‘It’s their pet project!’ Suella Braverman blames Chagos surrender on ‘woke’ civil servants as she admits ‘conflict of interest’
Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman has blamed “woke” civil servants at the Foreign Office for pushing through the controversial Chagos Islands handover to Mauritius.
Speaking on GB News, Braverman claimed the decision was a “Foreign Office civil servant pet project” that mandarins had been “very enthusiastic about” for years.
She revealed a personal connection to the dispute, stating: “I should declare an interest: my mother is from Mauritius. I may be the only member of parliament with a slight conflict of interest on this issue.”
“My loyalties are with Britain and the United Kingdom,” she added, despite her Mauritian heritage.
Braverman launched a scathing attack on Foreign Secretary David Lammy, describing him as someone with “an obsession with decolonising as much as he can, apologising for the British Empire.”
She argued there was “absolutely no evidence to justify Mauritius’ claim to the Chagos Islands.”
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“It was an advisory opinion, that’s the key word. So it wasn’t a binding judgment and therefore perfectly lawful for the United Kingdom to ignore it,” she told GB News.
The former Home Secretary added that the decision was “humiliating” and “at odds with our national interest.”
She claimed it was “letting down the Chagossians” who “largely want to be an overseas territory of part of the United Kingdom.”
Mauritius has dealt another blow to Labour’s Chagos deal, with their cabinet declining to sign off on the proposed agreement today.
The Mauritian government will instead send Attorney General Gavin Glover back to London this evening for further negotiations.
A statement from the Mauritian cabinet emphasised their “commitment and resolve” to end the sovereignty dispute “remains unshaken.”
The UK plans to hand over the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius and then lease back the Diego Garcia military base at a reported cost of £90 million annually.
Sir Keir Starmer defended the plan at PMQs, insisting it was the best way to safeguard the military base.
The UK government has decided to give Donald Trump’s incoming administration an opportunity to review the Chagos Islands deal.
The move comes amid warnings from Trump’s pick for secretary of state, Marco Rubio, that the agreement poses “a serious threat” to US national security by transferring the islands to a country allied with China.
Reform UK’s Nigel Farage, a Trump ally, has warned of “very deep disquiet” about the deal in the president-elect’s inner circle.
The Financial Times reports that Britain is considering delaying signing the agreement until receiving Trump’s blessing.
Prime Minister Ramgoolam had previously indicated hopes to conclude the deal before Trump’s January 20 inauguration.