No matter how much the government and the left want us to be ashamed of our history, traditions and culture, we should rightly celebrate our great Great Britain. Happy Birthday Your Majesty.

I increasingly wonder historians will look back on the Chagos debacle as as totemic as Suez. In raw geopolitical terms it might not be as significant. But in terms of what it illustrates about the current guiding philosophy behind UK foreign policy, and in the humiliation it continues to cause us on the world stage, it feels to me a disaster of equal proportions. The government are somehow managing to: - imperil a vitally important national security asset; - anger our closest ally; - undermine the self-determination rights of the Chagossians; - risk causing environmental damage to a precious marine reserve; and - have British taxpayers pay billions for the privilege. All at the same time. Quite impressive really.

The Chagos surrender was the final straw that led to my resignation from the Foreign Office. British mandarins, egged on by Starmer, were all too willing to sacrifice the national interest for some illusory ‘soft power’. It was madness, says Ameer Kotecha buff.ly/fkrmfoZ

Starmer's Chagos deal got absolutely mashed up Now the costs of this enormous waste of time and public money must be published by the government so we can all see the truth NEW now from me! @CapX capx.co/the-chagos-deal-coll…

The UK Government have now withdrawn their Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill. This is a welcome move - but the deal should never have got this far. We now call on the Government to rapidly engage with the Chagossian community on resettlement.

So Government can’t stop migrants coming into U.K. illegally but can hassle a small boat carrying relief supplies to British citizens on the Chagos islands @ShabanaMahmood should stop this now @BiotCitize56752

Strangely enough I did more poiltely (?) suggest the same to @UKLabour ministers in their early days, when they should have been most suspicious of officials with their own pre-existing agenda and culture. Now the right decision, just totally unsuitable purveyor. @SarahChampionMP

The origins of the Chagos debacle were long in the making. I was in New York in 2017, serving at the UK Mission to the UN, when we lost our seat on the ICJ. That was arguably the first Chagos domino to fall. But throughout, the problem was a deeper one: a Foreign Office establishment - who found their guardian angel in this lawyerly PM - who were obsessed with following the strictures of international law first, and paying heed to British interests second. Let this be the final death knell for the idea that we should put the demands of international lawyers over our own national interest

The Chagos deal is dead. Good. I would have resigned as Defence Secretary rather than hand over a critical British asset – and pay another country for the privilege for 100 years. It was always madness.

There are many people who deserve praise - high praise - for fighting to stop this lunatic surrender from taking place, especially @yuanyi_z. But @KemiBadenoch should take a proper bow because all the sensibilist voices said it was a done deal and nobody would care.

If they're going to be this difficult towards our philanthropic efforts, maybe it’s time for the govt to take responsibility to resupply? After-all, the islanders now have legal rights to be here, and it was our government that committed the crime against humanity 60 years ago.

BREAKING: boarding party of police and customs officers, presumably flown out from the UK, board our resupply. I wish they made this much effort in the English channel: we're only trying to supply British passport holders on a British island, with a legal right to be there.

The is arse-covering nonsense. The idea we couldn’t send warships to the Mediterranean because they were busy shadowing Russian subs closer by, is ridiculous on so many levels. But let’s just settle for this — Type 45s don’t hunt subs.

Of all the dreadful actions of this Labour Government the treatment of the Chagossians must be near the top of the list @Keir_Starmer has behaved shamefully- Paying to give away British territory to Mauritius and then treating British citizens as criminals for wishing to return to their homes from which they were forcefully removed in the 60’s

Mr Reed also implies that we successfully defended Diego Garcia from Iranian missile attack. Untrue. Let’s set the record straight: One Iranian ballistic missile failed in flight — malfunctioned mid-flight or broke up on re-entry. Either way it never reached the target area. The other was engaged/intercepted by a U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer nearby, which fired an SM-3 interceptor at it and destroyed it. UK forces played no part in the defence of Diego Garcia. Nor do they have the capability to do so. Mr Reed says UK won’t be dragged into the US’s War. Fair enough. But he’s happy for the US to defend what is a British base — and didn’t even thank them for it.

A week until parliament shuts for Easter and still no return of the Chagos giveaway bill. Complacent? Not at all. Vigilant? Yes, always - and more ready than ever to do lethal damage to any attempt to reactivate this betrayal. But this pause seemed impossible - it was not!

The British Overseas Territories are not up for grabs They cannot be bought, negotiated or sold The right to self-determination exists, and must be respected Lives depend on their functionality and security they bring

Iran is firing ballistic missiles at British Indian Ocean Territory / Diego Garcia Starmer is trying to give away that territory to Mauritius, which backed Iran in this conflict A UK Prime Minister behaving like this is unprecedented There’s a word for it

'Russia pushes Mauritius claim to the Chagos islands' Keir Starmer is playing straight into Chinese and Russian strategic plans. telegraph.co.uk/gift/cf20b49…

All politics aside, I’m glad to see we have a PM who seems to care about the monarchy and the heritage of our country that is rooted in the crown.