Afternoon summary
Keir Starmer is reportedly refusing to allow Donald Trump to send US bombers to attack Iran from British bases, including Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands. That is said to be the reason for Trump’s latest attack on the Chagos Islands deal. The government has not denied the reports, and issued a statement saying: “As routine, we do not comment on operational matters.” The Conservatives say Stamer should let Trump use British bases to attack Iran, while the Liberal Democrats have accused Trump of trying to bully the UK, and say MPs should get a vote on any proposal to let the US launch bombing raids from British bases. (See 4.40pm.)
For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.
Updated
Jenrick sent his Reform UK economy speech to George Osborne seeking his approval
Robert Jenrick, the new Reform UK Treasury spokesperson, sent a copy of his economy speech yesterday to his former Tory colleague, George Osborne, the former chancellor revealed on his Political Currency podcast. He was keen to get Osborne’s approval. And Osborne told him he did agree with the policies in the speech – but not any of Reform UK’s other ones.
Ben Bloch from Sky News has posted the exchange.
Robert Jenrick texted a copy of his speech on the economy to George Osborne after he gave it yesterday, the former chancellor reveals on @polcurrency.
Reform’s new Treasury spokesperson said he hopes Osborne will “approve” of it.
Jenrick wrote in full: “George, trust you’re well. Here’s a copy of a speech I gave today on the economy.
“It commits to the OBR and to fiscal responsibility, which I hope you will approve of.”
Osborne responded on his podcast: “I say yes, I do. Although I’m not sure I approve of much else in the Reform programme.”
Updated
Tories say Starmer should let Trump dispatch US bombers to Iran from British bases
The Conservative party has also responded to the Times story. (See 4.40pm.) They say Keir Starmer should let the Americans launch a bombing attack against Iran from Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands.
James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, said:
Iran’s nuclear programme has been a grave threat to Britain and our allies. That is why Conservatives supported the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities last summer. Iran must never obtain a nuclear bomb.
While speculative, if the US judges that further action is needed to deal with that specific threat, and if again we believe such action is in our national interest and to protect vital UK security interests, then we should grant the use of our bases if and where required, including RAF bases in the UK, and Diego Garcia.
Ed Davey accuses Trump of 'trying to bully UK' over Chagos Islands because he wants to attack Iran from Diego Garcia
The Times is reporting that Donald Trump issued his latest diatribe about the UK’s Chagos Islands deal (see 9.34am) because Keir Starmer is not letting the US use Diego Garcia to bomb Iran.
In their story, Oliver Wright, George Grylls and Geraldine Scott say:
The White House is drawing up detailed military plans for a strike against Iran involving the use of both Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, which is home to America’s fleet of heavy bombers in Europe.
Under the terms of long-standing agreements with Washington, these bases can only be used for military operations that have been agreed in advance with the government.
The Times understands that the UK is yet to give permission for the US to use the bases in the event that Trump orders a strike on Iran, owing to concerns that it would be a breach of international law which makes no distinction between a state carrying out the attack and those in support if the latter have “knowledge of the circumstances of the internationally wrongful act”.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has accused Trump of bullying the UK, and called for MPs to get a vote on the use of UK bases by US forces.
It’s now clear Donald Trump is trying to bully the government into letting the US use UK bases like Diego Garcia to pursue unilateral military action.
Keir Starmer needs to stand strong and give parliament a vote on the use of UK bases by US forces.
A Lib Dem source said that Davey is proposing letting the Commons vote on any decision to let the US launch a military attack from a British base – not a more general vote on removing the Americans for good from UK military bases.
Updated
Plaid Cymru drops its 2035 net zero target for Wales
Plaid Cymru has announced that it is dropping its target to achieve net zero carbon emissions in Wales by 2035. As the BBC reports, Plaid backed this target in 2021 and reaffirmed it in its manifesto at the last general election. But Rhun ap Iorwerth, the party’s leader, told Radio Wales:
I think most people now can see that 2035 isn’t realistic.
We are very, very close. Time rolls by, and we have to take a pragmatic look at that.
I think everything points to needing to be a point in the future where we need to keep an eye on the prize.
Politics Weekly - with Peter Walker revealing what happened when he challenged Farage over insult to FT journalist
The lastest episode of the Guardian’s Politics Weekly podcast is out. It features Kiran Stacey and Peter Walker taking about the Reform UK press conference on Tuesday, and the appointment of Antonia Romeo as cabinet secretary and it’s here.
