I deeply regret my badly misjudged commments and apologise for any offense I’ve caused. I’ve served the Labour Party all my life and it was a huge honour to be appointed a minister by Keir Starmer. 1/2

Starmer’s Chagos surrender deal is collapsing so quickly it’s hard to keep up. Here’s what we’ve learnt in the last few days👇 The Attorney General, Lord Hermer, has joined the British negotiating team. Shortly afterwards, the Government agreed to even more concessions — very likely including giving Mauritius more money. The Government has tellingly refused to deny it’s linked our payments to inflation. Who is Lord Hermer? You may know him as Gerry Adam’s lawyer. He’s Starmer’s old friend and donor. It’s come to light that Hermer described ‘controlling our borders’ as ‘dehumanising’ policy. He’s said ‘almost every element’ of the British Empire was ‘deeply racist’. He called Just Stop Oil ‘inspiring’ and is pro boycotting Israel. He’s Jeremy Corbyn in a barrister’s wig. You may be wondering, why on earth are we even negotiating? Well, the Government finally provided its first actual argument for the deal. They’ve said that if no deal is done the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) — a UN agency — might revoke the US & UK’s right to conduct our communication operations on the Chagos Islands. Why? Because the ICJ controversially gave an advisory opinion that the Chagos Island belongs to Mauritius. The Vice-President of this court served in Xi Jinping’s diplomatic service. Another judge was appointed by Putin. We are within our rights to ignore this non-binding judgment. This new argument is absurd. I’m told that it’s the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands changing that is what’s most likely to see the ITU change what communication ‘rights’ we have on the island. But more importantly it’s absurd because the ITU has no power. It cannot ‘turn off’ the communication operations of the base. Are we seriously to believe President Trump, or any future US President or British PM would endanger our security because the ITU has sent us a letter? Of course not. It’s so ridiculous that experienced ministers privy to security briefings on this matter have called it out as nonsense. The former defence secretary, Ben Wallace, said: ‘This is a totally fabricated excuse… The Islands are far more important than just this and the potential threat to our operations is a total fiction.’ So where did this argument come from? It appears to come from none other than Philippe Sands KC, the lead negotiator for Mauritius. He is an old friend of both Starmer and Lord Hermer. Sands set this whole argument out in a book he wrote in 2023. We learned today that Sands illegally entered the Chagos Islands in 2022 and planted the Mauritian flag on the UK territory. How much must one loathe one’s own country to plant another nation’s flag on your own nation’s land? It transpires that Sands has also compared UK sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. “Britain’s position is no different from that of … Russia in relation to Crimea and other parts of the territory of Ukraine.” It’s also come to light that Starmer had a 5 star, ‘all expenses paid for’ trip to Mauritius in 2013 where he discussed the Chagos Islands and gave a lecture on “the prosecution of crimes in the 21st century.” Was Sands present? Starmer has denied speaking to Sands about the Chagos Islands since he became PM. It is unclear, though, when he last spoke to Sands - and when he last spoke to Sands about the Chagos Islands. In light of all this, Starmer’s Cabinet has begun to turn on the deal. One told a journalist they don’t understand why the UK is sending between £9-18 billion to Mauritius when the Govt is scrapping winter fuel payments and raising taxes on working people. And ‘very senior’ Govt sources (Starmer’s own advisors) have begun anonymously telling the press they think the deal is “terrible”, “mad” and “impossible to understand.” All this has happened in the last few days alone. If even senior Labour officials think this deal is terrible, I am more confident than ever that, if we keep pushing, we can sink it.