UK MP Farage accused of ‘cheap stunt’; flew to Maldives on $60m private jet

Nigel Farage, the leader of UK Reform Party and member of Parliament, has been accused of performing a ‘cheap stunt’ over his recent claim that the British government stopped him from travelling to the Chagos Islands on a humanitarian mission.

In a video posted on X on Saturday, Farage said he had flown to the Maldives to join a delegation bringing aid to four Chagossians who are trying to establish a settlement on one of the archipelago’s islands to protest against Britain’s plans to transfer control of the territory to Mauritius.

He claimed the UK government had blocked his trip to the territory, which cannot be entered without a valid permit.

He also claimed the British government was applying pressure to the Maldivian government, including President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu to “do everything within their power to stop me getting on that boat and going to the Chagos Islands.”

But this claim is denied by Maldivian government officials.

A senior government official told Sun given that Chagos is under the control of the British government, any attempt to stop anyone from entering the archipelago will be done by the British government.

The Maldives has no level of involvement in this, said the official.

However, the Guardian, citing a source from the Labor party, reports that the UK government was not given advance notice of Farage’s intention to travel to the islands and did not know he was in the Maldives prior to his comments on Saturday.

Farage reportedly travelled by a USD 60 million private jet to the Maldives where he spent just over a day before heading back to the UK for the Gorton and Denton byelection in Greater Manchester on Thursday.

The former UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace called Farage’s move 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

Farage’s trip came after US President Donald Trump threw Britain’s Chagos Islands deal into fresh doubt. Trump has urged UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer not to “give away Diego Garcia”, the largest island on the archipelago, which is home to a joint UK-US military base.