Tories may want to pressure government on Chagos Islands dealpublished at 11:40 GMT
Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons
Kemi Badenoch sometimes likes to keep everyone guessing over
the choice of a “deputy” to stand in for her at prime minister’s questions when
the PM is away.
Robert Jenrick, seen by many as a potential leadership
challenger to Badenoch, would no doubt have relished the chance to strut his
stuff on the PMQs stage.
And as a shadow justice secretary, he is David Lammy’s
opposite number on the Tory benches, even if he is not the shadow deputy prime
minister.
But today, we understand, it is shadow defence secretary
James Cartlidge who will get his turn in the spotlight.
That’s because the Conservatives will most likely want to
put pressure on the government over the £3.4bn deal to hand over sovereignty of
the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. This falls under Cartlidge’s brief
because one of the islands, Diego Garcia, is home to a US-UK Military base.
The Tories scored a bit of a coup on Tuesday, when they
forced the government to put legislation ratifying the Chagos deal on hold.
It came after Tory peer Lord Callanan tabled an amendment
that would have made the government consult the Chagossians before
going ahead.
