Ben Leo says the US fury threatens to 'torpedo' Keir Starmer’s ‘insane’ Chagos surrender

The warning comes after Donald Trump publicly condemned the deal on Truth Social, calling the giveaway an “act of stupidity” and questioning why Britain would pay tens of billions of pounds to relinquish its own territory.

Speaking to Nana Akua on GB News, he said: "It simply doesn’t make sense, does it, that we would give away sovereign British territory and pay for the privilege, around £30 billion, effectively to Mauritius, and indirectly to China.

"It simply doesn’t make sense, does it, that we would give away sovereign British territory and pay for the privilege around £30billion effectively to Mauritius, and indirectly to China.

"That has now, of course, caught the attention of the Trump administration this side of the pond.

"We saw that Truth Social post from the President a couple of weeks ago, where he described the giveaway as an act of “stupidity”. I’m sure that struck straight to serious voters’ hearts at the time.

"What seemed clear was that Keir Starmer did not fully grasp President Trump’s position when that post was made — namely, that Britain would be paying to give away its own territory.

"A lot has happened since then. Keir Starmer’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, along with Downing Street staff and officials from the Foreign Office, have been in Washington DC since that Truth Social post, attempting to rally the Trump administration and convince them that this deal is in the interests of both Great Britain and America.

"However, there is now a war brewing between Downing Street officials and British embassy staff here in Washington, and President Trump’s so-called MAGA loyalists.

"Both sides are trying to win the ear of President Trump.

"The MAGA camp believes this deal should be nuked, completely torpedoed, while Jonathan Powell, the embassy and Downing Street staff are trying to persuade the administration that it is worth proceeding with.

"On The Late Show Live last night, we were joined by Rob Midgley from Friends of the Overseas British Territories, who exclusively revealed that next week the US State Department will be writing to the Foreign Office to say they are highly concerned, even angry, about the state of this deal, and that they recommend it be torpedoed completely."

Nana said: "Well, I can tell you, Ben Leo, that I have in my hands the 1966 treaty copy of that treaty.

"And it's actually on page one, pretty much where it tells you that the territory shall remain under the United Kingdom sovereignty. So I'm not quite sure how Sir Keir Starmer managed to miss that."

It comes as it has been revealed that the US State Department is poised to send an official communication to Sir Keir Starmer regarding the controversial Chagos Islands agreement, GB News has learned exclusively.

Robert Midgley from Friends of the British Overseas Territories confirmed that Washington would soon formally communicate a shift in American policy to Downing Street.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Indian Ocean archipelago hosting a joint UK-US military installation on Diego Garcia will be transferred to Mauritius.

Britain would retain access to the strategically vital base through a lease arrangement lasting at least 99 years, whilst simultaneously making financial payments to the Mauritian government.

"They will be imminently writing officially to the FCDO to confirm their new policy stance towards the Chagos Islands, which will be following Donald Trump's stance from Truth Social," he explained.