UK government seeks meeting with Trump team over Chagos Islands agreement

A joint US-UK military base is located on Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean. Photograph: CPA Media Pte Ltd/Alamy

Keir Starmer’s national security adviser is to travel to Washington as the UK government tries to persuade Donald Trump not to rip up the Chagos Islands agreement, the Guardian has learned.

Jonathan Powell, who negotiated the Chagos deal earlier this autumn, is drawing up plans to visit the US capital in the coming days, four government sources said.