Nigel Farage has claimed that Donald Trump’s administration will impose tariffs on the UK because of Keir Starmer’s attempts to give the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
But Downing Street has hit back stating the allegation is “codswallop”.
The claim came during in a Reform UK press conference following an urgent question in Parliament on the bid to return the islands to Mauritius.
During Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Sir Keir insisted that those privy to national security advice would know why the controversial deal needs to go forward. But Mr Farage suggested that that advice, coming from national security adviser Jonathan Powell, was based on “lies”.
It came as the prime minister of Mauritius, Navin Ramgoolam, issued an urgent clarification correcting claims the price of leasing back the UK/US airbase on the islands had doubled to £18 billion.
Mr Farage raised the issue of Chagos after being asked whether he supported Trump’s plans to take over Gaza and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
Noting Trump’s early successes by threatening tariffs on Panama, Canada and Mexico, he said: “[Trump] views tariffs as a transactional tool. The worry is that if the Chagos deal continues and when the Americans wake up to the lies they have been told by Jonathan Powell, that we will be included in the tariff regime that comes from the European Union.”
In a one word answer, a Downing Street source told The Independent that Mr Farage’s suggestion was “codswallop”.
It came after Kemi Badenoch’s spokesman has admitted that she had not received an official briefing on the details of the Chagos deal before launching a blistering attack on Keir Starmer during PMQs based on incorrect information.
The Tory leader had accused the prime minister of “an immoral surrender” on the deeply controversial plan to hand over the Indian Ocean islands to Mauritius and spend billions leasing back the UK/US airbase on Diego Garcia.
But the PM retorted that if Ms Badenoch was not properly briefed then “she is not doing her job, she is not concerned about national security and she is not fit to be prime minister”.
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And after PMQs, Ms Badenoch’s spokesman admitted she had not asked for or received a briefing on the deal even though one was available to her.
He said: “Kemi Badenoch sat in the Cabinet until six months ago, she talks to (former foreign secretary) James Cleverly, she knows the details behind this case.
"That does not preclude her from pointing out that spending £18 billion to give away our own territory is an utter disgrace."
The prime minister came under fire from Mr Farage and Ms Badenoch over the deal, which critics have said compromises security and defence and comes at a huge cost.
At PMQs, Ms Badenoch said “when Labour negotiates, our country loses”, adding that the money being spent on the deal “belongs to our children and their children”.
The Reform UK leader questioned why 25,000 of his constituents in Clacton are having their winter fuel payments taken away while the government prepares to pay Mauritius up to £18 billion to lease back a key military base on the archipelago.
The Conservatives and Mr Farage also highlighted the non-binding nature of the ruling from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Britain was illegally occupying the islands, home to the joint UK-US Diego Garcia base.
Hitting back at critics of the deal, Sir Keir said: “This is a military base that is vital to our national security and international security. A number of years ago, the legal certainty of that base was thrown into doubt.
“Without legal certainty, the base cannot operate in practical terms as it should, that is bad for our national security, and it is a gift to our adversaries.”
Sir Keir said those raising questions about the necessity of the deal have not been briefed properly on it, pointing out that negotiations began under the previous Conservative government.
Earlier, shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel called on the prime minister to stop discussions over the Indian Ocean archipelago “full stop”.
Her colleague, shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick, went further, describing Sir Keir as a “quisling”, a term for someone who collaborates with an occupying force in their own country
Ms Patel’s comments came amid growing opposition to the deal in Sir Keir’s cabinet, with the PM’s top team reportedly increasingly concerned about the optics of handing huge sums to Mauritius to give up control of the islands while Britain’s public finances are squeezed.
Despite disputing the £18 billion figure, and numerous pledges to publish the cost of the deal by ministers in the Commons, officials would not commit to going ahead with that pledge.
The reports followed an answer in the Mauritian parliament by Mr Ramgoolam where he stated that an agreement would be signed between the UK and Mauritius regarding Chagos.
However, he added that the British are still waiting for the approval of the Trump administration.
And, in a blow to Sir Keir’s hopes of passing the agreement in the coming weeks, a White House spokesperson told The Independent that President Trump has not given it his blessing.
There are serious concerns about the top secret joint US/UK airbase on Diego Garcia and the potential for Chinese interference if the UK gives up sovereignty on the islands.
A White House official said: “The Trump administration continues to review the British government’s agreement with Mauritius and potential implications for Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia.”
