A campaigner who wants to keep the Chagos Islands British and is leading efforts to found a settlement on one of the archipelago’s uninhabited islands insists this is not a “cheap publicity stunt” but a serious attempt to secure his people’s return.

Misley Mandarin, a British-Chagossian, opposes Sir Keir Starmer’s plan to hand sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius.

Mr Mandarin told the Sunday Express: “We will never accept being Mauritian, we want to stay British. I and many other Chagossians have served in the British armed forces and are proud to say we want to be subjects of the British Crown and are loyal to His Majesty King Charles III.”

The effort to found a new Chagossian settlement comes at the same time President Trump has urged the UK Government not to give away sovereignty over the UK-US Diego Garcia military base, which is located on one of the islands. Under British plans, the base will be leased back for 99 years, but there is deep concern about the cost and China’s efforts to extend influence in the region.

Mr Mandarin said: “Earlier this month, three other Chagossians and I landed on the archipelago – more than 50 years after we were evicted from the British colony. This includes my father, who was one of us forcibly removed from our land in the 1960s and 1970s, and sent into exile in Mauritius by the British government of the time.”

British authorities had handed the group eviction notices but a court ruling means they can stay until at least March 13.

Mr Mandarin said: “We can continue to get essential supplies on the island by boat. This is a crucial step forward in our battle against Sir Keir Starmer’s attempts to seize and give away our Chagos Islands. Be in no doubt, this is not a cheap publicity stunt. It is a serious campaign to return, as the indigenous people of the Chagos Islands, to our homeland. We are asserting our human rights. Namely, our right, as set out in the UN charter, to self-determination. For too long, our views have not been respected. We are very clear now, and people are listening. Any change to the status of the Chagos Islands must respect the wishes and self-determination of the Chagossian people. The Chagossian people have returned home and we will not leave.”

The campaigners are accompanied by former military officer, journalist and Conservative MP Adam Holloway, who now supports Reform UK.

He said: “The British people have a debt to the Chagossian people. We owe them for how unfairly the Government treated them in 1960s and 1970s, and for how, alongside the USA, the Chagos Islands have been used to keep us safe.

“Now, their struggle for self-determination is keeping us safe from a cowardly government that is trying to endanger us all by handing over control over the future of the Diego Garcia base to China’s ally, Mauritius.”

Shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel said: “The Chagos surrender deal is an appalling act of betrayal. It undermines our national security and that of our allies, including the United States.”

She said the Prime Minister must now accept the deal is “dead in the water,” adding: “The Conservatives have the led the fight against the Surrender and will not stop fighting until it is scrapped once and for all.”

A Foreign Office spokesperson condemned the attempt to found a settlement, saying: “It remains both illegal and unsafe to enter the outer Chagos islands without a valid permit. This is a political stunt which puts lives at risk and does not help anyone.

“The so-called Chagossian government-in-exile does not have any basis, in law or otherwise. The UK Government recognises the importance of the islands to the community and is working with Mauritius to resume a programme of heritage visits to the Chagos archipelago. “This kind of illegal, unsafe action is not the way to achieve that.”