn’t Left or Right, it is just practical management, the releasing of people to excel to the best of ‘their’ abilities. These faux Conservatives have yet to own up to its them personally that lost the election and recognise their failings.
Even expecting them to stand up to the tyranny of labour would at best be tokenism, the believe in the same WEF Socialism as Labour and the LibDems – they don’t believe in the UK and its people so how could they start to represent them. Oh, I expect like labour they just want to ‘rule’ for personal self gratification.
What chance have the Chagos Islanders got to be defended and protected.
October 8, 2024
“No news is good news” especially under Labour past and present since the 1960s.
I always check SJR ‘s blog to reassure myself that there is still some sanity still left in this great country of ours that has always been regarded as a yardstick / standard and beacon of hope for millions of people around the world who have less developed rulers and governments.
Britain balances the old wisdom of the East and the sometimes Wild West having the a leading World Power before the USA , to the envy of many.
It now risks losing this legacy as Starmer and Lammy appear as classic useful idiots and tools, puppets and Muppets who try Pope -like in pontificating how the World should be on a range of issues they know little about. This is even more concerning since they are apprentices in just running our own country!
Biden now appears to be request the Chagos be handed over otherwise it will damage the Special Relationship! Madness from Biden not just from the UK view but for the USA.
A familiar pattern like the Democrats wanted us to be in the dreaded lethargic EU or back of the queue Obama, no thank you.