My last Chagos piece, one year ago on 28 December 2022, expressed the hope that 2023 would be my final post and that a satisfactory conclusion to the UK/Mauritius negotiations announced in a statement on 3 November 2022 would be reached. Why the hold-up?
I am grateful to ConservativeHome for publishing my Chagos assessments every Christmas/new year since 2012. A decade later we are close to a resolution.
Why MPs have written to Joe Biden to seek his support in pressuring the Government to give up this far-flung outpost.
It would be irrational for any government that believes in the peaceful settlement of disputes not to negotiate a settlement.
A new Prime Minister, and a changing of the guard at the Foreign Office, is a chance to change tack on the British Indian Ocean Territory.
The Government’s long rearguard defence of the British Indian Ocean Territory has reached a higher theatre than I ever expected.
The British Indian Ocean Territory is clearly a reminder to too many member nations of our lingering colonial legacy.
The decision not to allow resettlement of the Chagos Islands is a travesty. But a means of finding a way forward is to hand.
We should not shy away from facing the many unsavoury episodes of imperial history. The consequences of Britain’s historical actions are still shaping world events negatively. But that doesn’t mean the moral wrongs of our ancestors should necessarily dominate and guide our actions today.