Retired Royal Navy Officer Rear Admiral Chris Parry has hit out at Keir Starmer's Chagos deal after the lawyer who secured the agreement was exposed for hailing the "humiliation" of Britain.Philippe Sands KC, a friend of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, spoke of being celebrated for defeating the UK in the UN’s courts during a talk in 2024.FULL STORY HERE.
00:00Is it a humiliation for Britain? What has actually been agreed and how much is it going to cost every man, woman and child in this country?
00:08Well, Rear Admiral Chris Parry is with us. Chris, thank you very much.
00:12We just thought it would be interesting there to highlight Philippe Sands KC and what he said in the past.
00:18Those clips that we just showed were from a little talk at Jesus College in the Cambridge University where he's speaking very openly about how he's willing and more than willing to take these cases against the government and even humiliate us as a country.
00:36But where do we stand now on all this? Is this a fait accompli? Is this all done and dusted now?
00:43Is this sign sealed and delivered this deal? Or do you think that there could be more legal challenges? Is this is this the end?
00:51Well, good afternoon. Can I can I just say about Philippe Sands that it's very interesting that he says it's great about being able to humiliate Britain because he very forcibly says he doesn't identify as British or as a London or as a Jew, which is what he is.
01:07He says he says he's just Philippe Sands. And to me, that just screams narcissistic projection, to tell you the truth.
01:14And I'm afraid to say that every single case he's been involved in, except for the very good work he's done in terms of genocide and against fascist regimes and things like that,
01:26have all been about trying to limit Britain's power in the world and to essentially erode our instruments of power.
01:33But on the Chagos deal, I'm afraid to say he's involved in a very serious conflict of interest.
01:41He's friends with Lord Hermer. He's friends with the prime minister.
01:45And so the whole system end to end is corrupted by the fact that these people know each other.
01:50If this were a financial deal, we'd be screaming insider dealing corruption and everything.
01:56And I'm afraid to say that, I mean, I'm on record having said here and elsewhere that this is a gross act of strategic illiteracy and giving up the Chagos Islands.
02:07And to give an example, the very same day that our prime minister signed over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands,
02:15Mauritius agreed with Russia a marine exploration agreement, which allows the Russians to conduct marine exploration all around the Chagos Islands.
02:26And frankly, if the intelligence agencies didn't pick that up, then they need a thorough purging.
02:32Now, it must be said that Keir Starmer denies having even met with Philippe Sands since becoming prime minister,
02:39despite their friendship, despite having gone to football matches together in the past and all the rest of it.
02:44He says that he hasn't spoken to Philippe Sands about Chagos since becoming prime minister and said that on the record in parliament.
02:53But I wonder, the government seems to be trying to spin this deal as something that has secured our base in the Indian Ocean,
03:04that has secured the base not just for the next 99 years,
03:15but also an exclusion zone around it so that the Chinese can't build any competitive bases or or oversee our operations.
03:24To what extent do you believe them?
03:28Well, I'm afraid the prime minister is not known for actually telling us things straight.
03:33There are a number of other areas like 22 billion black holes that come to mind.
03:39And I'm afraid to say the security implications of this are very flimsy indeed.
03:46You know, I'm in the in that sort of working space.
03:49And I can tell you, we we can hold on to Diego Garcia for as long as we want and as long as the Americans want.
03:56There is no threat to Diego Garcia.
03:58There was no screaming reason why we had to actually sign over in such haste.
04:04I'm afraid this is a stitch up deal and I don't care whether the prime minister says he hasn't spoken to Philip Sands since he became prime minister.
04:12I have absolutely no doubt that he talked to him about this issue a lot beforehand.
04:18And that smacks of conspiracy.
04:19I mean, who knows? It may well have planted the seed.
04:22Rear Admiral Chris Parry, thank you very much indeed for your insight.
04:24I hope you have a lovely, restful bank holiday.
