Diego Garcia: Comments by the President of the United States

Lord Callanan Excerpts

Thursday 22nd January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

In all seriousness, we are speaking intensively, as noble Lords would expect, with our friends and allies in the United States. It is our understanding—and the United States’ understanding, as far as we are aware—that this is still a deal that secures our security and that of the United States, and that this is a joint project. We will continue to have those conversations, as noble Lords would want us to do, and we will resist the temptation to get into megaphone diplomacy over this. There were those here who were urging us on Monday to get into pre-emptive tariffs, inflammatory comments and all that. We did not do that, and I think that the agreements that are starting to emerge show that that approach has been right.

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My Lords, at the last count, there have been 12 U-turns from this Government recently. Let me suggest to the noble Baroness that 13 could be her lucky number on this occasion. The former Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, as my noble friend said, really is a gift that keeps on giving. Last year, while negotiating this agreement, he said:

“If President Trump doesn’t like the deal, the deal will not go forward. … they’ve got to be happy with the deal or there is no deal”.


Is that still the policy of the Government?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

As I have explained on I do not know how many occasions, this is a joint initiative. It is about securing a base for the United Kingdom and the United States, which we believe to be in the interests of us here in the UK, our allies in the US and global stability. That is why we have gone about this and, presumably, that is why the previous Government set about negotiating a deal with Mauritius, too.