“It is highly unusual for a U.K. political party to be lobbying a foreign government over a U.K. foreign policy decision,” said Evie Aspinall, director the British Foreign Policy Group. “In part, that is because foreign policy is often relatively bipartisan, and because it is widely accepted that issues of national security should be addressed on a government-to-government basis.”
Experts struggled to point to similar cases in recent history. After being dumped out of office in 2022, Boris Johnson did routinely press for a harder line from Western powers in support of Ukraine. But that was always in the same direction as the government, typically urging them to go further and faster.
Aspinall suggested that the Chagos deal represents an “opportunity” for Farage to bolster his long-standing relationship with Trump “without alienating” voters wary of the U.S. president. Polling suggests that the hard-to-explain deal is deeply unpopular in the U.K.
In a sign of the anger in government, a senior Downing Street aide said of the Reform UK Chagos pushback: “Nigel Farage has shown time and time again that he is not on the side of the British people.”
The Reform official quoted above shot back: “We are keeping up the pressure on the U.S.”
The Foreign Office, meanwhile, is doing some contingency planning in case Trump does side against Starmer.
That scenario would not only be a deep rebuke of the PM’s transtlantic strategy — it could leave Britain in a world of legal pain too. Mauritius has driven a hard bargain over the base and may still demand payment, while resuming its legal action to gain full sovereignty.
Esther Webber contributed to reporting.