Peter was at the Reform press conference and, as well as discussing what Nigel Farage’s response to a question from the FT journalist Anna Gross tells us about his attitude to women, he reveals that what happened when he spoke to Farage about it afterwards.
Peter says they met near the lift as they both left the building once the press conference was over and Peter, who has known Farage for quite a while, told him that what he had said to Gross was rude. Farage didn’t accept that. Peter then said what Farage said had been upsetting for Gross, and at that point Farage replied: “Good.”
Updated
Reform UK claims splitting role of cabinet secretary 'vital precondition for restoring good government'
Reform UK has said, if it forms a government, it will appoint three cabinet secretary-type figures – instead of just having one.
Danny Kruger, who is head of Reform’s preparing for government unit, set out the plan in a statement responding to the appointment of Antonia Romeo as cabinet secretary.
Reform’s main plan for the civil service involves slashing civil service jobs.
But Kruger argues that new posts need to be created in Downing Street because, under the current system, the cabinet secretary has three roles anyway.
He says:
The cabinet secretary currently does three distinct jobs: operational management of the cabinet and cabinet committees; leadership of the 500,000-strong civil service; and chief adviser to the prime minister.
This is far too much executive responsibility for a single civil servant, and helps explain the chronic bureaucracy and misgovernment of Britain.
Under a Reform government these three roles will be fulfilled by three different people …
Separating these roles and putting the right people into them is a vital precondition for restoring good government to Britain.
This idea has been tried before. When David Cameron was PM, in 2012 he appointed Bob Kerslake to be head of the civil service, while Jeremy Heywood was cabinet secretary. The experiment was not judged a success and, when Kerslake left, Heywood took over the head of the civil service role and the two jobs were again combined.
The only person in recent years to have used the title chief adviser to the prime minister was Dominic Cummings, who worked for Boris Johnson. That was because he declined to accept the job of chief of staff. But in practice he was chief of staff, and the job described by Kruger is one that has been done for most of the last 30 years by Downing Street political aides with the chief of staff title.
Ex-cabinet secretary defends Romeo in light of bullying claims, saying civil service 'too soft' on poor performers
Gus O’Donnell, a former cabinet secretary, has defended Antonia Romeo in the face of claims that she has bullied staff in the past.
Romeo was appointed to O’Donnell’s old job despite the fact that she faced accusations of bullying relating to her time as consul general in New York in 2017. There was an investigation, but Romeo was cleared.
Speaking on Radio 4’s the World at One, O’Donnell welcomed Romeo’s appointment as “excellent”.
Asked specifically about the allegations of bullying, and whether he thought “a tough approach” would be welcome in that job, he replied:
I’m always in favour – and I think I’m there with the vast bulk of civil servants – that actually we need to do better at managing performance.
I think we’ve been possibly too soft – all of those really hard-working civil servants who are finding they’re alongside someone who’s actually maybe being paid more and is just coasting, then I’m all for us, yes, being a bit tougher, to be honest.
O’Donnell was also asked about a report saying that in 2017 Romeo had repaid travel expenses that she had claimed relating to the time in New York.
He replied:
All of us along the way will make mistakes. They have investigated all of these things.
When you get to the top of the civil service, you have to make tough decisions. You have to deal with difficult areas.
I remember starting a survey in the civil service when we looked at the issues around the civil service, and the biggest thing the civil service said was what we are bad at is handling poor performance.
So we do need someone who’s going to be quite robust in that and a reformer. And I think in Antonio will get that.
O’Donnell also said in some respects Romeo was better qualified for the job than he was.
We have now a permanent secretary who has done something [where] actually I had a gap in my CV, which was not doing delivery enough.
I was very much a policy wonk, let’s be honest.
And now we’ve got someone who’s actually proved that she’s really good at policy and really good at delivery.
Updated
Tories claim there are 'serious unanswered questions' about Wormald's departure as cabinet secretary
The Conservative party has out a statement about the appointment of Antonia Romeo as cabinet secretary. This is from Neil O’Brien, the shadow minister for policy renewal and development.
In light of the shambles over the appointment of Peter Mandelson and the peerage given to Matthew Doyle, the government needs to spell out precisely what due diligence was undertaken of this new cabinet secretary.
There remain serious unanswered questions over why Sir Chris Wormald left government, and whether this was an attempt by 10 Downing Street to muzzle the response to parliament’s humble address on the Epstein-Mandelson files.
