Labour minister: Cede Chagos to avoid war

Just when you think Labour’s Chagos saga can’t get any stranger, it does. Now foreign minister Stephen Doughty has claimed that ceding the archipelago to Mauritius is necessary to avoid sparking war.

Writing in the Times today, Doughty has rather bafflingly insisted that there is a risk foreign powers like China or Russia could exploit an advisory ruling by the International Court of Justice and build intelligence centres near the Diego Garcia US military base. In fact, the foreign office minister has gone as far as to suggest that retaining the Chagos Islands could result in an international disaster on the scale of the Cuban missile crisis. Instead Starmer’s deal would ‘strengthen our position in the region’, Doughty explained, adding: ‘If you value UK national security, and that of our allies, you should support this deal.’ Talk about fear-mongering, eh?

The latest intervention comes after outrage was sparked by an announcement by the Mauritian PM about Sir Keir Starmer’s latest deal.