Lammy sent legal letter over ‘misleading parliament’ on Chagos as Cleverly doubles down on criticism
Lammy sent legal letter over ‘misleading parliament’ on Chagos as Cleverly doubles down on criticism
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Exclusive: The foreign secretary has been sent a legal letter demanding he correct the Commons record. David Lammy is under mounting pressure over the government’s Chagos deal after he was sent a legal letter accusing him of misleading the House of Commons and his predecessor James Cleverly doubled down on criticism.
![[Former home secretary James Cleverly has criticised the Chagos deal]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/27/10/4ad44b45b0f2e5513a6c555dd117ccf8Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM4MDU2OTQz-2.78115194.jpg)
The letter, seen by The Independent, was sent to the foreign secretary by campaign group Chagossian Voices the day after Labour MP Peter Lamb claimed there is “certainly evidence” that statements made in the Commons by Mr Lammy “do not appear to be true”. Both Mr Lamb and the legal letter were referring to his claim that the government “kept the Chagossians informed all along the way”.
![[Diego Garcia airbase on the Chagos Islands grew in strategic importance after 9/11]](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2010/04/01/23/345446.jpg)
It comes as the former Conservative foreign secretary claimed Labour ministers had “put themselves in a very weak negotiating position” during talks. Mr Cleverly, who was in charge at the FCDO when negotiations first opened in 2022, told Times Radio on Monday he “always made sure that certain red lines were in place” during talks.
“Negotiating is one thing, but I always made sure that certain red lines were in place and if the negotiations crossed those red lines then I wouldn’t have accepted a deal. “And, indeed, over a year’s worth of talks I did not get to a position that I was comfortable with, which is why I never signed off a deal”, he said.
