“Labour told us they were forced into this deal by a terrifying international legal monster. In reality, that monster doesn’t exist. The exemption was there all along. They knew it. And they pushed the lie anyway.”
Sometimes governments tell fibs. And sometimes they wheel out a whopper so big, so clumsy, so insultingly obvious, that it takes your breath away. Enter Keir Starmer’s Labour Party and their excuse for handing over the Chagos Islands.
The line goes like this: “We had no choice. International law was about to hammer us. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) left us exposed to binding rulings. We were under grave legal threat.” Except… it isn’t true. At all. It never was.
The Phantom Legal Threat
Defence Minister Luke Pollard told the Commons that Britain risked imminent tribunal rulings unless it caved in. He even suggested such rulings could compromise Diego Garcia, the Anglo-American base that anchors Western security across the Indian Ocean. Terrifying stuff, if it were real.
But it isn’t. Under Article 298 of UNCLOS, the UK, like the US and many others, has an opt-out from disputes about military activities. That’s not a footnote or a minor clause. It’s a cast-iron guarantee that no foreign tribunal can touch the military operations at Diego Garcia.
The United States has gone further, flatly insisting that it alone decides what counts as “military activity.” And guess what? Britain enjoys the same protection.
So this “grave legal threat” Labour keeps citing is not just exaggerated, it is pure fiction. A bogeyman to frighten backbenchers and fob off constituents.
A £40 Billion Surrender
Why would any government knowingly sell off sovereign territory under false pretences? That’s the question MPs pressed this week, and Labour had no convincing answer. Shadow Armed Forces Minister Mark Francois summed it up bluntly: “The Government’s case collapsed. It was a sham.”
Yet the sham is set to cost Britain dear: £35–40 billion to surrender the islands, plus the slow erosion of our ability to act independently in one of the most vital maritime regions on the planet.
And all for what? To curry favour at the UN? To appease Mauritius? To duck a fight they were never actually at risk of losing?
The Real Choice
There is another way. Consult the Chagossians themselves, people long denied a say in their homeland. Honour Britain’s commitment to its own citizens. Keep Diego Garcia secure, without the looming shadow of “foreign interference” conjured up by a Labour government terrified of its own imagination.
And while we’re at it, save the taxpayer £40 billion. Not a bad bonus.
Call It What It Is
This isn’t diplomacy. It isn’t prudence. It’s not even naivety. It’s surrender dressed up as inevitability, and it insults the intelligence of the British public.
Labour told us they were forced into this deal by a terrifying international legal monster. In reality, that monster doesn’t exist. The exemption was there all along. They knew it. And they pushed the lie anyway.
It’s time to stop the Chagos surrender in its tracks.
By Claire Bullivant
