Nigel Farage says he would make shock Chagos deal with ‘close friend’ Donald Trump
Nigel Farage has said he would be willing to say ‘Chagos is yours’ to Donald Trump in order for the president to ‘stop talking about the Falkland Islands’.
Kemi Badenoch and the Reform UK leader have become embroiled in a row over the Chagos and Falklands Islands this week.
Farage faced criticism from the Tory leader after he suggested he would be willing to ‘trade’ control of the high-profile Diego Garcia military base on the islands to secure Trump’s silence on the Falklands.
The US President hasn’t supported British sovereignty of the Falklands, citing former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer’s refusal to get involved in the US-Iran War.
Badenoch said the Reform leader was suggesting ‘giving away British territory in return for someone keeping quiet’, and branded his remarks ‘humiliating’.
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Farage told US podcast The Benny Show: ‘Donald’s been a friend for many, many years,’ he said. ‘There are very few human beings I know with whom I agree on so much as I do with Donald Trump.
‘I’d have gone in and said, “Right, you know what, mate? Chagos, it’s yours. Diego Garcia, in perpetuity, the most strategic American military base in the world, which it is.”
‘Outside mainland America, Diego is the most important thing America has for nuclear subs, for long-range bombers, for all of it.
‘I’d have said, “Right, I’m guaranteeing you that. I’m giving up on this surrender. In return, just please stop talking about the Falkland Islands. I know you like Milei, but this really matters to us”. And there’s a trade, you see.’
Badenoch said it was ‘mad for someone who wants to be Prime Minister to say we should give away one piece of British territory just to stop an American president talking about another’, though Reform UK insists Farage was only referring to the military base.
She added: ‘The Chagos Islands are British. And the Falklands are British, and will remain British, irrespective of what the American president says.
‘When Donald Trump is right, we should say so. When he is wrong, we should have the confidence to tell him. This is careless, loose talk from a man who wants to be responsible for Britain’s national security.’
In a post on X, Farage said he did not mean he would give up British control of the Chagos Islands to America, but ‘would offer the use of Diego Garcia to the USA in perpetuity.’
US government sources told several news outlets overnight that they did not interpret Mr Farage’s remarks as an offer to give up sovereignty of Chagos to America, as Mrs Badenoch had.
Argentina has stepped up its rhetoric on the Falklands, and its president Milei has launched a legal challenge to stop British-led exploration work at the Sea Lion oilfield off the islands’ waters.
Foreign Office minister Uma Kumaran told the Commons she will do ‘whatever it takes’ to support islanders.
He also told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Falkland Islanders are confident the British Government would defend them ‘if that was ever required’.
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