US intelligence agencies disagree with Donald Trump’s newly found opposition to the Chagos deal, Keir Starmer has said, as he underlined how the US administration had supported the deal as it bolstered their defences.
The prime minister made his remarks, which could undermine the US president’s fresh view of the deal as an “act of great stupidity”, on the flight to Beijing for a visit that will cover UK national security among other issues.
Downing Street sources have told the Guardian the agreement, which was formally approved by Starmer and his Mauritian counterpart last May, is a “done deal” and will not be scuppered by the US.
They said the UK government had heard nothing from either the US Department of State or the US intelligence agencies that had led them to believe they had changed their minds – despite Trump’s fiery rhetoric.
They suggested the US president’s apparent U-turn – which has been trumpeted by the Tories who oppose the Chagos deal – was linked to his attempts to acquire the strategically important Arctic territory of Greenland.
Starmer, asked whether he trusted Trump to honour the commitment he gave in backing the deal last year, told reporters: “I’ve obviously discussed Chagos with Donald Trump a number of times. It has been raised with the White House at the tail end of last week, over the weekend and into the early part of this week.
“The position, as you know, is that when the Trump administration came in, we paused for three months to give them time to consider the Chagos deal, which they did at agency level.
“Once they’d done that, they were very clear in the pronouncements about the fact that they supported the deal – and they were announcements made by the defence secretary, from memory, Marco Rubio as well, and by president Trump himself.”
Pressed on whether he believed Trump fully understood the deal – after he appeared to get the details wrong – Starmer added: “There was a three-month pause whilst his administration looked in detail at an agency level, because obviously this is about security and intelligence.
“So it was an agency review that was conducted in the US before they then concluded that it was a deal they wanted to support, did support and did so in very clear terms.”
Trump last week suggested Britain’s decision to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius was among the reasons he wanted to take over Greenland, firing off a flurry of social media posts.
He wrote: “Shockingly, our “brilliant” Nato Ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital US Military Base, to Mauritius, and to do so FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER.
“There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness. These are International Powers who only recognise STRENGTH, which is why the United States of America, under my leadership, is now, after only one year, respected like never before.
“The UK giving away extremely important land is an act of GREAT STUPIDITY, and is another in a very long line of National Security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired.”
His U-turn initially blindsided Downing Street, which had thought the deal was done and dusted months before, but subsequently resulted in a new, more combative stance from Starmer, who said he “will not yield” on the issue of Greenland.
The next stage of the bill connected to the handover of Chagos has been delayed in the House of Lords, with Downing Street saying on Wednesday this was because of discussions with the US.
A No 10 spokesperson said: “We’re continuing to work with the US. We’ve worked with them throughout in terms of developing this treaty and as the ministers have set out, we are continuing to do that.”
The Labour government agreed in October 2024 to hand over sovereignty of Chagos to Mauritius. Under the terms of the deal, the UK will maintain an initial 99-year lease of Diego Garcia, where it runs a military base jointly with the US, at a cost projected officially to be £3.4bn.
The deal was agreed under pressure from Washington, British officials say, adding that their American counterparts were worried about what would happen to the base if Mauritius won a case at the international court of justice over its sovereignty.
At the time, Starmer argued that the UK had “secured the base for the long term” and that “has been opposed by our adversaries” including China. However, the Tories claimed the government had sided with Beijing.
China abstained on the UN vote, which was a key stage in the road to the deal, and experts believe Beijing privately views the agreement as a setback for China, for national security reasons.