The claim that Wormald was forced out because Keir Starmer feared that he would collaborate with a Labour attempt to suppress the publication of Mandelson documents required under the humble address tabled by the Tories is a conspiracy theory for which there is no evidence. It is surprising that O’Brien seems to be taking it seriously.
In truth, sources had been briefing about Starmer wanting to replace Wormald for months. The immediate trigger for his departure was the resignation of Morgan McSweeney as the PM’s chief of staff, which created an opportunity for wholesale change in the leadership at the top of Downing Street.
Reform UK plan to rip up Equality Act shocking and un-British, says Starmer
Reform UK’s plans to repeal the Equality Act are “shocking” and un-British, Keir Starmer has said, warning legislation that has provided decades of protection for women would be ripped up. Jamie Grierson has the story.
Former Labour adviser Ben Judah says it will be 'tricky' for PM to finalise Chagos Islands deal given Trump's opposition
Ben Judah, an adviser to David Lammy when Lammy was foreign secretary, has explained in an interview with the Sun’s Harry Cole in some detail why the government signed the Chagos Islands deal. He told Cole’s YouTube TV show it was all about protecting the US/UK base on Diego Garcia, one of the main islands in the territory.
Judah said:
If I told you the full amount, or even half or even a quarter of what happens on that base, I would be taken away to HMP Gartree under the Official Secrets Act. It’s a really, really important base.
Once you know what it does, you start to get into this logic of, ‘Oh my God, we’ve got to do everything possible to make sure that this space stays ours for the next 10, 50, 100 years, everything possible.’
And then you look at map. It’s not just one island called Diego Garcia. That would make life a lot easier. There are 1,000 atols – a huge area of the earth that they’re covering.
And the American deep state … . They were looking at that map and going, ‘We really have a problem here.’ The Brits’ legal position, for lawfare reasons, historic reasons, campaigning reasons, is collapsing. They are very close – we could argue about how many court cases close – but close to that legal position collapsing completely, and the international community saying that’s occupied territory that belongs to Mauritius.
And then what happens to all of those other islands in this new great game? All it would take would be for Mauritius, broken with the West, to invite China into any one of those atolls. And how the hell do we get them out?
That’s the logic that the US military found itself in, that the American deep state, the CIA and the people like that, were in; wouldn’t it be better if there was some kind of deal where everything changes so everything stays the same, so what really matters – which is an exclusion zone around [the Diego Garcia base] – is rock solid?
Asked if the deal would survive, Judah said:
To use hospital terminology, I don’t think it is quite ‘not for resusc’, but it’s looking tricky for the government to get this deal through in the weeks and months ahead. President Trump’s made his views clear several times about this.
The Tories have claimed that Keir Starmer is “panicking” about his Chagos Islands deal. Responding to a report saying the goverment is delaying the next Lords debate on the Diego Garcia military base and British Indian Ocean Territory bill (see 11.02am), Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, said:
The government may say it will ‘pause for thought’, but the truth is that Starmer is panicking as his Chagos plan is blown wide open. It’s impossible for the deal to proceed without the support of our American allies, and Labour will soon run out of time to put anything before parliament.
Misley Mandarin, the leader of the group of four Chagossians who landed on an atol in the Chagos Islands on Monday and who describes himself as interim first minister of the Chagos Islands, has urged Keir Starmer to cancel the deal giving sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius.
In an interview with the Today programme this morning, Mandarin said:
I’ll say Keir Starmer, as my prime minister, you have to look at this treaty again.
British Chagossian on this island, yesterday you sent patrol to give us removal notice, the island belong to us. Harold Wilson did that … removing the Chagossian from their homeland and that is a stain on British politics but now it’s 2026, Keir Starmer, you could be a hero right now. Don’t ratify that deal, cancel that deal and let Chagossians come back to their homeland as British.
The UK government takes the view that the landing by Mandarin and his colleagues, on a place with no infrastracture, is a stunt intended to wreck the sovereignty handover and it has order the Chagossians to leave. But Reform UK and the Conservatives have backed the Chagossian settlers.
Prospect, a union that represents civil servants, has said that Antonia Romeo will need to engage with staff if she wants to change the civil service. Mike Clancy, the Prospect general secretary, said:
This is an important appointment at a crucial time for the civil service as the government continues with their reform agenda.
Civil servants and their trade unions want to be partners in reform, but this can only happen if we are properly engaged and if key barriers, such as pay progression for specialists, are acknowledged and addressed- this should be at the top of the cabinet secretary’s inbox.
