At the beginning of the Chagos saga Guido revealed none other than Starmer’s best friend and close confidant Philippe Sands KC had landed on the islands in a group that raised the Mauritian flag. That was in 2022, while the islands were still very much British territory…
Now the exact location of Sands’ landing party is being targeted for purchase by China. Petros Banhos is an atoll of 32 tiny islands within easy range of Diego Garcia. As Farage tweeted yesterday, it is understood the government of Mauritius (which now has sovereignty over the entirety of Chagos thanks to Starmer) is in negotiations with China about selling them…
That is exactly what opponents of Starmer’s deal warned would happen. The Chinese would be interested in installing their own defence facilities on Chagos, perilously close to the UK-US airbase. Starmer told a bare faced porkie when he claimed China did not support his deal…