Minister plays down Trump’s claim Chagos deal is ‘act of great stupidity’ and says diplomacy with US is working – UK politics live

Chief secretary to Keir Starmer insists that his relationship with the US president is ‘working’Patrick Wintour, the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, says the Trump tweet about the Chagos Islands deal is “a disaster for Starmer and designed to humiliate him the day after Starmer defended the value of the special relationship”.The government has issued a statement defending the Chagos Islands deal in the light of the condemnation of it from Donald Trump. (See 8.52am.) A government spokesperson said:The UK will never compromise on our national security. We acted because the base on Diego Garcia was under threat after court decisions undermined our position and would have prevented it operating as intended in future.This deal secures the operations of the joint US-UK base on Diego Garcia for generations, with robust provisions for keeping its unique capabilities intact and our adversaries out. Continue reading...