Prime Minister insists Trump initially backed Chagos deal despite President now dubbing it 'stupid'
Speaking last week, Trump admitted he had "changed his mind" over the deal
The Prime Minister has insisted Donald Trump initially backed his deal to hand over the Chagos Islands "in very clear terms" despite the president's U-turn.
Listen to this article
It comes after Sir Keir Starmer was told to "straighten out his country" by Trump, who slammed Britain's decision to give up the Islands to Mauritius.
He added that the deal was "an act of great stupidity," but Sir Keir revealed on Wednesday that his US counterpart "concluded that it was a deal they wanted to support."
Under the terms of the deal, the UK will give up control of the Chagos archipelago while paying to maintain control of a joint US-UK military base on the largest island, Diego Garcia, under a 99-year lease.
Read more: Pressure mounts on Starmer to scrap Chagos deal as Tories claim 'US deserves a say' on island's fate
Read more: Chagos deal delayed after Trump blasted giveaway as 'act of great stupidity'
Speaking during a visit to China, the Prime Minister said the deal had been positively received by the US due to securing the future of the base.
He told reporters: "I’ve obviously discussed Chagos with Donald Trump a number of times.
"It has been raised with the White House at the tail end of last week, over the weekend and into the early part of this week.
"The position, as you know, is that when the Trump administration came in, we paused for three months to give them time to consider the Chagos deal, which they did at agency level.
"Once they’d done that, they were very clear in the pronouncements about the fact that they supported the deal."
Speaking last week, Trump admitted he had "changed his mind" over the deal.
On Monday night, he wrote on Truth Social: "Shockingly, our 'brilliant' NATO Ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital U.S. Military Base, to Mauritius, and to do so FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER."
The islands will be handed over to Mauritius under the deal but Britain will lease back the military base on the island of Diego Garcia while making payments to Mauritius.
The Government postponed a House of Lords debate on Chagos which had been scheduled for Monday, underscoring uncertainty about the future of the archipelago.
Downing Street said it will be "announced in the usual way" with a spokesperson denying it is being indefinitely delayed, and added that Britain and the US are "continuing to work together" to ensure the future operation of the Diego Garcia military base.
Tory shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel told the Commons on Wednesday: "Labour’s £35 billion Chagos surrender deal is falling apart every single day and it’s high time that the Prime Minister tore up this atrocious surrender treaty and put Britain’s interests and our defence first and our security first and Britain’s hard-pressed taxpayers first."
Labour's foreign minister Seema Malhotra said Tory criticisms were "political point-scoring at the expense of our national security", and she reminded MPs the Conservative Party had begun negotiations with Mauritius over the Chagos Islands.