Sir Keir Starmer on Friday defended his deal handing back control of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, insisting it would safeguard the future of a “hugely important” UK-US military base.
UK envoy Jonathan Powell also slammed Conservative critics of the Prime Minister’s deal, saying the US was fully on board, that it was first negotiated by the Tories, and that claims it pushes Mauritius closer to China are “rubbish”.
Tony Blair’s former chief of staff was last month appointed a special envoy for sovereignty talks with Mauritius. They culminated with Thursday’s announcement by Sir Keir that the UK is to hand back the remote British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos archipelago) to Mauritius.
However, crucially, Britain and the United States will retain control of the Chagos island of Diego Garcia, where the allies have a strategically vital naval and air base, for at least 99 years in return for rental payments to the government of Mauritius.
Answering media questions during a visit to a business in Cheshire, the PM said: “The single most important thing was ensuring that we had a secure base, the joint US-UK base; hugely important to the US, hugely important to us.
“We’ve now secured that and that is why you saw such warm words from the US yesterday,” he said, after President Joe Biden hailed the deal as “historic”.
Mr Powell conceded that he was not involved in any discussion with Chagos Islanders who have been campaigning for years to return to their homes after some 1,500 people were evicted from Diego Garcia in the late 1960s to make way for the base, when the rest of Mauritius won independence from the UK.
Argentina meanwhile welcomed the deal as a potential precedent for reclaiming the Falkland Islands from Britain - to the anger of the South Atlantic islanders. Gibraltar’s leaders also denied any implications for the Spanish-claimed rock’s own future sovereignty.
Sir Keir was asked about the other UK overseas territories but did not answer.
The Times reported that the Mauritius agreement was clinched despite misgivings from some US officials, and it has been slammed by Conservative leadership hopefuls as a surrender that risks playing into China’s hands.
But speaking on Times Radio, the UK envoy rubbished the newspaper story, saying “a disgruntled former Tory minister” could have been the source.
US officials were “intimately involved” in the UK negotiations with Mauritius, according to Mr Powell, who played a central role in securing the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement for Northern Ireland.
He stressed: “Every single sentence and paragraph has been through an inter-agency process, all of the agencies in Washington. We’ve secured all of their red lines in that negotiation.”
Following a series of adverse international court rulings against Britain, the United States was keen to secure the long-term future of the base on Diego Garcia via a negotiated settlement with Mauritius.
And Mr Powell noted that the deal has been welcomed by President Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
“When you come to see the detailed treaty, which is really quite long with the exchanges of letters, you’ll see that this idea of a Chinese base is just hooey. It can’t happen, won’t happen,” he added.
“And also the fact that some of the newspapers have suggested Mauritius is an ally of China – it could hardly be further from the truth. Mauritius is very, very close to India and the Indians also have welcomed this agreement because they see it as so important for security in the Indian Ocean.”
Mauritius and China agreed a free trade agreement in 2019, Beijing’s first with an African country.
But Mr Powell said that Mauritius remained one of only two countries in Africa that had stayed out of China’s broader Belt and Road trade initiative.
“So this notion that we’ve somehow given the Chagos Islands to an ally of China is rubbish, and anyway the negotiations were started by the previous Tory government.”
The deal’s critics include Boris Johnson - who told GB News that it was “crazy” - and Tory leadership contender James Cleverly.
But allies of former PM Liz Truss stressed that as foreign secretary, she was directed by Mr Johnson to explore the possibility of negotiations, under US pressure.
The negotiations were then begun by Mr Cleverly when he was foreign secretary, before they were suspended by his successor Lord Cameron and then revived when Labour won the general election in July.
Mr Powell said that Mr Cleverly “deserves credit for starting those negotiations and leading them enthusiastically for quite a long time”.
Regarding the evicted islanders, the Foreign Office says the agreement covers UK funding for a programme of resettlement in Mauritius, but that they cannot return to Diego Garcia itself.
“The terms of resettlement will be for Mauritius to determine,” an FCDO spokesperson told the Standard.
“We have always been clear on the importance of respecting the interests of all Chagossians, and will finance a Trust Fund for Mauritius to use in support of the community. The UK will also continue to fund its own projects to support Chagossians.”
Some of the islanders settled in the West Sussex town of Crawley, and not all want to return, campaigning instead for better compensation to stay in Britain itself.
Frankie Bontemps, a second-generation Chagossian living in Crawley, told the BBC that he felt "betrayed" and "angry" at the news because "Chagossians have never been involved" in the negotiations.
"We remain powerless and voiceless in determining our own future", he said, calling for the full inclusion of Chagossians in drafting a treaty that will now be concluded by Mauritius and the UK.
