Article by Adam Barnett republished from DeSmog
Reform leader boosted the president’s attacks on UK Chagos Islands policy more often than raising the cost of living.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage used a quarter of his speeches in Parliament to boost U.S. President Donald Trump’s attacks on the UK’s Chagos Islands deal – three times more than he raised the cost of living.
DeSmog’s analysis of parliamentary records finds that the former Clacton MP – who resigned last month in response to a series of financial scandals – raised the UK’s proposed deal with Mauritius in 10 of the 40 times he spoke in the House of Commons.
Farage, who was first elected to Parliament in July 2024, mentioned Chagos more than any subject except immigration. This compares with only one speech about winter fuel payments, one on energy policy, and one about UK budget measures, all topics with a direct impact on the cost of living.
“Seeing how often Farage has voiced views that line up perfectly with Trump’s interests, you might think he was the MP for Washington DC, not Clacton-on-Sea,” said Graeme McGregor, campaign manager at the Good Law Project.
“He ought to spend more time focusing on issues that matter to people in Clacton, rather than his pastimes of grandstanding, jet-setting and schmoozing.”
A version of this article was published by The Mirror.
Most of Farage’s Chagos speeches also mentioned Trump, whose opposition to the deal saw it shelved in April. Negotiated by the previous Conservative government, it proposed giving Mauritius control of the islands, which are located in the Indian Ocean, with a 99-year lease for the UK to run the Diego Garcia military base, which is seen as a crucial asset by the U.S. government.
In December 2024, Farage told the Commons he had “just returned, hotfoot, from a very full Mar-a-Lago”, Trump’s resort in Florida, and that “several members” of the incoming administration had expressed “deep disquiet” about plans to “surrender the sovereignty of the islands”.
This was echoed in February 2025, when Farage claimed the agreement could destroy hopes of a UK-U.S. trade deal, claiming Britain’s chances of avoiding American tariffs would “evaporate”.
“The special relationship will be dangerously fractured if the government carry on with this,” he added.
The Reform leader also used the Commons to boast of his close relationship with Trump. “I think I am in a fortunate position. It is not just that for 10 years I have stood up and defended President Trump – I was very much on my own in those days – but that I know half his Cabinet,” he said in February 2025.
Farage has also campaigned against the Chagos deal in meetings with U.S. government officials, and tried to visit the Islands in February on a trip funded by Christopher Harborne, the donor at the centre of his resignation scandal.
DeSmog has previously reported that Farage mentioned his constituency just twice in Parliament in the past 12 months, and only six times since his 2024 election. Over the same period, he has received £2.3 million in non-parliamentary income.
He has also made a series of trips to the United States to speak at pro-Trump events, and has addressed Trump-aligned conferences in London, including the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC), and CPAC Great Britain.
Reform, which has received more than £24 million from oil and gas interests, has vowed to emulate Trump’s policies – campaigning for the “mass deportations” of immigrants and dramatically increased fossil fuel extraction.
Chagos Lobbying
In an interview on his GB News show in January, Farage urged Mike Johnson, the Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, to build opposition to the Chagos deal in the United States. Farage has also reportedly raised the issue directly with the White House on several occasions.
In February, he attempted to visit the Chagos Islands via the nearby Maldives to support four Chagossians who are opposed to the deal. He has claimed he was blocked from entry by the UK government, which said it had no prior knowledge of Farage’s visit.
The £25,000 trip was paid for by Harborne, the crypto billionaire whose £5 million undeclared “gift” to Farage before the 2024 election was being investigated by parliament’s standards commissioner when the Reform leader resigned last month.
The investigation is expected to resume if he wins the by-election on 13 August, which all major parties have boycotted.
Like Trump, Harborne — who has given Reform more than £25 million to date — also appears to oppose the Chagos deal. As well as bankrolling Farage’s visit to the region, Harborne has pledged to fund the small group of Chagossians trying to halt the UK government’s plan.
Nick Dearden of the campaign group Global Justice Now, told DeSmog: “Farage made his name lecturing us about British sovereignty, but he clearly has no idea what this means, because whenever British interests are attacked by Donald Trump, Farage sides with the bully-boy in the White House.
“Trump has repeatedly interfered in British politics, slamming our energy policy, forcing changes in our regulation of Big Tech companies and even fleecing the NHS,” Dearden added. “His poodle, Farage, has not stood up to him on one occasion. Instead, he has used his position to support a man who is so clearly trying to weaken us.”
Nigel Farage and Reform UK have been contacted for comment.
Farage’s Chagos Chatter in Parliament
“…how confident is the foreign secretary that Donald Trump, if he becomes the 47th President of the USA, will approve of this deal, given the importance of our relationship with America?”
7 October, 2024
“I assure the House, having been in America last week and knowing the incoming U.S. defence secretary very well, that there is outright hostility towards this deal. […] Diego Garcia was described to me by a senior Trump adviser as the most important island on the planet for America, so the minister will find outright hostility.”
13 November, 2024
“I have just returned, hotfoot, from a very full Mar-a-Lago. I spoke to several members—senior administrators, especially—of the incoming administration, which will be in the White House in 32 days’ time. Let me assure you that there is very deep disquiet among them all as to what this deal may mean for the long-term future of Diego Garcia and whether such a deal will hold […] They also cannot understand why we would surrender the sovereignty of the islands on an advisory judgment from a pretty obscure court.”
18 December, 2024
“Diego Garcia is probably the single most important thing that we give America right now. Without it, America does not have access to the middle east, India and much else.
[…] I genuinely fear that if this continues and the American administration wakes up to it – I could quote three members of the Cabinet I have spoken to personally about it – our chances of not just avoiding tariffs but moving on to a sectoral free trade deal will all but evaporate. The special relationship will be dangerously fractured if the Government carry on with this…”
4th February, 2025
“The Americans, by the way, have been pretty busy with foreign policy just lately, so it is perhaps no wonder that Diego Garcia has not been high on their agenda, but when they wake up to the fact that this has been done – wholly unnecessarily – I would not be surprised if we find ourselves, together with the European Union, in their tariff regime.”
5 February, 2025
“[Urgent question:] To ask His Majesty’s Government to give us an update on the situation with regard to the Diego Garcia American military base and the British Indian Ocean Territory, especially in light of the recent comments of the American President.”
25 February, 2026
Article by Adam Barnett republished from DeSmog
