Keir Starmer faces another round of US diplomacy after Donald Trump attacked the UK’s Chagos Islands deal a day after his administration said he supported it.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, the US president said the deal to hand sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius was “a big mistake” due to the presence of a joint UK-US military base.
The plans would see the UK lease back the base on Diego Garcia, but Trump described this arrangement as “tenuous” and “no good”.
Claiming the base could be vital for a US strike against Iran, and warning that Tehran could attack the UK, Mr Trump urged Sir Keir: “DO NOT GIVE AWAY DIEGO GARCIA!”
His comments came a day after the US State Department said it supported the deal that would return the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius.
But it also comes after former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, a vocal critic of the Chagos deal, returned from a trip to Washington where he discussed the plans with members of the Trump administration.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch retweeted reports of Iain’s trip with the comment “strong team”.
Trump’s post is the latest change in his position on the Chagos deal.
Earlier in February, he had backed the proposals, saying Sir Keir’s deal was “the best he could make”.
That statement came a week after Trump had described the deal as “an act of great stupidity” amid the row over his attempts to annex Greenland, despite his administration previously backing the agreement.
UK shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel said the president’s outburst was “an utter humiliation” for the Prime Minister.
She said: “It’s time Starmer finally saw sense, U-turned and scrapped this appalling deal altogether.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said Trump was “right” and urged the UK prime minister to cancel the deal or risk “alienating our most important ally”.
The deal is expected to see the UK pay Mauritius around £35 billion over the next century – an average cost of £350 million a year – to lease back the Diego Garcia base.
The UK government says the future of the base has been threatened by recent international court decisions.
A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “The deal to secure the joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia is crucial to the security of the UK and our key allies, and to keeping the British people safe.
“The agreement we have reached is the only way to guarantee the long-term future of this vital military base.”