Dear Donald,
Now our PM Keir Starmer has skimmed the Chagos Islands mess into your in-tray, I thought I’d offer you some clues as to how the ruling elite over here sees this.
By the way, the Chagos Islands are in the Indian Ocean – think India on a big map and trace your finger down an inch or two. The biggest island is Diego Garcia, which the UK held back when it granted independence to Mauritius in the 1960s, so the US could use it as a military base. That base is as strategically important now, with the rising threat from China, as it was when the Revolutionary Guards and the Ayatollahs took over in Iran in the late 1970s.
So why is Starmer planning on handing over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in exchange for a 99-year lease on Diego Garcia?
The problem for Keir – and perhaps a little bit even for you – is that allies of the UK and the US around the world accept the strategic significance of Diego Garcia, want the base to go on doing the great job it has always done, but simply don’t think the UK has a leg to stand on when it comes to a legal title to the Chagos Islands.
Please keep reading, Donald – this is not just about pointy-headed lawyers getting above themselves, there are some real-world politics in there too.
In February 2019 the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague handed down an Advisory Opinion, which the UN General Assembly had requested two years before. The ICJ ruled that the UK had no title to the Chagos Islands and was bound to hand over their administration as soon as possible to Mauritius.
Only one judge supported the UK – your own US judge, Joan Donoghue. I can guess what you’re thinking – what about the UK judge on the ICJ? We don’t have one anymore, Donald. That saddens me too.
The judgment came as no great surprise on this side of the pond. I reckon UK government lawyers had been warning their political masters for years how weak the UK’s position on the Chagos Islands really was.
So, what does it matter if a bunch of foreign judges choose to give a thumbs-down to the vital security interests of the free world? Who’s listening? The thing is, it’s not just the fact that the top Court of the United Nations gave the UK a thumbs-down on ownership of the Chagos Islands that we have to worry about. Nor the fact that the judgment was just an advisory opinion and not even binding.
The key thing, Donald, is that virtually every national government in the world thinks the Court’s judgment is right. I think you’ll remember that the UN General Assembly voted by a huge margin to welcome the Court’s judgment, and demanded that the UK hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, back in June 2019.
The reason I think you will remember this is that it was you – you and Mike Pompeo – who led the diplomatic charge to whip up support for the UK’s title to the Islands. You and Pompeo worked very hard, Donald. No ally or foe was left unwooed. And at the end of it all, you did secure the votes of three countries from around the world in support of the UK’s title – really quite important countries, and all led by close chums of yours.
There was Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israel, Viktor Orban’s Hungary (he has stuck with Putin through thick and thin, hasn’t he?) and Scott Morrison’s Australia. Australian support played very well here in the UK. I don’t think Australia under anybody else would have been on board for the UK on that particular vote, but Scott was always very close to you, and he delivered on the day.
Our PM at the time was Theresa May and she was really cut up about it. The Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab warned her that the best she could hope for from allies was a lot of abstentions. But only three countries backing the UK, apart from the US, was a shock. I think she was particularly upset that New Zealand and Canada had let us down. Not to mention just about the whole of NATO. Dominic spelled it all out to Theresa. He said that loads of countries were keen on the Diego Garcia base but didn’t think it was actually under threat.
Mauritius said it would be business as usual for the Americans on Diego Garcia if the UK accepted that it belonged to Mauritius, and Mauritius was expected to table a 99-year lease for the base in the very near future, either to us, or to the UK and the US jointly. In fact, that is exactly what they did just a few months later.
That was the backdrop to Rishi Sunak’s government (after your time, Donald) starting talks with Mauritius on sovereignty over Chagos and keeping the US base on Diego Garcia. The UK would be picking up the tab, in theory, but still expecting all the usual military perks courtesy of Uncle Sam. Starmer picked things up where Rishi left off, and the UK and Mauritius announced a deal in October last year. The UK was very keen to tell everybody that the government of India backed the deal. India is the big military power in the region, has its own base on Mauritius, and backs the US base on Diego Garcia. But … you’ve guessed it – India doesn’t think the UK has a leg to stand on over title to the Chagos Islands.
Anyway, Keir’s negotiator kept Joe Biden’s team in the loop and Joe was sounding very happy with where things were going. But then Mauritius refused to sign at the last minute ̶ looking for more spondoolies, mainly. People on your team were getting twitchy too, Donald, because some said it was starting to sound like a sellout to – read my lips – C-H-I-N-A. So Keir decided he was over a barrel and should give you the last word.
And there we have it.
Keir thinks a deal recognising Mauritius’ sovereignty in exchange for a 99-year lease on the base would do you a big favour. Instead of having a key US base dependent on a discredited UK title and squatters’ rights, you would get a watertight legal title for as long as anybody alive need worry about, and business as usual.
So over to you, Donald.
By the way, is it true you are thinking of renaming Diego Garcia, Trump Island?
Yours ever,
True Brit
True Brit’s letter to Donald Trump is imaginary and the conversations it attributes to public figures are imaginary too. The legal and political events described are real and truly described. Any overall opinion conveyed is that of True Brit’s creator, Derrick Wyatt.
This article was first published in Derrick’s blog. Read the original article.
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