Philippe Sands – Starmer’s close friend who has acted for Mauritius on the Chagos case for many years – has today said that the deal proposes no risk of Chinese expansion because Mauritius won’t do anything without India’s permission. Sands claimed the deal was “a win-win for everyone.” Not least himself seeing as he was paid out of a pot of over £8 million…
Sands falsely claimed to an obsequious James O’Brien on LBC that the Chagos archipelago is “now part of the sovereignty of Mauritius.” He also said the fate of the islands is up to India now:
“I mean, if the International Court of Justice had given its ruling and it hadn’t been followed, then there would have just been uncertainty and insecurity and a lack of stability. And that is the kind of vacuum into which others insert themselves. But the reality is, if you’ve been to Mauritius, it’s a country whose closest, you know, colleague is India. It doesn’t do anything without India giving the get-go, and saying yes, you can do that. India’s been deeply involved in these negotiations, and there’s no way India is going to allow Mauritius to give any of its islands, and it’s got plenty to give away if it wanted to, to China. So the Chinese thing, frankly, is a bit of a red herring.”
At least Sands is reassured…
In other news Sands was recently disqualified as an arbitrator from hearing a Cypriot-owned oil company’s claim against Turkmenistan due to a conflict of interest. Embarrassing…
Starmer said to Robert Peston this afternoon:
“I’m fed up with the fact that families across the country see their bills go up and down on energy businesses bills go up and down on energy because of the actions of Putin or Trump across the world.”