Nigel Farage accused of ‘Maga stunts’ for saying he was denied access to Chagos Islands
Nigel Farage has been accused of “performing Maga stunts” after claiming the British government stopped him from travelling to the Chagos Islands on a humanitarian mission.The Reform UK leader said he had flown to the Maldives to join a delegation bringing aid to four Chagossians who are trying to establish a settlement on one of the archipelago’s islands to protest against Britain’s plans to transfer control of the territory to Mauritius.In a video posted on X on Saturday, Farage claimed the UK government had blocked his trip to the territory, which cannot be entered without a valid permit.Wearing a striped polo shirt and sunglasses around his neck, Farage said: “The British government are applying pressure on the president and the government of the Maldives to do everything within their power to stop me getting on that boat and going to the Chagos Islands.“Now if I was an Isis fighter crossing the Channel to Dover, they wouldn’t give a damn. No, they’d put me in a hotel, they’d give me three meals a day.”However, it is understood that the UK government was not given advance notice of Farage’s intention to travel to the islands and did not know he was in the Maldives prior to his comments on Saturday.Farage reportedly travelled by private jet to the Maldives where he spent just over a day before heading back to the UK for the Gorton and Denton byelection in Greater Manchester on Thursday.A Labour party source said: “Nigel Farage could have spent all weekend campaigning in the byelection in Manchester. Instead he flew 5,000 miles to the Maldives on a $60m private jet, had a moan at the British government, and flew straight back again. Twenty-three hours in the air to stand on a beach, while his candidate in Gorton and Denton has had to make do with the endorsement of Tommy Robinson instead.”Farage’s trip came after Donald Trump threw Britain’s Chagos Islands deal into fresh doubt. The US president has urged Keir Starmer not to “give away Diego Garcia”, the largest island on the archipelago, which is home to a joint UK-US military base.Government sources believe the US president soured on the deal because of the UK’s refusal to permit its airbases to be used for a pre-emptive US strike on Iran, the Guardian reported last week.Up to 2,000 Chagossians were forcibly removed from the archipelago in the 1960s and 1970s to make way for the military base. They were resettled mainly in Mauritius and Britain, with many wanting the right to return to their homeland.Farage said he had intended to travel to the archipelago’s Île du Coin, where the Chagossian campaigners arrived on Monday to establish a settlement.The former UK defence secretary Ben Wallace called Farage’s move a “cheap stunt” and accused him of “performing Maga stunts”, given the entry rules that apply to the entirety of the British Indian Ocean Territory.The UK Foreign Office website states: “The British Indian Ocean Territory is not a tourist destination. There are no commercial flights, access is restricted and you need a permit before you travel.”Wallace posted on X: “There are strict rules and permits about who can visit. Pub bores like Farage need to fill in a form! And the island base is full of serious people doing serious things.”Speaking to the Guardian, Wallace added: “Reform are treating us all for fools. These controls apply equally to all UK bases in Britain. MPs can’t just turn up at nuclear weapons facilities or special forces barracks.”View image in fullscreenFormer defence secretary Ben Wallace called Farage’s intervention a ‘cheap stunt’. Photograph: Kirsty O’Connor/PAFarage told the Daily Telegraph on Saturday he had received a phone call from a source in the Maldives government warning that the British authorities did not want him travelling to the Chagos Islands.In his two-and-a-half-minute video clip on X, Farage said: “Here I am, a member of parliament, leader of a political party that’s topping the polls. The British government, the high commissioner here, they’re doing everything they can. They’ve got search parties out trying to find me and they do not want me to leave this place.”A spokesperson from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “Our primary concern at this point is to ensure the safe departure of a group of individuals from an island that is not fit for human habitation, and on which any health emergencies or extreme weather could pose a serious threat to life.”Reform UK has been approached for comment.
