MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

The Telegraph links the Chagos deal to Argentina's Falklands campaign

The column describes Milei as having moved from economic libertarianism to nationalism and, having once celebrated Margaret Thatcher, now seeking to attract Donald Trump with oil concessions

An opinion column published on Sunday in the British newspaper The Telegraph argues that the decision to transfer sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius served as a signal of weakness that encouraged claims over other British overseas territories, among them the Falklands. The piece, by journalist Daniel Johnson, is an argument of opinion rather than a report of new facts.

According to the author, the agreement over the Indian Ocean archipelago — taken, he writes, for reasons never properly explained to Parliament — signalled to other actors that British territories might be up for grabs, “even many thousands of miles away in the South Atlantic”. He argues that Argentine President Javier Milei launched his campaign calculating that reviving the issue would boost his popularity. Milei explicitly rejected that reading on September 23, calling it “a massive stupidity” and saying the strategy had been in preparation for three years.

The column describes Milei as having moved from economic libertarianism to nationalism and, having once celebrated Margaret Thatcher, now seeking to attract Donald Trump with oil concessions. These are the author's characterisations. He also states that an Anglo-Israeli consortium is legally drilling for oil in the archipelago's waters; in fact the companies expect drilling to begin in early 2027 and first production in the first half of 2028, and the validity of the licences is precisely what is disputed between London and Buenos Aires.

On the meeting between Trump and British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, the author notes that it was The Telegraph that raised Chagos at the joint press conference. Trump replied that it was “a terrible deal” and said Burnham “is going to be looking at it”; the prime minister answered “yep”. The column argues that Trump offered no reassurance on the South Atlantic islands and contrasts his stance with Ronald Reagan's in 1982.

The text includes several claims without cited sources: that Burnham had assured Mauritius he would do “everything possible” to ratify the treaty, that the Royal Navy would lack the capacity to send even a flotilla in the event of a landing, that unnamed retired British diplomats are playing down the rights of the archipelago's residents, and that Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has avoided framing the islands' defence in national security terms.

The cost of the Chagos agreement is measured three ways: the British government cites £3.4 billion in net present value; the Conservative opposition a nominal total of £34.7 billion; and a third measure puts it at around £10 billion. In the 2013 referendum, 99.8% of Falklands voters chose, on a 92% turnout, to retain the status of a British overseas territory.

The column also refers to the meeting of the leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland held in Cardiff this month, saying they signed a memorandum of understanding. It notes that Burnham did not object to a new Scottish referendum if a majority supported one, though it omits that the prime minister later clarified that it remains off limits.