US senator John Kennedy once again tells Keir Starmer to 'put down the bong' over Chagos Islands deal

Far from talking about the chimes of Big Ben, UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has been told by US senator John Kennedy to “put down the bong” over the move to hand over control of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

A joint statement was issued by the UK and Mauritian governments back in October hailing a “historic political agreement” which would see sovereignty over the Chagos Islands – including the UK-US Diego Garcia military base – given to Mauritius.

It did, however, state the UK would be able to continue operating the base “for an initial period of 99 years”.

The agreement has been slammed by UK opposition parties, with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage claiming US president Donald Trump might impose tariffs on the UK as a result, and Tory MP James Cleverly attacking the deal despite being the one to open up negotiations as foreign secretary.

And this week, criticism has come from the US via the aforementioned Republican and Louisiana senator, who branded the PM’s decision “insane” and “cell deep stupid”.

He said: “This is bone deep, down to the marrow stupid. Because the United Nations wants the United Kingdom to feel guilty, they want to give our military base and their military base to Mauritius.

“Now, the prime minister of the United Kingdom can stop this … I want to see the prime minister do well, but he needs to put down the bong.

“This makes absolutely no sense, and it’s going to be a big part of his legacy if he gives away this island and our military base to, in effect, what will eventually be China.”

Seconds later, however, he admitted he “shouldn’t have said the bong part” and he “[takes] it back”.

But the comments were caught on camera, and soon went viral online, with one Twitter/X user conceding he initially thought the footage was AI in the first instance:

And it’s not the first time Kennedy has told Starmer to “put down the bong”, as he made the same remark just a few weeks prior:

Speaking on 21 January, the senator said: “Mr Prime Minister, with all due respect, stop dipping into your ketamine stash! Put down the bong!

“You need this military base!”

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