Guido hears from DC insiders that the disastrous – and eye-wateringly costly – Chagos sellout is not fully settled Stateside. As The Heritage Foundation’s eminent Nile Gardiner wrote yesterday: “the Chagos issue is not over in Washington, and major red flags are being raised in the United States.” Now a route has emerged via which the deal could be slowed down or even scrapped…
The powerful House Appropriations Committee has now raised the issue directly with Marco Rubio. The Committee is Republican-led and is sound on Chagos. A relevant passage from the current State Department appropriations Bill states:
“United Kingdom and Chagos Archipelago —The Committee notes that with the growing challenge from the PRC the military facilities on the island of Diego Garcia are central to Anglo-American power projection and relative control of the Indian Ocean. Recognizing the invaluable strategic importance and geographic relevance of Diego Garcia to the United States, the Committee encourages the Secretary of State to engage with His Majesty’s Government of the United Kingdom to ensure our long-term access to the facilities and that they remain integral to allied security.”
These reports have been corroborated and furthered by Guido’s high level Capitol Hill sources, who say that the deal may well be torn up by Trump. The President has been angered by recent free speech crises in the UK, which became very clear to him during his Scotland trip…
Moreover, Vice President Vance is understood to be monitoring the issue carefully. He’s in the UK this summer. Guido will have more soon…
Tom Baldwin, author of Starmer’s hagiography, spoke to Times Radio:
Tom Baldwin: “I think he’d like to do something. He’s very dutiful and driven by service. That’s why he came into politics. I think that’s characterised his time as prime minister. He hasn’t always sought popularity or been good at being popular. But I think he has some of the necessary qualities that we actually do want in a prime minister. That resilience, that relentlessness, that ability to carry the weight and the job really does weigh very heavily on people and he carries that weight very, very well.”
Jo Coburn: “NATO Secretary-General?”
Tom Baldwin: “I think that’s something that he would be interested in. I think it probably requires Andy Burnham’s government to support him in that and these are some of the questions which Andy Burnham has to resolve quite quickly.”