The Trump administration has accused British Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch of spreading “fake news” over comments made by Brexit boss Nigel Farage about a critical American air base on British territory in the Indian Ocean.
A diplomatic kerfuffle broke out this week after London’s Daily Telegraph and Tory leader Badenoch seemingly misconstrued comments Mr Farage made to U.S. podcast host Benny Johnson last month. During the appearance, the Reform UK leader said that he would offer the United States access to the joint military base on Diego Garcia in the British-controlled Chagos Islands in “perpetuity” in exchange for the Trump administration recognising Britain’s sovereignty over the Falkland Islands and to stop using the issue as a point of leverage.
“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… 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 [Argentina’s president Javier] Milei, but this really matters to us’. And there’s a trade, you see,” Mr Farage said.
This came in the wake of the Labour government in Britain attempting to hand over sovereignty of the islands to the China and India-friendly Mauritius in the wake of a U.N. ruling.
The Trump administration has previously criticised the plans to cede the territory given the geo-strategic importance of the base in terms of America’s Central and Pacific Commands. Meanwhile, the administration also hinted it may back Argentina’s claim to the Falklands after relations soured with Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government over a perceived lack of support from London during the Iran conflict.
Badenoch took Mr Farage’s comments to suggest that the UK should simply cede sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to the United States, telling The Telegraph: “Giving away British territory in return for someone keeping quiet is not a deal. It is humiliating. There is no pride in our country in the way he talks about us. This is careless, loose talk from a man who wants to be responsible for Britain’s national security.”
However, the White House apparently was not convinced by Badenoch’s interpretation, with The Sun’s editor-at-large Harry Cole quoting an unnamed U.S. official, who said that “at no point” did the U.S. construe Farage’s comments to mean that he was planning on giving away the Chagos Islands.
“Anyone claiming otherwise is peddling fake news and undermining the Anglo-American relationship, including, apparently, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch.”
Cole also quoted a senior Trump administration official as saying they were “confused” by Badenoch’s comments, questioning whether she was suggesting a future Conservative government would not grant base access to the United States.
“We understood Nigel Farage’s comments to mean that we would get perpetual use of the base, which, frankly, we’ve always had. The only disturbance in that equilibrium, that partnership, has been the Labour government trying to give the Chagos Islands away in this kind of self-abnegating, anti-colonial interaction,” the White House official said.
“It sounds like Kemi is now saying she would not [access]. The fact that the UK would hand over the islands in the first place comes as a surprise to us in the context of our alliance. We want the UK to come to its senses on Chagos. We hear a lot of squabbling that doesn’t make much sense. What to do with these islands is obvious, which is not [accede] to anti-civilizational, third world lawfare and activism. Stand up for what’s yours. Stand up for what’s historically been yours.”
Separately, in comments provided to Breitbart London, a Reform UK spokesman quipped that “Calamity Kemi strikes again”, maintaining that Mr Farage was merely discussing access to the joint UK-U.S. air base on Diego Garcia.
“Kemi Badenoch has risked causing a diplomatic row with Britain’s allies, all because she cannot control the Tory spin doctors around her that oversaw the disastrous premierships of Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak, Theresa May, and even David Cameron,” the spokesman said.
“The latest Tory lie, about Nigel Farage’s Chagos island commitment, just show that absolutely nothing has changed inside the Nasty Party, and it never will.”
The party said that Mr Farage has been the “most fiercely outspoken man on the Chagos sellout, delivering a smashing blow to the joint Tory-Labour plans to hand control of the British islands to China’s allies”. Conversely, Reform noted that the former Conservative government which Badenoch served in had begun the negotiating process to cede sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius.
“Reform UK was proud to host a delegation of Chagossians at our conference in September, and would stand by our U.S. allies over the use of Diego Garcia, which is critical for international security. It is staggering that the Conservative Party feels the opposite way, and the U.S. government has clearly let them know that today.”
Additionally, the interim First Minister of the Chagossian Government, Misley Mandarin, said: Kemi and the Conservatives cannot be trusted by the Chagos people. If they really have interest in the Chagos, why would you have started negotiating about things you already own?
“We know Nigel has the Chagossians at heart. He never boast about all his help to us. We agree with him: we would be happy for the US to keep using Diego Garcia with a British Chagossian population in perpetuity, with the rest of the Chagos being under the Crown and we the indigenous people at last having our rights respected forever”.