Special needs support eligibility to be reviewed at start of secondary school in England
Children with a legal right to special needs support will face a review when they move to secondary school, with the first cohort to be impacted currently in key stage 1, Alexandra Topping and Richard Adams report.
Tories welcome 'screeching U-turn' as MoJ suspends plan to delete court records archive much used by journalists
The Conservatives have welcomed what they describe as “another screeching U-turn” after the government announced it was suspending an order for an archive of historic court records to be deleted.
Journalists have described the Courtsdesk service as invaluable. Courtsdesk, a private company, has a vast archive of court records, available electronically and easily searchable, which is widely used by journalists and campaigners. But it was ordered by the Ministry of Justice to delete the archive because of concerns about an AI company accessing private personal data.
Two weeks ago Sarah Sackman, a justice minister, defended the plans to wipe the archive in the Commons.
But last night, shortly before deletion was due to commence today, Courtdesk said it had been told to pause its plan to get rid of the information. Instead, the MoJ will work with the company on a new solution.
Courtdesk said:
BREAKING: UK Gov Legal Dept has written to us on behalf of HMCTS/MOJ asking us to pause deletion of our archive and engage in dialogue about a new licence. We are grateful for the opportunity to resolve it and have replied to confirm retention. More soon #OpenJustice #Courtsdesk
In a post on his Substack blog, Enda Leahy, the Courtsdesk CEO, said:
The government are right to be cautious and careful about how this data is handled and we are determined to show that it has never been put at risk by us.
We are responding to the letter from HMCTS [HM Courts and Tribunals Service] with the utmost urgency and in a spirit of full cooperation. We are genuinely hopeful that this marks the beginning of a constructive and lasting re-engagement.
We are grateful to the Ministry of Justice and HMCTS for initiating this dialogue and for the constructive tone of their letter. We will provide a full update as soon as we are able to do so.
Nick Timothy, the shadow justice secretary, said:
It’s another screeching U-turn from this flailing Labour government.
Under pressure from campaigners, journalists, survivors and the Conservatives, [David] Lammy is no longer hitting the delete button on court records. Courtsdesk has provided a vital service, and it is right that this vital database should be preserved.
If we are going to stop the rape gangs and expose other patterns of criminal behaviour, we need comprehensive and accurate data. But the sad truth is that the archive should never have been put at risk in the first place. David Lammy needs to get a grip of his department and put the public first.
One way of judging an appointment is, does it annoy the right people? On that basis, Guardian readers may be encouraged by the response to the news that Antonia Romeo has been made cabinet secretary. Allison Pearson, one of the Telegraph’s most rightwing commentators, is furious, describing Romeo as “woker than woke”. And GB News is on the warpath. Steven Edginton from GB News has posted a highly negative assessment of Romeo’s record here. Her offences include: “Promoted Guardian articles attacking Brexit.”
This is from the Spectator’s James Heale on Antonia Romeo replacing Chris Wormald.
Whitehall source messages re Wormald and Romeo: “The hare has finally beat the tortoise”
Updated
Minister says government wants Chagos Islands bill passed 'as soon as possible' despite Trump's outburst
Alex Davies-Jones, a justice minister, has said the government wants to pass the legislation implementing the Chagos Islands deal as soon as it can – despite Presidient Trump’s lastest diatribe about it. (See 9.34am.)
Davies-Jones was giving interviews this morning and she told Times Radio:
This deal is essential and crucial for the national security of the United Kingdom and that is the first priority of any government.
We will be bringing the bill back as soon as parliamentary time allows, because this is about national security.
The Diego Garcia military base and British Indian Ocean Territory bill has already gone through the Commons and the Lords, but it needs to go back to the Lords for peers to approve the removal of anti-government amendments passed when the Lords first debated the bill. That was meant to happen at the end of January, but the government pulled one debate that was scheduled in the light of Trump’s January outburst and another date for the debate still has not been announced.
The government does not have a majority in the Lords, and some opposition peers believe they still have a chance of getting the bill stopped.
Although Davies-Jones says the government wants the bill passed as soon as possible, Politico says one official involved in the process has told them that the government won’t bring the legislation back to the Lords next week, as originally planned, because “there will now be a pause to decide what to do”.
MPs in call to halt Drax’s £2m-a-day subsidy over sustainability doubts
Ed Miliband is under pressure from MPs to suspend subsidies worth £2m a day paid to the owner of the Drax power plant in North Yorkshire after court documents cast doubt on the company’s sustainability claims. Jillian Ambrose has the story.
