UK politics live: Furious Chagos Islands row erupts as Tories accused of risking losing key air base in courts
Chagossians lament UK-Mauritius deal for not including them in negotiations
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A furious row has erupted between Labour and the Conservatives over a deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
Sir Keir Starmer’s government has announced that Britain will return the territory but will still have sovereignty over the Diego Garcia military base in the Pacific Ocean.
But the Conservatives have condemned the decision, with Tory leadership contender Robert Jenrick accusing Sir Keir Starmer of “surrendering” Britain’s strategic interests.
Former foreign secretary James Cleverly has also joined the backlash, branding Sir Keir Starmer “weak, weak, weak” despite being behind the first negotiations over the agreement when he was in cabinet.
A Labour source hit back accusing Rishi Sunak’s administration of putting the key UK-US base on Diego Garcia at risk during their negotiations.
They branded the territorial dispute a “legal car crash” left by the previous government which was “damaging the UK and the US’ national security”.
It comes as Boris Johnson revealed how he dismissed warnings over Dominic Cummings and the Barnard Castle row as “lefty journalists angry over Brexit”.
In his new book ‘Unleashed’, the former prime minister explained why he refused to sack his then-political adviser despite his infamous trip at the peak of the pandemic.
John Healey defends decision to hand over Chagos Islands
The defence secretary has defended the Labour government decision to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
Mr Healey said: “This historic agreement highlights the UK’s commitment to the Indo-Pacific. The UK-US base on Diego Garcia has a vital role in protecting our interests.
“By providing long-term sovereignty over Diego Garcia, this treaty secures continued operation of this major military base.”
Boris Johnson mostly ignores Liz Truss
There are only three mentions of Liz Truss in Boris Johnson’s book Unleashed even though she was one of his most senior ministers and took over from him as Tory leader and prime minister, David Maddox reports.
Ms Truss accounts for two brief mentions in her role as foreign secretary related to Afghanistan and Ukraine and a brief mention as his successor.
Mr Johnson though prefers to focus his ire on Rishi Sunak’s “Brutus” like behaviour in betraying him. He also blames Sunak for losing the Tories the election.
The former prime minister complained about Sunak “junking the agenda on which we were elected” in 2019, and “never mentioning the good things we had done” under his premiership including Brexit.
He notes: “Instead we had a few zany ideas like making maths compulsory for 18-year-olds.”
US President Joe Biden hails ‘historic’ UK-Mauritius agreement
Joe Biden has welcomed Britain’s agreement to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in a move to secure the future of a secretive military base in the Pacific Ocean.
The US President branded the deal “historic” and praised the UK government for securing “effective operation” of the US-UK joint Diego Garcia base.
In a statement, he said: “I applaud the historic agreement and conclusion of the negotiations between the Republic of Mauritius and the United Kingdom on the status of the Chagos Archipelago.
“It is a clear demonstration that through diplomacy and partnership, countries can overcome long-standing historical challenges to reach peaceful and mutually beneficial outcomes.”
He added: “Diego Garcia is the site of a joint US-UK military facility that plays a vital role in national, regional, and global security.
“It enables the United States to support operations that demonstrate our shared commitment to regional stability, provide rapid response to crises, and counter some of the most challenging security threats we face.
“The agreement secures the effective operation of the joint facility on Diego Garcia into the next century.”
Record number of families living in temporary accommodation
A record number of families are having to live in temporary accommodation, new figures show, as councils warn their spending on emergency housing will rise by a third this year.
Some 117,450 households were living in temporary accommodation, such as B&Bs and hotels, in March 2024, which is the highest number since records began in 1998. This was up 12.3 per cent on the same period last year.
Of these, 74,530 were families with children - up 14.7 per cent year-on-year - and the number of children who have been living in temporary accommodation for five years or more has risen by more than 3,000.
Our social affairs correspondent Holly Bancroft has the full story below:
Record number of homeless families living in temporary accommodation
More than 117,000 households are living in temporary accommodation, which is the highest number since records began in 1998
Robert Jenrick hits at Starmer over Chagos Islands deal
The Conservatives have shared their anger after Sir Keir Starmer handed the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick was scathing about the British Indian Ocean Territory deal.
He said: “It’s taken three months for (Sir Keir) Starmer to surrender Britain’s strategic interests.
“This is a dangerous capitulation that will hand our territory to an ally of Beijing.”
UK to hand over secretive Chagos Islands to Mauritius in historic move
Britain has agreed to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius to secure the future of a secretive military base in the Pacific Ocean.
The government on Thursday said it would recognise the sovereignty of Mauritius over the archipelago under a new agreement, which also secures the rights of Britain to operate a military base at Diego Garcia for at least the next 99 years.
The Foreign Office said the status of the base will be undisputed and legally secure following a political agreement between the two countries.
You can read the full story below:
UK to hand over secretive island to Mauritius in historic move
It follows decades of dispute over the remote islands
MPs accepting freebies while out of power ‘different’, minister claims
A minister has claimed accepting freebies in opposition is “different” to doing so in government as she attempted to explain why Sir Keir Starmer has paid back the value of some Taylor Swift tickets, but not thousands of pounds worth of other gifts.
Industry minister Sarah Jones suggested Sir Keir and other Labour frontbenchers were taking free tickets to concerts and festivals while in opposition to “build relationships” with businesses.
Our political correspondent Archie Mitchell has the full story below:
MPs accepting freebies while out of power ‘different’, minister claims
Sarah Jones defended now-frontbenchers taking free tickets to concerts and festivals while in opposition as ‘building relationships’
Dominic Cummings conspired against me, says Boris Johnson
In his new book ‘Unleashed’, Boris Johnson has revealed hearing Cummings in an interview for the BBC admitting that he had been conspiring to bring him down as prime minister.
He explained that the former adviser had been conspiring against him from early January 2020, just weeks after the massive election victory.
Reacting to the revelations, Mr Johnson wrote: “I mean WTF?”
“You might have thought that the honourable thiing to do would have been to resign, if that was how he really felt,” he added.
Boris Johnson dismissed Barnard Castle row as 'lefty journalists angry over Brexit'
Boris Johnson has revealed how he originally dismissed the Dominic Cummings’ Barnard Castle row as “lefty journalists angry over Brexit”, David Maddox reports.
In his new book ‘Unleashed’, the former prime minister explained why he refused to sack his then-political adviser despite his infamous trip during the peak of the pandemic.
In his memoir, he claimed he had a “blazing row” with former colleague and friend Will Walden who urged him to sack Cummings.
But Johnson said he retorted: “The whole thing is a put up job. It’s just a load of lefty journalists who want payback for Brexit.”
Tony Blair: Kemi Badenoch is right ‘not all cultures are equal’
The former New Labour leader has agreed with Kemi Badenoch’s remarks that “not all cultures are equally valid”.
The Tory leadership hopeful faced fierce criticism after claiming that some cultures are more valid when it comes to deciding who should be allowed into the UK.
Despite the backlash, Tony Blair agreed and insisted people should “assimilate into the common values”.
He told Politico: “Your cultural space is a space rich in diversity where you can pursue your own culture in what you do and the celebrations you have and the ceremonies you have and the faith you have.
“All of that’s absolutely fine. But when it comes to basic rules about democracy or, for example in our country now, rules about the role of women or people who are gay being entitled to equality, that’s not up for argument.
“You integrate with those things and it’s really important because otherwise you end up with the situation where people often say multiculturalism failed. No multiculturalism didn’t fail. There’s not a problem with most communities in the UK.”
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