Diego Garcia: Comments by the President of the United States

Lord Watts Excerpts

Thursday 22nd January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

No. The noble Lord is completely wrong in his assertion about the motivation for doing this deal. This is about keeping this country and its citizens safe. That will always be the first priority of this Government. It is unedifying to see His Majesty’s Opposition take any opportunity to jump on a bandwagon led by Nigel Farage, who claimed this week that the President had a point in threatening Greenland’s sovereignty. We fundamentally disagree with that position.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, is it the case that President Trump supported this measure and then changed his mind? Can I suggest not to take too much notice of a man who does not know the difference between Iceland and Greenland?

[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.