My post about Trump and the case of Chagos Island/Diego Garcia deal whiplash yesterday?
I didn't think we'd need that bottle of Naproxen so soon.
Holy schamoly MOLY.
The UK has blocked U.S. use of RAF Fairford and Diego Garcia for Iran strikes, citing international law, leading Trump to withdraw support for Starmer's £35B Chagos Islands handover deal with Mauritius. Senior UK officials privately called the situation 'bleak.' - The Times
— Faytuks Network (@FaytuksNetwork) February 19, 2026
DIS GUY
Is a miserable pissant of epic proportions.
Sir Keir Starmer is blocking a request by President Trump to allow American planes to use British bases to attack Iran, telling him that it would be in breach of international law.
In a rift with Washington, the prime minister is understood to have told Trump that the UK would not allow the use of British facilities at Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, which is home to America’s fleet of heavy bombers in Europe.
Under the terms of long-standing agreements with Washington, these bases can only be used for military operations against third countries that have been agreed in advance with the government.
Now, RAF Fairford is smack in the middle of the Cotswolds. The British totally have the call on that one, however much we may hate it.
Diego Garcia is a different kettle of fish entirely, and both parties are well aware of it.
It seems the Brits are queasy about breaking 'international law' if the US goes ahead with any action against the Iranian regime.
...The Times understands that the UK is concerned that allowing the US to use the bases would be a breach of international law, which makes no distinction between a state carrying out the attack and those in support if the latter have “knowledge of the circumstances of the internationally wrongful act”.
Trump spoke to Starmer on Tuesday night, and the two men discussed the president’s ultimatum to Iran over its nuclear programme. The following day Trump made his statement attacking the Chagos deal.
In 2021 John Healey, who is now the defence secretary, asked in the Commons for clarification from the Conservative government at the time about the ground rules for the use of British bases by US forces.
He was told that a proposed military operation would need to be in accordance with UK law and the UK’s interpretation of relevant international law.
It really does beg the question whether this reputed Chinese appeasement tool is truly concerned over an infringement of international law, or if he's just pissed off at Trump and acting out.
BREAKING: Keir Starmer has told colleagues he ‘will defy Trump over Chagos deal’ and ‘doesn’t care whether America agrees’ (via @Telegraph) https://t.co/rAyVRKAIJN
— Joe Rich (@joerichlaw) February 19, 2026
Sir Keir Starmer will defy Donald Trump by pressing ahead with the handover of the Chagos Islands, a minister has insisted.
The US president made a fresh attack on the Prime Minister’s deal on Wednesday, warning Sir Keir that he was making a “big mistake” by entering into a 100-year lease with Mauritius.
It is the latest in a series of about turns from Mr Trump on the deal, which he previously called an act of “great stupidity” before giving it his approval earlier this month.
Ministers had previously suggested the deal would not proceed without US support. Last month, Sir Keir pulled his bill in the Lords after Mr Trump’s first attack on the deal.
However, Alex Davies-Jones, the victims minister, insisted the Prime Minister would “deliver” on the deal and bring the legislation back to Parliament as soon as possible.
Unsurprisingly, Conservatives in England are howling at the Labour PM, arguing, quite rightly, that an unrepetent, actively aggressive, and nuclear Iran has always posed a danger to the world in general, and should be treated as the malicious presence it is.
...The Conservatives called on Starmer to allow the use of the bases. James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, said: “Iran’s nuclear programme has been a grave threat to Britain and our allies. If the US judges that further action is needed to deal with that specific threat, and if again we believe such action is in our national interest and to protect vital UK security interests, then we should grant the use of our bases.”
Part of the Chagos deal that might have gotten Trump's goat, which was surely glossed over by the Starmer toadies selling it, was the fact that while the UK and US had that 99-year lease on Diego Garcia?
It came with a requirement to 'expeditiously inform' the government of Mauritius - rapidly evolving into a close China proxy - any time the base was being used for an attack on a third nation.
Chagos chaos latest: if the PM really is having a “pause for thought” on Chagos, maybe he should remember one of the craziest facts of all about his deal👇 pic.twitter.com/S6RgTlbK7G
— James Cartlidge MP 🇬🇧 🇺🇦 (@jcartlidgemp) February 19, 2026
So we'd have to ring up a Chinese ally before we launched to let them know what the plans were.
That is so not going to fly.
People are already digging into the Diego Garcia treaty and finding that the leg Starmer is trying to stand on, denying the island to the United States, could well be wobbly.
Re the Times article:
— Barrister's Horse (@BarristersHorse) February 19, 2026
Preventing the US use of Diego Garcia for defence purposes would be in breach of international law. pic.twitter.com/f5HvHo2Mxx
The formal 'Exchange of Notes' is quite interesting. Lots of 'both countries may FREELY USE' language in there.
Weird.
Para 4(c) provides an explanation for para 3.
— Barrister's Horse (@BarristersHorse) February 19, 2026
4(b) is the relevant text: (b) "Ships and aircraft owned or operated by or on behalf of either Government may freely use the anchorage and airfield."
What could really be frustrating Starmer is that a small group of Chagossians, including their 'First Minister,' managed to get out to the islands somehow and have set up camp on their ancestral homeland. It's quite the embarrassment for Starmer.
First, as part of the rationale for the deal, he'd claimed there were no such things as Chagossians, who were originally brought in hundreds of years ago to work the plantations. The island chain was ceded to the British in 1814, and the native but not indigenous Chagossians have considered themselves British ever since.
The Chagossiens were never colonised. The islands were uninhabited when discovered and claimed by the Portuguese. The French took over and the UK took over from France in the Treaty of Paris 1814 after the napoleonic wars. The Chagossiens ARE British...
— Ralph Edmund (@ralph_edmund) February 17, 2026
Now Starmer has to kick them off the islands again, as their grandparents had been when the British last cleared the chain of the last native islanders between 1967 and 1973.
'They're going to have to kill me if they want to remove me by force.'
— GB News (@GBNEWS) February 19, 2026
First Minister of Chagos, Misley Mandarin, says he will not be leaving 'his island'. pic.twitter.com/PAgVW2Lyrb
The man who cannot clean his own tiny island of foreign invaders has managed to get a threatening note out to the British Chagossians, warning them to vacate their ancestral home or face prison time.
Starmer's regime is threatening Chagossians with 3 years in prison if they don't leave.
— Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧 (@TRobinsonNewEra) February 18, 2026
Strange how he can do that in Chagos and not in Britain?
Vile communist rat. pic.twitter.com/67VSwEZ2Cs
Oh, the gentle irony of it all.
This is happening at the time when the head of MI5 disclosed they had to foil more than 20 plot by the Islamic regime on the British soil… someone needs too explain what benefits do the government get from keeping the regime in Iran?! pic.twitter.com/9Rd2LTs9qT
— psy (@k_log_omega) February 19, 2026
One thing is perfectly clear - Starmer has flown his true colors.
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