Long tweet warning: There is a pretty unusual row going on over the Chagos Islands. Here is what happened: Last night @Telegraph reported Farage's comments on a US podcast two weeks ago. Farage told Benny Johnson he would negotiate over the Chagos issue in exchange for some more support on the Falklands. He said he would say to Trump: "Right, you know what, mate? Chagos, it’s yours." He went on to talk about giving the US unrestricted access to Diego Garcia - rather than the full islands, where he has helped Chagossians set up an encampment. Reform says that Farage was never talking about giving away the whole archipelago, as Labour has done to Mauritius, but striking some kind of deal with Trump to ensure long-term access to the base - which they already have. In short, it appears Farage said something he didn't mean - *but he did say it*. (Side note, as @jcartlidgemp points out, Farage has previously said giving the islands to the US would be better than giving them to Mauritius). Meanwhile, Kemi Badenoch has seized on Farage's comments as evidence that he is willing to sell out British interests to Trump, which she compares to the original Chagos deal under Labour. She has taken his words on on face value and says Farage has taken a "humiliating" position with his "careless, loose talk". After @genevieve_holl reported this last night, various sources in the Trump administration who are supportive of Farage said Badenoch was needlessly trying to cause a political row (per @katyballs @MrHarryCole) and accused her of undermining the Anglo-American relationship. It is possible that these people are particularly sensitive about this topic because they are still considering buying the islands, as @connorstringer and I reported earlier in the year. Domestic opposition to the idea of the US running Chagos in the UK would be a problem for the White House. All of this has caused a bit of a stink in SW1 because there is not usually a cigarette paper between right-wing parties on the Chagos issue. Reform and the Tories have been competing with each other for months to get headlines on Chagos but they very rarely disagree with each other. It will be interesting today to hear what No10 has to say about this - beyond their usual lines about the current deal being the best way to secure the long-term future of the base. Stay tuned!