The Chagos Files - joining the dots update 2010, Philippe Sands KC becomes counsel to Mauritius for Chagos. 2O13, Sands' good friend, Keir Starmer KC, visits Mauritius for discussions with prime minister Navin Ramgoolam about the future of the Chagos islands. The meeting ends with the men in agreement. 2015, Ramgoolam is arrested on money-laundering charges. The same year, Starmer is elected to Parliament for first time. 2019, Sands obtains an International Court of Justice ruling (advisory opinion only, and non-binding) that the Chagos islands should be given to Mauritius. 2020, Starmer becomes Labour Party leader. 2021, Sands receives Mauritius' top honour, The Most Distinguished Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean. 2022, Sands makes an unauthorized entry into the Chagos Archipelago for a flag-raising ceremony. Sands tweets at the time, “It’s morning on Chagos, where the flag of Mauritius flies." 2023, Sands becomes Mauritius citizen, but retains his British and French citizenships. 2024, Starmer becomes UK Prime Minister, and overlooks his shadow Attorney General, Emily Thornberry, to appoint his old friend and fellow human-rights lawyer Richard Hermer. But he has to break with tradition by giving Hermer a peerage, so he can sit in the House Of Lords, and be part of the government. Despite no mention of it in Labour's manifesto, Starmer quickly agrees the Chagos deal with Navin Ramgoolam, who is once again prime minister of Mauritius. In November, Starmer makes another controversial appointment in Jonathan "dodgy dossier" Powell as his National Security Advisor. 2025, In January Lord Hermer recuses himself from signing off on the Chagos deal. The AG's office refuse to give details of why. In February, Starmer makes yet another extremely controversial appointment in Peter "friend of Epstein" Mandelson as his US Ambassador. Powell and Mandelson brief the White House over Chagos, and claim the UK has to give the archipelago to Mauritius because of international law. However, they assure the Americans that their military base on Diego Garcia is unaffected, as the UK has arranged a 99-year lease on the island. Those assurances have now been proven to be worthless. In late February, Mauritius’ former Prime Minister, Pravind Jugnauth, who was in office when Starmer became PM, and was heavily involved in discussions about the Chagos deal before being replaced by Navin Ramgoolam in November, was arrested on money laundering charges after Mauritius' anti-corruption agency said it had seized suitcases of cash and luxury watches in raids on 10 locations, including Jugnauth’s home. In August, Starmer is referred to the statistics' watchdog for misleading claims over the cost of the Chagos deal. Many other claims are made during the year that Starmer had repeatedly "lied" about the true costs of the deal. There are even accusations that Starmer ordered his officials to announce misleadingly low figures. 2026, Trump, now with more information about the deal and the threats to Diego Garcia, slams the deal as, "an act of GREAT STUPIDITY". Joining the dots. Project Chagos has been running for over 16 years, and Starmer has been onboard since at least 2013. Despite no mention in Labour's manifesto, or reports of Starmer talking about the issue publicly during his time as an MP, or on the election campaign trail, almost the first thing he does after entering Number 10 Downing Street is to make the Chagos deal, despite Mauritius repeatedly putting up the price during the final negotiations. Starmer's controversial appointments of Hermer as AG, Powell as NSA, and Mandelson as US Ambassador all enabled and facilitated the passage of the Chagos deal. Conclusions. Giving Mauritius the Chagos Archipelago is an imperative for Starmer. He has been involved with Sands' plans for a long time, but kept quiet about it since his 2013 visit to Mauritius. When he became PM, and the opportunity arose, he put the plan into effect, made the political appointments he needed to circumnavigate the potential objections and opposition to the plan. It is clear, Starmer is determined the deal will be made no matter what he has to do, or the damage it will cause the UK, Western security, the Chagossian people, and the pristine ecosystems of the islands and the marine protection zone. We know Human Rights are important to Starmer. But his Chagos deal is anti Human-Rights. So, what are Starmer's true motivations for giving the Chagos islands to China's close friend Mauritius? Is it money, is he being blackmailed, is it a maniacal hatred of Great Britain and Judeo Christian civilization, or is it his loyalty to, and admiration for, another country? Why is Starmer so invested in project Chagos?
