Former Foreign Office advisor explored Lords’ seats for OTs to counter ‘psychic wounds’ over Britain’s ‘vast diminishment’ 

A special advisor to former Foreign Secretary David Lammy worked on a policy proposal in which Overseas Territories would be offered their own seats in the House of Lords to integrate them into the UK, according to an opinion piece published in the Sunday Times at the weekend. 

In the article the special advisor, Ben Judah, who no longer works for the UK Government, said his work was cut short after Mr Lammy was made Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister in a reshuffle. 

He made the observations in a wider piece on the UK’s decision to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, a deal the UK Government says is vital to preserve the military base on Diego Garcia but which has been widely criticised by opposition MPs. 

“However, in the year and a bit I spent in the Foreign Office worrying about this, I came to believe the country is suffering from an almost psychic wound: its vast diminishment,” he wrote.  

“I wanted to answer this by wrapping up the colonial entities that are Overseas Territories and replacing them with Overseas Kingdoms, integrated like France’s départements d’outre-mer into the United Kingdom.” 

“I wanted to show that Chagos was an exception for an exceptional place. That Labour had no surrender agenda but an expansion agenda.” 

“Most colleagues thought I was mad.” 

“Last autumn, I was working on a policy proposal in which Overseas Territories would be offered their own seats in the House of Lords to represent them and an Overseas Territories Volunteer Corps as part of a campaign to start talking, educating and dreaming about them.” 

“I did not want to leave the longing for a greater Britain to the right. Then my boss, David Lammy, was reshuffled. The next day I was in the Ministry of Justice, doing comms for prisons.” 

“We now risk what I feared — no deal. To the detriment of Britain.” 

Critics who have condemned the Chagos deal say it rides roughshod over the self-determination of Chagossians who were forcibly removed from their homes and risks the future of the top-secret military base on Diego Garcia, which is primarily used by US forces despite being British. 

But Mr Judah said the agreement was reached amid fears the UK and the US, whose base is described as crucial to UK security interests, could face potentially binding judgements from the International Court of Justice and UN pressure that the base was on illegally occupied Mauritian territory. 

The court had already issued an advisory opinion against Britain in 2019. 

There was also a risk that Mauritius might otherwise invite a Chinese presence into the region, something Mr Judah said would be staved off by the deal. 

“In the best traditions of perfidious Albion, it would negotiate a deal, where everything would change for everything to remain the same,” wrote Mr Judah, who was special adviser to Mr Lammy from 2024 to 2026 as both Foreign Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister. 

“Mauritius would be able to call itself sovereign over the islands, enjoying the pleasure of it being shaded theirs on a map — but in any way that remotely mattered in military terms, an exclusion and veto zone where Anglo-American authority was complete would endure.” 

The agreement on the future of the Chagos islands had been backed by the previous US administration and initially by President Trump, who later changed his mind, leaving the UK facing a “Catch-22” situation and the risk of no deal. 

‘STRATEGICALLY IMPORTANT’ 

On Monday, Downing Street again defended the Chagos Islands deal as being in the interests of the US as well as Britain after Donald Trump criticised the agreement and threw its future into doubt. 

Mr Trump has urged Sir Keir Starmer not to “give away Diego Garcia” to Mauritius despite Washington signalling its official backing for the deal. 

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman defended the UK Government’s work on the agreement and appeared to lay the blame for conceding sovereignty over the Chagos Islands upon the previous Conservative government. 

Asked about the US president’s remarks, the spokesman said the Government “had to take action to protect our military advantage and stop our adversaries getting a foothold in such a strategically-important part of the world”. 

He said: “Refusing to act could expose one of our most valuable military assets to China. So, like any responsible government would, we negotiated a deal to protect our interests.” 

“Let’s not forget, it was the last government that started these negotiations over two years ago.” 

“That’s why they held 11 rounds of talks that form the backbone of the deal that the Government has concluded. They made the key concession of offering to give up sovereignty, from which there was no coming back.” 

Keeping control of Diego Garcia is “the entire basis for the agreement we have reached”, the spokesman said, adding: “It is the only way to ensure that the base remains secure and operational for the long-term.” 

He continued: “We have always said this is a deal we are doing in the interests of not only our national security, but that of our closest ally in the US, and that’s why we have sought and received US approval for the deal over many months, spanning different US administrations, and it’s why we are continuing to work with them on the agreement.” 

The Times has reported Mr Trump’s latest U-turn on his previous support for the agreement is because of Britain’s refusal to give the White House the green light to use the base or RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire for a potential military campaign against Iran. 

The UK Government’s position is said to be due to concerns over a breach of international law, which does not distinguish between a nation carrying out an attack and one that provides support with “knowledge of the circumstances of the internationally wrongful act”. 

Asked about the reports, the Prime Minister’ spokesman said: “As a matter of long-standing principle we never comment on operational matters. There’s a political process ongoing between the US and Iran, which the UK supports. Iran must never be able to develop a nuclear weapon and our priority is security in the region.” 

“The US is the UK’s principal defence and security partner. The depth of our defence relationship with the US remains an essential part of our security.” 

The US president is weighing fresh military action against the Islamic Republic, with a second American warship moving into the region and warnings that he could go ahead if no deal on its nuclear programme is reached. 

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper met with US secretary of state Marco Rubio on Friday in Washington DC, when they discussed the Chagos deal.