Former Defence Secretary Ben Wallace accused Reform leader Nigel Farage last weekend of "Maga stunts" after the latter attempted to deliver humanitarian aid to people in Britain's Chagos Islands territory. The aid was for some Chagos islanders seeking to reclaim territory in response to Britain handing over this British dependency to China's chums in Mauritius, at the UK taxpayers' expense I might add.
Farage said: “The British government are applying pressure on the president and the government of the Maldives to do everything within their power to stop me getting on that boat and going to the Chagos Islands. Now if I was an Isis fighter crossing the Channel to Dover, they wouldn’t give a damn. No, they’d put me in a hotel, they’d give me three meals a day.”
This drew a rebuke from former Tory defence secretary Ben Wallace who accused Farage of a stunt and being a pub bore. Aside from the fact Wallace's former colleague - ex-Tory MP Adam Holloway - is helping the Chagossians, at least Farage is looking to defend British borders and subjects.
That is more than can be said of the supine Tories who hollowed out our national defence, flung open our national border, and started the great Chinese takeaway of the Chagos Islands, with its uniparty number two - Labour - finishing that particular job off.
Aside from anything else, there are colossal national security implications of this handover. The territory hosts the UK-US air force base of Diego Garcia, which would be crucial in the event of a 'Taiwan emergency'.
The 100-year lease we are granted of Diego Garcia could be reneged upon, plus Mauritius could easily let its buds in Beijing spy on the base - a national security threat if ever there was one!
This attack on Farage comes as Reform is set to unveil plans to create an agency dedicated to deporting hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, as well as terminating the status of those with indefinite leave to remain, leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and blocking visas for nationals of countries which refuse to take illegal immigrants back.
Is it any wonder Reform has remained roughly 10-points ahead in the opinion polls since the start of the year? The party is also neck and neck with the Greens to win the Gorton and Denton by-election on Feb 26, and is set to make huge gains in May's local elections.
Ben Wallace would do better to look in the mirror and ask why his party is a sinking ship while Reform is riding the wave than to call other party leaders names. The Chagos Islands should remain British: at least one major political party leader is fighting to defend that most basic of principles.
