In a scathing social media rant, former US President Donald Trump has launched a blistering attack on Britain’s plan to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, describing it as an act of “great stupidity”. The comments come just a day after UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called for calm amid increasingly tense relations between NATO allies and the US over Trump’s threats regarding Greenland.
Darren Jones, chief secretary to the UK Prime Minister, has insisted that Starmer’s approach to Trump is yielding results, but admitted that “it’s not normal for geopolitical discussions to be handled in this way.” Jones defended the UK’s decision, stating that the move to hand over the Chagos Islands, the site of a vital US military base on Diego Garcia, was necessary after court decisions undermined the UK’s position and would have prevented the base from operating as intended in the future.
The former US president’s latest social media outburst saw him write: “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.” Trump added that the UK’s decision was “another in a very long line of National Security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired.”
In response, Labour MP Emily Thornberry said the UK must hold its ground amid what she called “presidential trolling.” The chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee described the situation as an “example of presidential trolling,” telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the UK should not take Trump “literally” but must take him “seriously.”
The comments appear to mark a U-turn in Trump’s position on the Chagos Islands deal, after he had previously indicated his support for it during a meeting with Starmer at the White House last year. The former president has also shared what appear to be AI-generated images on his social media platform, Truth Social, depicting himself and his vice president, JD Vance, planting a US flag on a snowy landscape with a signpost reading “Greenland, US territory, est 2026.”
As tensions continue to simmer, the UK government has insisted that the Chagos Islands deal has been publicly welcomed by the US, Australia, and other key international partners, including India, Japan, and South Korea. Meanwhile, Starmer has opted not to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week, citing “lots of challenges on his time.”
