Sir Keir Starmer accused Donald Trump of changing his stance on the UK’s Chagos Islands deal with “the express purpose of putting pressure on me and Britain” over the Government’s position on Greenland.
The Prime Minister vowed he would not “yield” after the US president branded the agreement to cede sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory an “act of great stupidity” in a series of social media posts.
Sir Keir told MPs at Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Questions: “President Trump deployed words on Chagos yesterday that were different to his previous words of welcome and support when I met him in the White House.
“He deployed those words yesterday for the express purpose of putting pressure on me and Britain in relation to my values and principles on the future of Greenland”.
The Prime Minister added: “He wants me to yield on my position, and I’m not going to do so.”
Meanwhile, the Trump administration ramped up its criticism of the plan to hand over the islands, which include the UK-US Diego Garcia military base, to Mauritius.
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent accused the UK of “letting us down” and suggested Britain would “outsource” national security by transferring sovereignty.
He told a press conference in Davos, Switzerland: “President Trump has made it clear that we will not outsource our national security or our hemispheric security to any other countries.
“Our partner, the UK, is letting us down with the base on Diego Garcia, which we had shared together for many, many years, and they want to turn it over to Mauritius.”
Mr Bessent, the White House’s chief economic spokesman, also said there were “glitches” in the UK-US trade deal and that no more trade talks were scheduled between the two countries.
The Chagos agreement is intended to provide a firm legal basis for the operation of the strategically important Diego Garcia facility.
Ministers have said the deal is necessary because international court rulings in favour of Mauritian claims to sovereignty had threatened the future of the base.
Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday: “Shockingly, our ‘brilliant’ Nato ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital US military base, to Mauritius, and to do so FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER.
“There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness.”
He highlighted the decision as a reason for his continued pursuit of Greenland, which is a semi-autonomous part of Denmark.
“The UK giving away extremely important land is an act of GREAT STUPIDITY, and is another in a very long line of national security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired.”
The Trump broadside came as legislation to finalise the agreement is caught in a wrangle between the Lords and the Commons.
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