Badenoch’s attempt to use Trump’s criticism of the Chagos deal against the government backfired
Keir Starmer has called out Kemi Badenoch’s hypocrisy after she used the government’s support for Greenlanders’ right to self-determination to attack the government’s Chagos deal.
Badenoch asked at PMQs: “Does he agree that just as those in Greenland should decide their own future, so should the Chagossians?”.
Starmer hit back, pointing out that President Trump had criticized the Chagos deal yesterday despite endorsing it months earlier, “for the express purpose of putting pressure on me and Britain” over Greenland.
On Truth Social yesterday, Trump called the government’s decision to hand the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius “an act of great stupidity”. The President added that it is “another in a very long line of National Security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired”.
Just months ago, Trump endorsed the Chagos deal.
He added: “He wants me to yield on my position and I’m not going to do so”.
Starmer then said: “Given that was his express purpose, I am surprised that the leader of the opposition has jumped on the bandwagon.”
“I had understood her position to be that she supported the government’s position on the future of Greenland. Now she appears to support words by President Trump to undermine the government’s position on the future of Greenland,” he added.
In a final swipe at Badenoch, Starmer said: “She’s chosen naked opportunism over the national interest.”
Badenoch’s attempt to use Trump’s criticism of the Chagos deal against the government backfired spectacularly.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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