If you thought the botched Chagos Island surrender was over, think again, says Alex Armstrong

Let’s start with what we know. The Prime Minister, in his infinite wisdom, is allegedly considering handing Mauritius up to £18 billion.

Both UK and Mauritian officials have denied this, but have not provided alternative figures. If true That’s enough to fund 20 hospitals, 300 primary schools, or a fleet of warships—all things this government is coincidently delaying or scrapping. Oh, and let’s not forget—this money could cover 85% of the so-called "black hole" in our budget.

So why is this happening? If I had to bet, I’d say it’s down to Student Union politics, teenage level peer pressure that is now playing itself out on a international scale.

One of Starmer’s long-time lefty-lawyer mates, Philippe Sands KC, has been pushing for this deal for years. He’s represented Mauritius against th e UK of course and seems to despise Britain’s history.

Mr Sand’s compared our legal ownership of Chagos to Russia’s invasion of Crimea. Yes, that’s Starmer’s mate equating Britain’s presence on its own territory to Putin’s illegal military invasion in Ukraine. Utter madness.

But it gets worse. Mr Sands, in a blatant act of defiance, entered British territory, hoisted the Mauritian flag, acting like some sort of colonial conqueror—ironic, isn’t it? Funnily enough, he tweeted then deleted the evidence, but it was too late.

Yes that video was made by Mauritius’ close ally, China, who had their state owned media make a whole video on it. I wonder why…

Anyway, Mauritian bias doesn’t seem to stop there. Today we learned Starmer was wined and dined in Mauritius back in 2013. He was flown out to a 5* luxury beach resort to speak at a Mauritian Bar Association conference on ‘the Chagos issue’. He even walked away with a model warship as a gift.

There’s of course that little missing detail about whether the Prime Minister was then paid for that trip.

And today, the government finally gave a national security excuse for why we must hand over Chagos. Their claim? Diego Garcia’s “electromagnetic spectrum”—which enables secure military communications—can’t function without a deal because there is risk that it breaches international law, a risk which the UK Government will want to avoid.

Tom Tugendhat, the former security minister, dismissed that argument pretty fast: “As security minister I saw the advice on the Chagos Islands deal… This ‘explanation’ is nonsense.”

He’s supported by a former government official who also shut down that argument. They said “The Foreign Office is worried that it would make us look bad if we lost the case and tried to keep the territory,” they said. “To the global south, we would look like colonisers again.

“They’re scrambling for a justification for giving away £9 billion.” And “This telecoms issue could be solved for a fraction of the cost.”

This isn’t diplomacy—it’s a lefty lawyer coup. The Prime Minister seems to be compromised, tangled up in bias due to his personal relationships and perceived loyalties to Mauritian legal networks.

The apparent goal? To sell him as some anti-colonialist hero, a man who sacrifices British sovereignty—while UK taxpayers get fleeced for billions under the thin-guise of “reparations.”