It’s turning out to be a very difficult day indeed for Keir Starmer over Chagos, following Guido’s earlier revelation that his best buddy and fellow legal beagle Philippe Sands KC visited British Indian Ocean Territory as part of an expedition that landed without permission and raised the Mauritian flag on the UK overseas territory. Things are about to turn even more bizarre…
Giving evidence to a Commons committee in January 2024, Sands wrote:
“As the “British Indian Ocean Territory” is illegal under international law, Britain is currently in illegal occupation of a part of the territory of Mauritius, and of the continent of Africa. It follows too – regrettably – that the operation of the military base at Diego Garcia is not in conformity with international law. So long as the UK’s illegal occupation continues, Britain’s position is no different from that of South Africa in relation to Namibia (from 1971 to 1994), Russia in relation to Crimea and other parts of the territory of Ukraine (since 2014), or China in relation to certain claims in relation to the South China Sea…”
Sands prefaced the document with an introductory paragraph trying to draw a distinction between his work as a paid representative of Mauritius and his ‘personal capacity’ as a writer:
“I wish to make clear that as a member of the Bar of England and Wales I have acted as counsel to Mauritius since 2010 in relation to the Chagos Archipelago. As such, I have been involved in the proceedings before the Annex VII arbitral tribunal (2010-2015), the International Court of Justice (ICJ, 2017-2019) and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS, 2019-2023). I continue to advise the Government of Mauritius. I make this submission in a personal capacity, as an academic and a writer, drawing in part from my professional involvement.”
In March 2014 Putin forcibly annexed Crimea – which basically triggered the chain of events leading to the 2022 Russian full scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian special forces entered Crimea and seized key sites such as invading the Crimean parliament. It was an invasion…
Sands has previously called Starmer a “great friend”, describing him as “generous, humorous and empathetic” to the Prime Minister’s biographer. Again, with friends and advisers on Chagos like this, it’s little wonder that Starmer moved his government to immediately cede sovereignty to Mauritius. The Times reveals a visit made by Starmer to the Mauritius capital St Louis today, prior to his becoming an MP. Starmer is beginning to look like The ‘Mauritian’ Candidate…
Sarah Pochin at Reform Scotland’s manifesto launch event: “I really wanted to come on in a Reform tartan burka, but apparently I wasn’t allowed… One day let’s do one of these events not live-streamed. We’ll do all the naughty stuff…”