Can Labour be trusted on foreign policy? Or will it allow post-Imperial hand-wringing to outweigh the national interest? A litmus test will be its handling of the territory of the Chagos Islands, which Britain has owned since 1814.
The islands occupy a strategic position in the north-west of the Indian Ocean. The largest island is Diego Garcia, which is leased to the US and for the past half a century has been one of its most important military bases. Diego Garcia has played a vital role in many conflicts, including those in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Iraq.
However, Mauritius, independent since 1968, lays claim to sovereignty over the Chagos Islands. Last year the then defence secretary, Grant Shapps, thwarted a Foreign Office plan to cede sovereignty to Mauritius in return for a “Cyprus solution”. Shades of the Falklands?
Now it has emerged that the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have reopened talks with the Mauritians, thereby casting doubt on British resolve. It would be an understatement to say that our American allies would be unhappy with any handover of sovereignty to Mauritius, which is closely aligned with China. Beijing has bankrolled Mauritian development as part of its expansion of influence into Africa. With Sino-American tensions rising in Taiwan and the East China Sea, any potential threat to the US base in Diego Garcia would be taken very seriously in Washington.
No British government can afford to put the special relationship at risk. But Sir Keir Starmer and David Lammy, who show an undue deference towards foreign courts, are doubtless concerned about a non-binding 2019 ruling from the International Court of Justice, asserting that British sovereignty over the Chagos Islands was unlawful. Predictably, the UN General Assembly followed suit. No less predictably, the then Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (Sir Keir’s boss at the time) promised to “right one of the wrongs of history” by giving the islands away.
This is a chance for Sir Keir to distance himself from the Corbyn legacy. He and Mr Lammy should defend Anglo-American interests robustly, not pander to the global post-colonial guilt industry. The Chagos Islands are legally British and should remain so – in perpetuity.
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