The Independent – Tory meltdown over surrender of airbase islands to Mauritius
The Independent highlights the “Tory meltdown” since the news broke. The paper says an extraordinary blame game has emerged after Tories slammed the government for handing back sovereignty – but it has since emerged that the talks were instigated two years ago under the Tory government.
Diego Garcia blame game deepens as Liz Truss hits out at Boris Johnson for island ‘surrender’
Former prime minister Liz Truss has hit back at claims that she was responsible for the UK losing the crucial Chagos Islands and claimed it was Boris Johnson’s fault.
An extraordinary row broke out yesterday when Keir Starmer’s government announced it was handing the islands to Mauritius in a deal which guarantees the UK military air base in the Indian Ocean for at least 99 years.
There are fears the deal will open the islands to Chinese interference and undermine Western defence and security in the southern hemisphere.
As the news broke, former foreign secretary now leadership candidate James Cleverly tweeted “weak, weak, weak” about the deal. But it quickly emerged he had initiated the talks which led to the agreement when he was in the Foreign Office.
Shortly after leadership rival and former security minister Tom Tugendhat tweeted it was “disgraceful” that a Tory government had started the talks in what was seen as a pointed remark against Mr Cleverly.
Today’s news summary – Paper Talk
If you are someone who reads every perspective of a story, here is a news summary of all of today’s front pages from today’s newspapers; summarised in a 2-minute read
Editorial 04 October 2024.
Friday’s newspaper headlines reflect a wider variety of news than what we’ve seen during the week. The latest in the Middle East makes several front splashes but does not dominate the newspapers this morning.
A handful of papers report on Joe Biden’s comments on a potential Israeli retaliatory attack on oil – his comments have led to the price of oil rising to its highest in more than a month.
News that the UK is set to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius has led the right-leaning newspapers into meltdown – despite the plans to hand back the island being drawn up under the Conservative government.