FCDO minister Hamish Falconer provided the government’s response to an urgent question from Nigel Farage on the Chagos Islands:
“I can assure this house nothing in the treaty has changed since the US administration gave their original endorsement of the deal, and we continue to work with Mauritius and the United States.
The UK Government has great sympathy for the Chagossian community. They feel a deep emotional connection with these islands. We have been clear in our regrets for the manner in which Chagossians were forcibly removed from the islands in the 60s and the 70s. We’re working to resume a programme of heritage visits for members of that community.
Mr Speaker, we will continue to work with both Mauritius and the United States on this agreement. As the prime minister has said, we have very close relations with the United States.
We have a process going through parliament in relation to the treaty. We will bring that back to parliament at the appropriate time. We are pausing for discussions with our American counterparts.”
On ice…
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…
Justice James Lewis – chief justice of the British Indian Ocean territory – has granted a temporary injunction to prevent the forced removal of those Chagossians who have landed back on the archipelago. Led by their first minister Misley Mandarin…
Lewis said:
“There is no doubt the balance of convenience falls on the side of the claimants (the islanders). They are 120 miles from Diego Garcia and pose no threat to national security on the evidence before me.
If they are deported they will have great difficulties in returning. In my judgment the claimants have made out their application in the light of no response or engagement by the commissioner.
It follows that I grant a temporary injunction against the enforcement of the s.12 (removal) notices. This injunction will remain in place for seven days to allow the defendants to file a response.
In the absence of a response the injunction will remain in force until determination of the judicial review application. At the expiry of seven days I will make further order if the defendant files a response.”
The Chagossians continue to pursue available legal avenues to challenge the Chagos surrender deal – all while Trump puts a new block on it. Now they can get on with re-establishing a permanent settlement…
Read the full temporary injunction below:
Continue reading “Judge Blocks Government Removal of Chagos Islanders”
Here we are again. According to Politico Labour has delayed putting the Chagos Deal legislation back to parliament…
Minister Alex Davies-Jones said this morning: “We will be bringing this bill back as soon as parliamentary time allows, because it is a vital and crucial asset for national security.” False – seeing as Labour was planning on bringing it back next week…
A huge blow was delivered to Starmer’s struggling Chagos deal today in an inadvertent briefing to The Guardian newspaper. The story – which Guido understands emerged from Powell’s team – was intended to signal he would not replace Morgan McSweeney as Chief of Staff. Powell is so far the only Mandelson confidant to survive his master’s implosion, as McSweeney was forced to leave Downing Street in the wake of the Epstein scandal…
The newspaper reported: “Powell’s allies say his decision not to take forward discussions about the job – the same role he undertook under Tony Blair’s premiership from 1997 to 2007 – was largely motivated by an intention to return to the mediation consultancy that he set up in 2011, with little interest in returning to a job he has already done.” That was meant to be a throwaway line to distance Powell from Mandelson, but it’s problematic…
As Guido has revealed, Powell’s consultancy Inter Mediate (which he founded in 2011) – to which he has “an intention to return” according to The Guardian – has deep links to China. Powell held a series of meetings with Chinese front Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the Grandview Institution via Inter Mediate – it is not clear what if any financial relationship developed between the two. China hugely stands to benefit from the Chagos giveaway, it is in the interests of Chinese policy…
Powell has told a confusing story about the status of Inter Mediate – on occasion the organisation has maintained it is a charity, though The Guardian story repeatedly refers to it as a consultancy. During Powell’s government service as a taxpayer-paid special adviser as National Security Adviser, he has maintained his profile on the Inter Mediate website. The organisation released a triumphant statement when he was made NSA by Starmer. Sloppy accidental briefings are exactly the kind of thing that unravels, and this stench could bring down the Chagos deal with it…
SW1 has finally caught up with Guido’s exclusive reporting from last January on the little-regarded Africa Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone Treaty, also known as the Pelindaba Treaty, to which Mauritius is a signatory. Here we go…
Mauritius would have to be compliant. The deal:
“Prohibits the research, development, manufacture, stockpiling, acquisition, testing, possession, control or stationing of nuclear weapons, as well as the dumping of radioactive wastes. The Treaty also prohibits any attack against nuclear installations in the zone by Treaty parties and requires them to maintain the highest standards of physical protection of nuclear material, facilities and equipment, which are to be used exclusively for peaceful purposes.”
Reports say that Diego Garcia is a crucial base for all manner of US military nuclear applications. The Telegraph reports that the Mauritian Deputy PM told a meeting as follows: “The Pelindaba Treaty… it has been in place for years. It does not, unfortunately, ban the presence of nuclear (weapons), it prevents the storage. There is a difference between storage & transit.” The United States will not tolerate any inhibition on its ability to freely operate nuclear weapons on the base…
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…”