Badenoch and Farage in bitter spat over Chagos Islands, as she calls his offer to Trump ‘humiliating’
While Andy Burnham prepares for PMQs, he may be amused by a peculiar row that has broken out between Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch, the leaders of the two most prominent rightwing opposition parties. It is about the Chagos Islands – a subject on which until recently the Tories and Reform UK were united in their opposition to Labour’s proposed deal transferring sovereignty to Mauritius.
The Telegraph has a story by Genevieve Holl-Allen quoting what Farage, the Reform UK leader, recently told a US podcast. He said he would have handed it over to President Trump. Farage said:
I’d have gone in and said, ‘Right, you know what, mate? Chagos, it’s yours. Diego Garcia, in perpetuity, the most strategic American military base in the world, which it is.
Outside mainland America, Diego is the most important thing America has for nuclear subs, for long-range bombers, for all of it.
I’d have said, ‘Right, I’m guaranteeing you that. I’m giving up on this surrender. In return, just please stop talking about the Falkland Islands. I know you like [Argentina’s president Javier] Milei, but this really matters to us’. And there’s a trade, you see.
I give him something. I ask for something back. He’d get that. He’d understand that. He’s a businessman. He’s a trader.
The Telegraph put these remarks to Badenoch, and its story leads off on her reaction. The Tory leader said:
Giving away British territory in return for someone keeping quiet is not a deal. It is humiliating.
There is no pride in our country in the way he talks about us. This is careless, loose talk from a man who wants to be responsible for Britain’s national security.
The Chagos Islands are British. And the Falklands are British and will remain British, irrespective of what the American president says. When Donald Trump is right, we should say so. When he is wrong, we should have the confidence to tell him.
Last night Farage hit back, claiming the Telegraph, and Badenoch, had misinterpreted what he had said. He was not really talking about giving the US the whole of the Chagos Islands, he said; he was just proposing guaranteed use of the Diego Garcia military base in perpetuity (which is close to what Labour is offering the US anyway). Farage said:
This is totally dishonest journalism. I make it clear that I am opposed to the surrender of sovereignty to Mauritius. I would offer the use of Diego Garcia to the USA in perpetuity. In return I would want America to go quiet on the Falklands.
No one has fought harder to save the Chagos Islands from being given away than I have, unlike the Tories and Labour trying to give them away. I have even helped repopulate the islands with Chagossians.
Key events
Lib Dem MPs’ meeting ‘mostly show of strength’ for Ed Davey, MP says
As my colleague Peter Walker predicted, the Lib Dem MPs’ ‘crisis meeting’ about the future of Ed Davey as leader last night went nowhwere in the end. Chris Mason from the BBC has a good story about it here. Here’s an extract.
The Liberal Democrat leader arrived smiling, flanked by several loyal MPs, but made no comment as he entered the room.
Nearly four hours later, when the meeting broke up, his deputy Daisy Cooper said: “There is overwhelming support for Ed in the parliamentary party and a real sense that we need to come together as a group.”
Earlier, behind closed doors, we understand Sir Ed told his MPs: “We have made changes. I am happy to embrace more changes. I want us to work as a united front.” Another tacit nod to things being less than united recently.
The Lib Dem MP Bobby Dean has been giving interviews this morning. He told Sky News that the meeting was “mostly it was a show of strength for Ed, really, a lot of people behind [him]. I know that there were some individuals that came out [to criticise Davey] in the last week, but it really isn’t the group feeling.”
Here are more comments from Kemi Badenoch on what Nigel Farage told a US podcast about wanting to make an offer to President Trump in relation to the Chagos Islands. (See 9.56am.)
It is mad for someone who wants to be prime minister to say we should give away one piece of British territory just to stop an American President talking about another …
Nigel Farage has made such a huge fuss about defending the Chagos Islands. He calls this making a deal. Giving away British territory in return for someone keeping quiet is not a deal. It is humiliating.
What Badenoch/Farage Chagos row reveals about contest between Tories and Reform UK
While in some respects the Nigel Farage/Kemi Badenoch Chagos Islands row (see 9.56am) is just a slightly manufactured spat between two leaders who are not in a position to decide the future of the Chagos Islands anyway, it is revealing about the state of opposition politics, in three respects.
First, this is further evidence that the fight between the Tories and Reform UK is increasingly bitter. Here they are arguing over a policy where, essentially, their views are very similar. This time last year there was informal talk of a potential pact. Now there is an acrimonious fight to be the dominant party on the right.
Second, it is interesting that Badenoch keen to attack Farage on the grounds of his closeness to Donald Trump. Two years ago, Badenoch found it hard to say a bad word about the US president. But, as Trump gets every more erratic and unpopular, Badenoch is increasingly willing to say he’s wrong – and having him as a friend becomes ever more of a problem for the Reform UK leader.
