Nigel Farage is heading to Mar-a-Lago on Friday to reinforce the anti-Chagos deal message directly with Donald Trump, as the US president’s open contempt for Sir Keir Starmer puts the controversial islands deal in serious jeopardy.
The Reform UK leader revealed the dinner plans at Guido Fawkes’ Save Chagos Boat Party, where he painted an increasingly optimistic picture of the campaign to kill the agreement.
« President Trump has almost understood the deal, but I will be dining at Mar-a-Lago tomorrow night and we will reinforce the message, » he told the gathering.
Farage pulled no punches in his assessment of the Mauritius agreement, calling it « the worst deal in history » and « an absolute betrayal. » He urged supporters to keep up the pressure, saying: « We have got to keep fighting, we have got to keep the pressure up, we must not let our foot off this pedal, but for first time in this battle… this feels more than winnable. »
He added: « We think this is the central plan for this Government’s foreign policy and we are beating them back. »
Trump unloads on Starmer
Farage’s Florida trip lands at a moment of acute tension between Washington and Downing Street, with Trump publicly and repeatedly humiliating the Prime Minister over Britain’s handling of the Middle East crisis and the Chagos question, reports GB News.
The trigger was Starmer’s initial refusal to open RAF bases — including Diego Garcia — to American strike missions. Trump’s response was withering. « That island… It’s taken three, four days, for us to work out where we can land there. It would have been much more convenient landing there as opposed to flying many extra hours, so we are very surprised, » he said.
« This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with, » Trump added, having separately told reporters the Prime Minister had been « very uncooperative » and had « ruined relationships. »
His most brutal verdict came when he allegedly dismissed Starmer as « a loser who has no future » — a characterisation that went further than anything he had previously said publicly about the Labour leader.
‘Act of great stupidity’
Turning to the Chagos deal itself in the Oval Office, Trump said: « I will say the UK has been very, very uncooperative with that stupid island that they have, that they gave away and took a 100-year lease; having to do with, perhaps, indigenous people claiming the island that never even saw the island before. What’s that all about? »
He had already fired an opening shot at the agreement on Truth Social, where he labelled it an « act of great stupidity. »
Starmer eventually buckled, opening RAF Fairford and Diego Garcia to « limited defensive » US operations less than two days after slamming the door. The reversal did nothing to cool the temperature — the relationship between the two leaders, which had started on cautiously civil terms, has now deteriorated into something considerably more hostile.
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