Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill

Lord Murray of Blidworth Excerpts

Monday 26th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con)]

My Lords, we are told by the media that four-star generals and admirals have written to President Trump saying:

“A base held under lease, subject to international arbitration, political pressure, or third party treaty obligations, is inherently less secure than one held under sovereign authority”.


Are they wrong?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I do not think they are wrong. The problem, however, is that that option was unlikely to be available to us indefinitely. We needed to find a solution that was legally secure and that could not be challenged. Had we waited, as noble Lords opposite have encouraged the Government to do, for a binding judgment, then what kind of deal would we have been able to seek? The price was only ever going to go up. It was much better to seek a solution before a binding judgment could be reached, following the advisory opinion. I am assuming it is for James Cleverly, the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, and others to explain what on earth they were doing negotiating, on repeat, for the same deal that we achieved. Why were they doing that if they had no intention of ever securing the base?