Thread by @blagden_david

This is why HM Govt’s enthusiasm for this deal is so baffling: you don’t have to be right-wing to dislike it.

It basically only satisfies the following constituencies: … 1/7

https://twitter.com/nicholastyrone/status/1879438474023227657

- FCDO, NGO, and lawyer types who think it’s Terribly Important that the UK obey an ICJ opinion, (a) on principle and (b) because that will encourage others to obey international law (despite all evidence to the contrary, including from the US*, i.e. the base’s main occupant).

- FCDO, NGO, and (some) think-tank sorts who think that it’ll remove a major source of friction in UK/US regional relations, thereby encouraging regional states to line-up with our interests (i.e. hoping that being bullied out of a position will somehow grow our ‘soft’ power).

- Those on the critical left who say ‘decolonisation’ a lot, without noticing that this deal isn’t actually decolonisation, it’s just handing the Chagossian homeland to a different - and much less liberal - colonial power…and inexplicably paying for the privilege of doing so.

- Basically the same three constituencies in the US - the kind who, like their UK counterparts, say “rules-based liberal order” a lot, hoping to make it a real thing - but who have the advantage of letting a foreign government (ours) take the political heat.

They truly are burning a staggering amount of political capital - based on some ‘contested’ (realist take: nonsensical) theories of how international relations works - to push a policy that only pleases three minuscule sub-factions of the UK electorate.

* P.S. On that US point, for just one example (since the ICJ is the body in question): en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaragua…