Kennedy urges PM Starmer to scrap plan that threatens U.S-U.K. base on Diego Garcia: “This is just a terrible idea”

Watch Kennedy's comments here.

WASHINGTON - Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) urged United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer to halt his plan to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, including the island that is home to the joint U.S.-U.K. military base on Diego Garcia, to Mauritius in a speech on the U.S. Senate floor.

Key excerpts of the speech are below:

"The only person on this planet who thinks this is a good idea besides Prime Minister Starmer is Xi Jinping of China. He has been, for years, anticipating that this might happen, cozying up to Mauritius, and they have become best buddies. . . . Because once Mauritius owns the Chagos Islands-even though they say they are going to sign a lease and allow the U.K. and America to continue to operate the military base-once Mauritius owns the islands, I can guarantee you that China is going to put the pressure on Mauritius to allow China to force inspections of military equipment on all of the Chagos Islands, including Diego Garcia. Isn't that special?"

. . .

"So, I am asking you, Prime Minister Starmer . . . please do the right thing here. If you are determined to give away these islands to Mauritius, which never owned them, which inevitably is going to help China, if you are determined to divest the people of the United Kingdom of these islands, please sell them to the United States. I will sponsor the legislation happily, enthusiastically, to appropriate the money to do it. And then the United Kingdom can be out of the picture, and the United States can continue to control one of the mightiest and most important military bases in all of human history."

Background:

Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos Islands, is home to a joint U.S.-U.K. military base-one of the only bases in the world where the U.S. military can reload submarines.

Despite the base's importance, the United Kingdom has sided with left-wing activists by moving to cede control of the Chagos Islands to the small island nation of Mauritius.

Mauritius, located more than 1,200 miles from the Chagos Islands, has become increasingly aligned with the Chinese Communist Party. Its prime minister, Navin Ramgoolam, has signaled his intent to bolster diplomatic relations with China, once relaying that President Xi Jinping told him, "China never forgets its friends."

Kennedy has long condemned the United Kingdom's planned giveaway of the Chagos Islands.

• Shortly after the proposed deal's announcement in October 2024, Kennedy released a statement lambasting the decision as "dangerous and irresponsible," making him one of the chief American opponents of the Chagos giveaway.

• The same month, Kennedy authored an op-ed in The Hill further denouncing the move and wrote a letter to then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken seeking answers about the Biden administration's involvement in the deal.

• On four occasions from November 2024 to February 2025, Kennedy took to the U.S. Senate floor to urge the U.S. and U.K. governments to abandon the deal.

• In January 2025, Kennedy hosted two leading British critics of the Chagos giveaway, Baron Dean Godson and Julia Mizen of the U.K.-based think tank Policy Exchange, at his office.

• Later that month, Kennedy authored an op-ed in The Telegraph, arguing in part that "[t]he idea that the U.K. must hand over the islands to atone for whatever perceived wrongs Britain's forefathers may have committed is nonsense."

• In April 2025, Kennedy participated in a Wall Street Journal documentary about the Chagos Islands deal, calling it "stone-cold stupid."

• On January 31, 2026, Kennedy published another op-ed in The Telegraph, once again urging the U.K. to work with the Trump administration to protect Diego Garcia.

Watch Kennedy's speech here.