Nigel Farage warns Trump 'won't put up with' Chagos giveaway as Starmer faces huge pressure to axe treaty after pulling Lords vote
Nigel Farage has warned that Donald Trump will not 'put up with' the Chagos giveaway as Keir Starmer faces huge pressure to rethink.
The Reform leader insisted the US president had concluded the deal for the UK to hand the territory - including a key US military base - to Mauritius was the wrong decision.
The comments came after Parliamentary debate on the plan was delayed amid resistance from peers.
Mr Trump and the US administration strongly backed the agreement last year, but in a dramatic shift he branded it 'stupid' last week.
Sir Keir accused the Americans of changing stance as a pressure tactic amid the Nato spat over Greenland.
Mr Farage told the Times that he discussed the situation with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Davos.
'Scott has looked at all of this and has said it's not in our interests, it's not in the interests of the Western alliance and frankly we're not going to put up with it,' he said.
Nigel Farage has warned that Donald Trump will not 'put up with' the Chagos giveaway as Keir Starmer faces huge pressure to rethink
Mr Farage said he discussed the situation with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Davos
'Donald has been obsessed with the Middle East, Iran, Ukraine, you name it.
'This has been seen necessarily to be an item six agenda. Now it is up the agenda.
'They could not have been clearer about how they feel about it: they are horrified about it.'
The Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill has been postponed after the Conservatives tabled an amendment calling for a pause 'in light of the changing geopolitical circumstances'.
In the amendment, the Tories demanded the Government ensure the Chagos deal does not breach a 1966 treaty signed with the US which confirms British sovereignty of the islands.
The archipelago in the Indian Ocean will be handed over to Mauritius under the deal.
But Britain will lease back a military base on the island of Diego Garcia, which is jointly used with the US, for at least 99 years. The total cost to the UK has been estimated at around £30billion.
It is not yet clear when the Bill will return to the House of Lords to be debated and complete its passage through Parliament.
Sir Keir has accused Mr Trump of changing stance on Chagos as a pressure tactic amid the Nato spat over Greenland
A Labour source in the Lords said Mr Trump's remarks had no bearing on the decision to reschedule the Bill for another day.
They said: 'It is simply a response to Tory peers having flexed their much greater numbers in the House by tabling a wrecking amendment to a Government Bill just hours before the end of business ahead of a scheduled debate on the next sitting day.'
The Conservatives' Bill amendment would also ensure ministers give the Chagossian people, banished from the islands in the 1960s and 1970s, a 'formal' say over the deal.
