Starmer’s relationship with Trump seems to be unravellingpublished at 08:12 GMT
08:12 GMT
Chris Mason
Political editor
The government is defending its deal over the Chagos Islands, following President Trump’s splenetic outrage about it on social media.
Senior sources are making it clear there were very good reasons for the deal — and point out that it was publicly welcomed by the United States and Australia — two countries alongside the UK that are part of what is known as the 5 Eyes intelligence alliance.
The argument ministers have long made is that legal challenges over the validity of the UK’s claim to the Chagos Islands threatened the viability of the crucial military base on Diego Garcia – a site prized by both the UK and the US. The deal they did, they say, secures the long term future of the base.
It is almost a year since the president’s view on the deal was first sought in public. I remember it was — I was there, in the Oval Office of the White House.
The reporter pack suspected the president might be sceptical about it. But we were wrong. When we asked, he sounded supportive.
A few months later, last May, when the deal was formally done, it was welcomed by the United States – as we reported here.
But now we see this colossal change of heart — delivered in a characteristic blitz of capital letters. It poses massive questions for the prime minister, who has until now successfully nurtured a good relationship with the president, in public and private.
First Greenland and now this – it all appears to be unravelling.
Image source, ReutersImage caption,
Trump’s meeting with Starmer in the Oval Office in February – in which the president seemed to back the UK’s Chagos Islands deal