Badenoch and Farage both dig in amid row over Falklands-Chagos ‘trade’ proposal

David Lynch and Ellie Ng, Press Association

Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage have become entrenched in a row triggered by the Reform UK leader’s suggestions he would “trade” control of a strategic military base in exchange for Donald Trump’s silence on the Falkland Islands.

The Conservatives said Mr Farage should apologise for telling a US-based podcast he would hand over control of the Diego Garcia military base in the Chagos Islands if the US President agreed to stay out of debate over the Falklands’ sovereignty.

Reform UK meanwhile claimed that Mrs Badenoch had “risked a diplomatic row” with Britain’s allies by claiming its leader wanted to give up UK ownership of Chagos to the US.

The public argument between the two opposition leaders comes as Argentina and its president Javier Milei have stepped up their sabre-rattling over the Falklands in recent months.

The US President has declined to give full-throated support for British sovereignty of the Falklands, and tied this to ex-prime minister Sir Keir Starmer’s refusal to get involved in the US-Iran War.

Conservative party chairman Kevin Hollinrake said Mr Farage’s proposal was “simply extraordinary”, adding: “How can a man who wants to lead our country take such a pathetic approach to our sovereign territory?

“Farage must stop trying to run from his own words, and apologise now for this shameful, unpatriotic act.”

A Reform UK spokesman, meanwhile, said Mrs Badenoch had mischaracterised the remarks made by Mr Farage.

They said: “Kemi Badenoch has risked causing a diplomatic row with Britain’s allies, all because she cannot control the Tory spin doctors around her that oversaw the disastrous premierships of Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak, Theresa May, and even David Cameron.

“The latest Tory lie, about Nigel Farage’s Chagos Island commitment, just shows that absolutely nothing has changed inside the nasty party, and it never will.”

US government sources told several news outlets overnight that they did not interpret Mr Farage’s remarks as an offer to give up sovereignty of Chagos to America, as Mrs Badenoch had.

Mr Farage has been the “most fiercely outspoken man on the Chagos sellout”, the Reform spokesman added.

The party also released a statement from the self-proclaimed interim first minister of the unrecognised Chagossian government, which said the Conservatives “cannot be trusted by the Chagos people”.

Misley Mandarin added: “If they really have interest in the Chagos, why would you have started negotiating about things you already own?

“We know Nigel has the Chagossians at heart. He never boasts about all his help to us. We agree with him: we would be happy for the US to keep using Diego Garcia with a British Chagossian population in perpetuity, with the rest of the Chagos being under the Crown and we the indigenous people at last having our rights respected forever.”

The argument between the two opposition party leaders erupted after Mr Farage told a US-based podcast, The Benny Show, that he would have given Donald Trump the Diego Garcia base “in perpetuity”.

He added: “I’d have said, ‘Right, I’m guaranteeing you that. I’m giving up on this surrender. In return, just please stop talking about the Falkland Islands. I know you like Milei, but this really matters to us’. And there’s a trade, you see.”

Responding to the comments, Mrs Badenoch said it was “mad for someone who wants to be Prime Minister to say we should give away one piece of British territory just to stop an American president talking about another”.

Argentina has in recent months stepped up its rhetoric on the Falklands, and its president Mr Milei has launched a legal challenge which seeks halt British-led exploration work at the Sea Lion oilfield off the islands’ waters.

Foreign Office minister Uma Kumaran told the Commons on Tuesday the Government will do “whatever it takes” to support islanders.

Jack Ford, the chairman of the Falklands legislative assembly, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Falkland Islanders are confident the British Government would defend them “if that was ever required”.

British paratroopers have this month been training alongside reservists in the Falklands, according to the Times.

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