Chagos issue is reason to join Reform, says MP

Another MP joins Reform – this time citing the Chagos issue as the reason - by Tessa Clarke, Editor, THE CHAGOS FILES

Andrew Rosindell MP, Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister until today, has been at the heart of the Conservative Party’s foreign policy for about a year. He joined the party aged 14 inspired by Margaret Thatcher.

A fierce supporter of keeping the Chagos Islands British, why has he switched political parties now? Priti Patel MP, the Shadow Foreign Secretary and Rosindell’s former boss, has been pretty sharp on the Chagossian issue. Not only did she visit Chagossians in Croydon (something David Lammy MP, when (then) Foreign Secretary and announcing the Chagos sovereignty deal had failed to do) and joined campaigners on demonstrations against the deal, her points about how the Chagossians have been left behind in the deal have been well argued in the House of Commons.

However Rosindell believes this is not enough. THE CHAGOS FILES notes that when in power the Conservative Party never gave the Chagossians a Referendum. Neither did they make re-settlement on the Chagos Islands or self-determination a reality. Explaining his switch to Reform Rosindell said, “the time has come to put country before party.”

For him, “The failure of the Conservative Party both when in government and more recently in opposition to actively hold the government to account on the issue of Chagossian self-determination and the defence of British sovereignty represents a clear red line for me.”

Clearly Rosindell has more in mind to challenge the Government on the deal.

Watch this space!