Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is jetting across the Atlantic today, hoping to make it to Mar-a-Lago in time to affirm Washington’s opposition to the United Kingdom’s “worst deal in history.”
Farage, speaking at the “Save Chagos Boat Party” event organized by British outlet Guido Fawkes on Thursday, told attendees that he would be heading to Florida to reinforce President Donald Trump’s opposition to the British ceding of sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to neighboring Mauritius.
“We think this is the central plan for this government’s foreign policy, and we are beating them back,” Farage said at the event. “President Trump has almost understood the deal, but I will be dining at Mar-a-Lago tomorrow night, and we will reinforce the message.”
“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,” Farage added. “This feels more than winnable.”
The deal, originally set to go through on May 22, was paused by the British government last month after Trump flipped back to opposing the handover.
Trump has gone back and forth on the arrangement for months, primarily concerned with how it will affect American military use of the joint base on the island of Diego Garcia.
“Prime Minister [Keir] Starmer should not lose control, for any reason, of Diego Garcia, by entering a tenuous, at best, 100 Year Lease,” Trump said in his latest commentary on the deal, claiming the handover would prove to be a “blight on our Great Ally.”
Farage has warned repeatedly that “Starmer’s Chagos sell-out” would “give Mauritius veto power over U.S.-U.K. use of our military base on Diego Garcia,” explaining that Mauritius is not politically aligned with the West and could obstruct such operations.
That assertion has become more relevant since the outbreak of “Operation Epic Fury” with U.S.-Israeli strikes against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
“Mauritius has called for an immediate ceasefire with Iran,” Farage previously explained, adding that “when Washington realizes, there is no chance of this deal going through.”
Trump said earlier this week that he has been “very disappointed in Keir” since the conflict began, criticizing the prime minister for failing to offer the immediate use of British air bases for the operation.
Starmer has pushed back, asserting that he was not prepared to bog down the British public with a conflict that lacked a “lawful basis and a viable, thought-through plan.”
“President Trump has expressed his disagreement with our decision not to get involved in the initial strikes, but it is my duty to judge what is in Britain’s national interest,” Starmer told members of parliament this week. “That is what I’ve done, and I stand by it.”
