Farage denies Chagos swap claim as US officials criticise Badenoch

Nigel Farage has denied suggesting that he would hand the Chagos Islands to Donald Trump in return for US support over the Falkland Islands, after a newspaper report and criticism from Kemi Badenoch sparked a row.

The dispute began with comments Farage made on an hour-long podcast with American commentator Benny Johnson. A Daily Telegraph front page said Farage had offered to give the Chagos Islands to Trump and called it humiliating. In the clip, Farage said he would have told Trump: 'Chagos, it's yours. Diego Garcia in perpetuity... In return, just please, stop talking about the Falkland Islands.'

Farage said his remarks had been misreported. He said he did not agree with the government's surrender deal or with transferring sovereignty to Mauritius. He said the US could use Diego Garcia, the joint UK-US military base, forever, and in return Washington should stop making unhelpful comments about the Falklands. He described the Telegraph front page as an all-out assault and said the interpretation had been pushed by a keen young person working for Badenoch.

A senior Trump administration official backed Farage's account. The official told The Times that no one in the administration construed his comments as suggesting he was giving away the Chagos Islands. The official said he was obviously referring to the use of the Diego Garcia military base, and accused anyone claiming otherwise of peddling fake news and undermining the Anglo-American relationship, including Badenoch.

The row also drew in the Chagossian community. Misley Mandarin, who has helped resettle Ile de Croix and has been there for seven months, said Kemi Badenoch and the Conservatives could not be trusted by the Chagos people. She said Farage had the Chagossians at heart. She backed US use of Diego Garcia with the British Chagossian population in perpetuity, with the rest of Chagos under the Crown and indigenous rights respected.

In Washington, Harry Cole, editor-at-large of the US edition of The Sun, said a senior administration figure called him about the Telegraph story. He said the Pentagon was irritated that domestic politics had been brought into national security. A Pentagon official said Badenoch should think twice, pointing to Diego Garcia's role in air protection, eavesdropping capabilities and nuclear deterrence.

Political commentators said Badenoch was trying to differentiate herself from Farage and Reform after a successful party conference. One former minister noted that the previous Conservative cabinet had entered negotiations over Chagos. Another said Farage was speaking hypothetically and that the row was more about political positioning than a genuine change in policy.

Farage has also pointed to his record on Chagos, saying he has helped resettle the islands for years. The argument has become part of a wider fight on the right over who is toughest on sovereignty, the US alliance and the future of the Diego Garcia base.