Who is Antonia Romeo?
Here is a profile of Antonia Romeo written by Rowena Mason that we published last week.
Gisela Stuart, first civil service commissioner, says she approved Romeo's appointment as cabinet secretary
Gisela Stuart, the former Labour MP who is now a peer and first civil service commissioner (see 10.15am), issued this statement about the appointment of Antonia Romeo as cabinet secretary.
I approved the comprehensive due diligence process and agreed the conclusions drawn, to form the basis for the prime minister to make an appointment decision.
Dame Antonia Romeo has an excellent track record in leadership positions across the civil service, including three permanent secretary roles in some of the most complex operational departments in government.
Cabinet Office explains how Romeo's appointment was fast-tracked
The Cabinet Office news release about Antonia Romeo’s appointment includes, unusually, a section headed “appointment process” explaining how Romeo got the job.
That is because the normally process has been bypassed. Cabinet secretaries tend to serve around five years and, when they retire or stand down, in the past the job has been advertised, and a panel headed by the first civil service commissioner (the person who heads the civil service commission, which oversees senior civil service appointments to ensure they are done on merit) interviews candidates and draws up a shortlist of suitable appointees. The PM takes the final decision.
This is what happened when Chris Wormald was appointed at the end of 2024.
When Wormald stepped down, some civil servants wanted Starmer to go through the same process again. Simon McDonald, the former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, spoke out on this topic, partly because he thought Romeo needed proper vetting because there were complaints about her conduct when she worked for the Foreign Office in 2017.
However, there were two arguments against the need for a standard, selection process.
First, Romeo was on the shortlist when Wormald was appointed, and at the time the panel decided she was suitable for the job. Gus O’Donnell, a former cabinet secretary who was on the panel, said last week she would be an “excellent” candidate.
Second, there was some urgency. Wormald left No 10 shortly after Morgan McSweeney resigned as the PM’s chief of staff, and after Tim Allan quit as his communications director. There is a leadership vaccum in Downing Streeet. There are good grounds for acting quickly.
Explaining how Romeo’s approval was fast-tracked, the Cabinet Office said:
Following the departure of Sir Chris Wormald as cabinet secretary, the prime minister and the first civil service commissioner agreed a process to appoint a new cabinet secretary …
Dame Antonia was found to be a suitable candidate for the role during the previous recruitment process in 2024. Under the direction of the first civil service commissioner, consideration has been given to her performance at the Ministry of Justice and Home Office since the previous recruitment process took place.
An enhanced due diligence process has also been undertaken by the permanent secretary of the Cabinet Office and the interim government chief people officer, which will form the basis for the appointments to the cabinet secretary role in future …
Once this process was complete, the first civil service commissioner confirmed that Dame Antonia Romeo is an exceptional candidate of the highest calibre, having run two of the largest operational departments in government, and confirmed her track record makes her the right candidate for the role.
Updated
What Cabinet Office says about why Romeo appointed cabinet secretary
This is what the Cabinet Office says about Antonia Romeo in its news release about her appointment.
Dame Antonia Romeo is currently the longest-serving permanent secretary in government and will become the first female cabinet secretary in the more than 100-year history of the role …
Antonia is the longest serving permanent secretary in government, with nearly a decade of leading economic, public services and security departments. As permanent secretary of the Department of International Trade, Antonia set up the new department from scratch as the UK left the EU, bringing together trade policy with promotion and finance for the first time.
As permanent secretary of the Ministry of Justice she led the official response to the civil unrest of summer 2024, working across the criminal justice system to keep the country safe, and launched the Sentencing Review.
At the Home Office she has launched a plan to restore order and control to the asylum system and the biggest reform of policing in decades, and led the publication of the strategy to build a safer society for women and girls in support of the home secretary.
Antonia Romeo says she wants civil service to be known for 'delivery, efficiency and innovation' under her leadership
And this is what Dame Antonia Romeo has said about her appointment.
It is a huge privilege to be asked to serve as cabinet secretary and head of the civil service.
The civil service is a great and remarkable institution, which I love. We should be known for delivery, efficiency and innovation, working to implement the government’s agenda and meet the challenges the country faces.
I look forward to working with all colleagues across the civil service to do this, in support of the prime minister and the government.
All cabinet secretaries say they want the civil sevice to be good at “delivery” and “efficiency”. But the civil service does not have such a good record when it comes to “innovation”, and the inclusion of that word helps to explain why Romeo got the job.