And, third, this is further evidence that papers like the Telegraph, the Daily Mail and the Sun, which until recently were probably more pro-Farage than pro-Conservative, and now siding more with Badenoch’s party. (Farage was complaining about this at his press conference on Monday.)
Badenoch and Farage in bitter spat over Chagos Islands, as she calls his offer to Trump ‘humiliating’
While Andy Burnham prepares for PMQs, he may be amused by a peculiar row that has broken out between Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch, the leaders of the two most prominent rightwing opposition parties. It is about the Chagos Islands – a subject on which until recently the Tories and Reform UK were united in their opposition to Labour’s proposed deal transferring sovereignty to Mauritius.
The Telegraph has a story by Genevieve Holl-Allen quoting what Farage, the Reform UK leader, recently told a US podcast. He said he would have handed it over to President Trump. Farage said:
I’d have gone in and said, ‘Right, you know what, mate? Chagos, it’s yours. Diego Garcia, in perpetuity, the most strategic American military base in the world, which it is.
Outside mainland America, Diego is the most important thing America has for nuclear subs, for long-range bombers, for all of it.
I’d have said, ‘Right, I’m guaranteeing you that. I’m giving up on this surrender. In return, just please stop talking about the Falkland Islands. I know you like [Argentina’s president Javier] Milei, but this really matters to us’. And there’s a trade, you see.
I give him something. I ask for something back. He’d get that. He’d understand that. He’s a businessman. He’s a trader.
The Telegraph put these remarks to Badenoch, and its story leads off on her reaction. The Tory leader said:
Giving away British territory in return for someone keeping quiet is not a deal. It is humiliating.
There is no pride in our country in the way he talks about us. This is careless, loose talk from a man who wants to be responsible for Britain’s national security.
The Chagos Islands are British. And the Falklands are British and will remain British, irrespective of what the American president says. When Donald Trump is right, we should say so. When he is wrong, we should have the confidence to tell him.
Last night Farage hit back, claiming the Telegraph, and Badenoch, had misinterpreted what he had said. He was not really talking about giving the US the whole of the Chagos Islands, he said; he was just proposing guaranteed use of the Diego Garcia military base in perpetuity (which is close to what Labour is offering the US anyway). Farage said:
This is totally dishonest journalism. I make it clear that I am opposed to the surrender of sovereignty to Mauritius. I would offer the use of Diego Garcia to the USA in perpetuity. In return I would want America to go quiet on the Falklands.
No one has fought harder to save the Chagos Islands from being given away than I have, unlike the Tories and Labour trying to give them away. I have even helped repopulate the islands with Chagossians.
Burnham says UK to increase supply of anti-drone missiles to Ukraine, ahead of PMQs and Zelenskyy meeting
Good morning. Andy Burnham is taking PMQs this afternoon, but he will regard his most important engagement as the meeting he has with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, later in No 10. Peter Walker has a preview.
When Keir Starmer talked about his best achievements as PM, he said one of the things he was most proud of was being able to embrace Zelenskyy outside No 10 only 24 hours after President Trump humiliated him in the Oval Office, in what was a moving and unequivocal show of British support for Ukraine at a moment of peril. The circumstances are not exactly the same today, but Trump called for Zelenskyy to be replaced at the weekend, and – again – Burnham is signalling that, if Ukraine cannot always rely on Washington, it can rely on London.
In an overnight statement, Burnham said:
Our rock-solid support to Ukraine is vital for keeping us safe here in the UK and ensuring those on the frontlines have the equipment they need to push back Russia.
My message to the Ukrainian people could not be clearer, we are with you for as long as it takes, and we will go further and faster in our support to back your courageous fight for peace in Europe.
It is not just the right thing to do, but it’s the necessary thing to do. Russia’s aggression cannot be allowed to succeed on our continent.
Burnham is also announcing that the UK will “accelerate deliveries of British Lightweight Multirole Missiles (LMMs), which have proven extremely effective against jet-powered drones that are being used to strike far beyond the front lines in Ukraine, including Kyiv and beyond.” No 10 says:
The [Russian] drones are faster and can fly far higher than propeller-driven Shaheds, making them harder to detect and destroy before they hit targets.
The UK has already committed £1.6 billion to deliver more than 5,000 LMMs to Ukraine over the next four years and will accelerate £10m of the £45m package of missiles announced today to meet Ukraine’s most urgent winter requirements.
Here is the agenda for the day.
10.30am: Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser, gives evidence to the Lords constitution committee on constitutional safeguards.
Noon: Andy Burnham faces Kemi Badenoch at PMQs.
After 12.30pm: MPs debate a Tory opposition day motion saying that the government should not place asylum seekers in a military camp near Piddington, and that it should “withdraw from the European convention on human rights in order to deport illegal migrants”.
Afternoon: Burnham hosts Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, in Downing Street.
3pm: Miatta Fahnbulleh, the energy secretary, gives evidence to the Commons energy committee.
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