How is Nigel Farage involved in protest over Chagos Islands?

At PMQs this week, Nigel Farage asked the Prime Minister why the human rights of Indiginous Chagossians do not matter to him.

He was called to speak after Mr Starmer asked him to apologise for “death threats” shared on social media by a Reform MP.

Mr Farage offered no apologies at PMQs, instead asking his question about Labour’s Chagos Islands plans.

The exchange in the Commons comes after a group of four Chagossians, including British-Chagossian Misley Mandarin, arrived on a remote part of the archipelago last Monday and are refusing to obey a removal order issued by British authorities in protest against handing the territory over to Mauritius.

Protest - Mr Farage shared a video to X and said he had flown to the Maldives to join a delegation bringing aid to the four Chagossians (Image: Nigel Farage, X)

On Saturday, Mr Farage shared a video to X and said he had flown to the Maldives to join a delegation bringing aid to the four Chagossians, who are trying to establish a settlement on one of the archipelago’s islands in protest against transferring control of the British territory to Mauritius, "because it's the right thing to do".

Mr Farage claimed the UK government had blocked his entry to the territory, which cannot be entered by anyone without a valid permit as it is home to a joint UK-US military base.

In the video, he said: “I’ve come here to help the mission. I was hoping myself to go to the island – I’m just not going to have time, there’s a byelection to get back for. But I will come at some point in the future.

“Here’s the most extraordinary thing. The British Government are applying pressure on the president of the government of the Maldives to do everything within their power to stop me getting on that boat and doing to the Chagos Islands.

“If I was an ISIS fighter crossing the channel to Dover, they wouldn’t give a damn.”

I have been denied entry to the Chagos Islands by the UK government. pic.twitter.com/Q58RC7HQTY

— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) February 21, 2026

It is understood the UK government was not aware of Mr Farage’s intention to travel to the islands.

The Guardian reports Mr Farage travelled by private jet to the Maldives where he spent just over a day before heading back to the UK for the Forton and Denton byelection in Greater Manchester on Thursday.

Former UK defence secretary Ben Wallace called Mr Farage’s trip a “cheap stunt” and accused him of “performing Maga stunts”, given the entry rules that apply to the entirety of the British Indian Ocean Territory.

The UK Foreign Office website states: “The British Indian Ocean Territory is not a tourist destination. There are no commercial flights, access is restricted and you need a permit before you travel.”

Question - Nigel Farage claimed the Prime Minister does not care about the human rights of Chagossians at PMQs this week (Image: UK Parliament (Screengrab))

Mr Farage has continued his protest this week at PMQs.

In the Commons on Wednesday, Mr Farage said: “At the age of 14, Misley Mandarin was forcibly removed from his home, the coral atoll of Ile du Coin, dumped on the quayside in Mauritius, forced to live on food scraps out of bins.

“He has resettled those islands, and yet now faces a removal order, from yet another Labour government. So maybe twice in one lifetime, he’s going to be asked to leave his homeland.

“Can I ask the prime minister, for a government that is full of human rights lawyers, within and without, why do the opinions and human rights of indigenous Chagossians not matter to him at all?”

British-Chagossian Misley Mandarin told the BBC the British would have to “drag me from my beach” if they wanted him to leave.

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The islands became formally established as an overseas territory in 1965, after the British government paid Mauritius a £3million grant to retain the archipelago.

People of Chagossian descent were granted the right to claim British citizenship in 2022.

Last year, the UK government agreed to hand over control of the islands to Mauritius, arguing the future of the military base had been threatened by recent international court decisions.

Under the deal, the UK has agreed to pay £101million annually for 99 years to keep control of the UK-US military base.