Starmer says Romeo appointed cabinet secretary because of her ability to 'get things done'
This is what Keir Starmer has said about the appointment of Antonia Romeo as cabinet secretary, replacing Chris Wormald, who was in effect sacked after just over a year in the job.
Starmer said:
I am delighted to appoint Dame Antonia Romeo as the new cabinet secretary. She is an outstanding public servant, with a 25‑year record of delivering for the British people.
Since becoming prime minister, I’ve been impressed by her professionalism and determination to get things done. Families across the country are still feeling the squeeze, and this government is focused on easing the cost of living, strengthening public services and restoring pride in our communities. It is essential we have a cabinet secretary who can support the government to make this happen.
Antonia has shown she is the right person to drive the government to reform and I look forward to working with her to deliver this period of national renewal.
This statement could be read as an admission that the government needs to improve at ‘getting things done’. Starmer (like most of his predecessors as PM) has spoken of his frustration about how hard it is to get Whitehall to implement change. It is also an implict criticism of Chris Wormald, Romeo’s predecessor, who was forced out by Starmer, even though Starmer had appointed him (from a shortlist that included Romeo). Starmer’s first cabinet secretary was Simon Case, originally appointed to the job by Boris Johnson. Case stood down soon after Labour took office for health reasons.
Starmer appoints Antonia Romeo as first female cabinet secretary
Keir Starmer has appointed Dame Antonia Romeo as cabinet secretary and head of the civil service.
The appointment follows allegations she was previously spoken to about her management style.
Romeo currently the permanent secretary of the Home Office, becomes the first woman to hold the role of cabinet secretary.
She has previously faced accusations of bullying related to her time as consul-general in New York in 2017, but was cleared by the Cabinet Office.
Badenoch says Trump's latest attack on Chagos Islands treaty shows why it's 'time to kill this terrible deal'
Good morning. In May last year the UK government signed a deal to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, with US consent. The agreement also included a provision for the UK and the US to continue operating their joint military airbase on Diego Garcia for at least another 99 years. Keir Starmer thought he had found a solution to a long-running diplomatic problem.
But, since then, it has been a bit of a nightmare because Donald Trump has repeatedly criticised the deal his administration approved, partly because Conservative and Reform UK politicians have been doing their best to get Washington to reject the deal. The latest outburst from Trump came on his Truth Social network yesterday.
And here is our overnight story, by Nadeem Badshah.
This is not the first time Trump has denounced a deal that he previously supported. In their London Playbook briefing for Politico, Andrew McDonald and Bethany Dawson have a good round-up of Trump’s various U-turns.
Starmer must finally understand how his backbenchers feel when he piles up the U-turns. Trump said on Feb 27., 2025 he was “inclined” to go along with the deal, despite excitable (but perhaps ultimately prescient) noises from critics saying his administration would can it … He signed it off on April 1, 2025 … Then he described it as an “act of great stupidity” in a middle-of-the-night Truth post on Jan. 20 this year … Before he posted on Feb. 5 that it was the best deal Starmer could have made … Followed by official backing from the State Department on Feb. 17 … And then came his broadside on Feb. 18 apparently reversing all of that again. Trump’s press secretary confirmed later Wednesday that his view is that of the administration.
Only two days ago the US state department said it approved the Chagos Islands deal.
So where does this leave the deal? Last night the Foreign Office put out a statement saying the agreement negotiated by the government was “the only way” to guarantee the security of Diego Garcia. A Foreign Office spokesperson said:
The deal to secure the joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia military 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.
But Kemi Badenoch said that Trump was right to say the Chagos Islands should not be given to Mauritius, and that it was “time to kill this terrible deal”.
Trump is right.
As I’ve said before Starmer’s Chagos deal is an act of great stupidity. Paying £35bn to surrender the islands is complete self-sabotage.
Chagos is a strategic asset. If our closest ally is saying this, the PM should listen. It’s time to kill this terrible deal.
I will post more on this as the day goes on. Parliament is still in recess, and there is not much in the diary, but Starmer has given an interview to BBC Breakfast, mostly focused on the proposals to impose new sanctions on tech companies that don’t swiftly remove non-consensual intimate images that he has written about for the Guardian.
And details have been leaked about what will be in the plans to reform special educational needs and disabilities (Send) education that will be announced next week. Here is our overnight story by Sally Weale.
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