Nigel Farage claims UK government 'denied' his attempt to deliver aid to Chagos Islands

The Reform UK leader said on Saturday that he flew to the Maldives earlier this week and planned to join a delegation bringing food and medicine to campaigners.

But he claimed his plans to participate in the 24-hour trip to Île du Coin, an island in the archipelago, were thrown into ruin after British authorities allegedly told him only trained crew were allowed aboard the boat chartered for the mission.

He was instead made to return to the UK, with the boat setting sail without him, alleging the British government did “everything in its power” to stop him from delivering aid.

In a clip posted to X, Mr Farage said: “The British government is doing everything it can to get those people off the island.

"A couple of them have said they'd rather die than be taken away from their homeland. One of them was forcibly removed from that island 55 years ago.

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“And now the British government want to do it for a second time, which is monstrous. You can see over here in the distance. That's the boat. It's come back to the Maldives. It's going to be going back [a] medical kit, humanitarian aid, food, etc. And we're doing that because it's the right thing to do. I've come here to help the mission. I was hoping myself to go to the island.” 

He later added: “The British government are applying pressure on the president and the government of the Maldives to do everything within their power to stop me getting on that boat and going to the Chagos Islands”. 

Mr Farage's failed attempt to reach the Chagos Islands has been slammed by a Labour source.

The source told LBC:"Nigel Farage could have spent this weekend campaigning in the by-election in Manchester. Instead he travelled five thousand miles to the Maldives by private jet, got on a £2 million yacht with 'mechanical problems', had a huff in the media blaming the British government, and flew straight back again. 22 hours in the air to stand on the side of a dock, while his candidate in Gorton and Denton has had to make do with the endorsement of Tommy Robinson instead."

It comes after four Chagossians arrived on the islands on Tuesday to protest the British against the government's deal to give the Chagos islands to Mauritius.

Chagossian campaigners were accompanied by former MP Adam Holloway in Île du Coin after setting sail from Sri Lanka in an attempt to earn a permanent settlement in their former homeland.British authorities handed them eviction papers and ordered them to leave or face a potential jail sentence.

While a UK court blocked the deportation order, supplies are reportedly running out and there are fears over the health of Michel Mandarin, 74.

Mr Mandarin was among the 2,000 people forcibly removed from the islands in the late 1960s and early 1970s to make way for a joint US-UK military base on Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos Islands.Earlier this week, his son Misley Mandarin told Nick Ferrari at Breakfast that he has got "a right to be on those islands".

He told Nick that the interim first minister of the Chagos Islands has now made a plea to the British Government over its deal on the sovereignty of the islands, saying "don't give my island away to Mauritius".

Mr Mandarin told Nick that he was given a letter of eviction on Wednesday, but stressed he is prepared to stay on the islands "forever".

"The first thing what we want, as a British Overseas Territory citizen... stop that deal," he said. "Don't give my island away to Mauritius."

"My message of British government, and especially to Prime Minister Keir Starmer: Think again.”

It came as Donald Trump again attacked the UK's Chagos Islands deal with Mauritius this week.

The US president warned the Prime Minister that the deal risks the future of the US-UK military base on Diego Garcia in a post on his Truth Social platform.

President Trump has expressed his disapproval with the treaty on Wednesday, writing on Truth Social: "Our relationship with the United Kingdom is a strong and powerful one, and it has been for many years, but prime minister [sic] Starmer is losing control of this important Island [sic] by claims of entities never known of before.

"In our opinion, they are fictitious in nature."

An FCDO spokesperson said: “Our primary concern at this point is to ensure the safe departure of a group of individuals from an island that is not fit for human habitation, and on which any health emergencies or extreme weather could pose a serious threat to life."