![\"Dame](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/priti-6870438.jpg\" "\\"Dame")
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Dame Priti Patel with Express Chief Political Commentator David Williamson (Image: Tim Merry)<\/p>\n
Sir Keir Starmer suffered one of his biggest setbacks<\/a> yet when the United States<\/a> refused to back his deal<\/a> to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands<\/a> to Mauritius. He now has extra reason to glare at Dame Priti Patel. The Shadow Foreign Secretary fought behind the scenes in Washington DC to stop the \u201cstupid deal\u201d and prevent the giveaway of British territory.<\/p>\n Back in May last year, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave a full-throttle endorsement of the proposals. Dame Priti was among Conservatives<\/a> who jetted to the States to convince the Americans the plan to transfer sovereignty to Mauritius but lease back the UK-US Diego Garcia military base was a disaster in the making.<\/p>\n The base is considered vital to countering threats in the Middle East and there are widespread concerns that China will seek to expand its influence in the Indian Ocean. Dame Priti, 54, remains appalled that Labour negotiated the deal, describing it as a \u201ccomplete and utter outrage\u201d. On Monday the UK Government confirmed the deal was paused indefinitely.<\/p>\n \u201cThis shows you how inept, how stupid, how ignorant the Labour Government is, and how out of their depth they are,” she said. “I think the whole thing is just preposterous.\u201d<\/p>\n Read more: Keir Starmer accused of ‘U-turn of all U-turns’ as Donald Trump humiliates PM <\/a><\/p>\n Read more: Defiant message from Chagos island to Keir Starmer – ‘We will not leave’ <\/a><\/p>\n Dame Priti Patel in her Westminster office (Image: Tim Merry)<\/p>\n Dame Priti and fellow opponents of the deal jumped at every opportunity to persuade senators, Congressmen and figures in the White House that the transfer of sovereignty should be derailed. When she visited in February, she says, figures around the administration were \u201cvery, very concerned\u201d about what it would mean for the base and \u201cour joint national security\u201d. She insists Labour should not simply put the deal on ice so it can be brought back at a later date.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole thing needs to be scrapped,\u201d she says, pushing Labour to display \u201csome actual courage\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cJust say [we] got it wrong and no money’s going to go to Mauritius,\u201d she urges.<\/p>\n President Trump\u2019s switch from acceptance of the deal to outright opposition was the game-changing moment.<\/p>\n Members of the administration gave her a clear message: \u201cThe President is in charge, he has spoken, his views are very clear, and quite frankly, that’s the end of it.\u201d<\/p>\n She wants the cash saved from the axing of the Chagos handover \u2013 which she claims would come to \u00a335billion over the lifetime of the deal, a figure strongly disputed by the Government \u2013 to be invested in the UK\u2019s armed forces to \u201cmake Britain strong and safe all over again\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI have seen so many national security threats and challenges to our amazing country,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n The fragility of Britain\u2019s defences have come under the spotlight following the conflict in Iran. She is adamant the Iran crisis must end with the nuclear threat eliminated and the regime\u2019s \u201cproxies\u201d \u2013 \u201cHezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis\u201d \u2013 no longer posing a danger to Britons.<\/p>\n Pressing for determined action to protect British nationals in the region, she says: \u201cThis is no hokey-cokey \u2013 you can’t have one foot in, one foot out. You know, we have British personnel, we have British nationals in the Middle East region. They are at threat from Iran. We have a duty to protect them.\u201d<\/p>\n Gulf states, she claims, feel \u201cbitterly betrayed and let down\u201d that \u201cBritain wasn’t there at the outset of the Iran conflict, protecting our own bases, protecting the quarter of a million British nationals that live and work out there and travel out there\u201d.<\/p>\n Dame Priti wants Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps proscribed as a terrorist organisation and calls for action to stop \u201cIranian dirty money\u201d coming into this country.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to protect our country from Iranian operatives operating in the United Kingdom,\u201d she says. \u201cI want to see all of that end.\u201d<\/p>\n She is not afraid to criticise the US president when she believes he has made a mistake \u2013 such as when he delivered the threat to Iran that a \u201cwhole civilisation\u201d could \u201cdie\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThose comments are completely detrimental, they\u2019re bellicose and they are unhelpful,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s not something that we would ever support at all.\u201d<\/p>\n However, she remains one of Parliament\u2019s most enthusiastic champions of the \u201cspecial relationship\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cPost-Brexit<\/a>, we have a trading relationship that is first-class, second to none and evolving and developing,\u201d she boasts.<\/p>\n Sir Keir Starmer served as Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Brexit Secretary (Image: AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n There is nothing synthetic about Dame Priti\u2019s anger towards Labour and the \u201cspineless\u201d prime minister.<\/p>\n \u201cThe choices of this Labour government are absolutely idiotic,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n When she knocks on doors in Witham, the Essex constituency she has represented since 2010, voters tell her what they make of the state of UK politics.<\/p>\n \u201cThey think this Government’s a joke. And they think this Government is just an insult to Britain’s standing in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Voters will elect councillors for 136 English local authorities, plus the members of the Scottish and Welsh parliaments, on May 7. Polls suggest this will be a painful moment for the Tories<\/a> but Dame Priti insists her party is fighting for every vote, \u201cworking hard to win back the trust and confidence of the electorate all over again\u201d.<\/p>\n Dame Priti Patel is Shadow Foreign Secretary (Image: Tim Merry)<\/p>\n Arguing that \u201chumility goes a long way\u201d, she says the party knows where it \u201cgot things wrong\u201d.<\/p>\n She is adamant Britain should drill for oil and gas in the North Sea and secure food supplies in the pursuit of self-sufficiency.<\/p>\n![\"Priti](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/6870071.jpg\" "\\"Priti")
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<\/p>\n![\"Dame](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/6870088.jpg\" "\\"Dame")
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![\"Zack](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/6870070.jpg\" "\\"Zack")
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