The official cost of the deal to surrender the Chagos Islands to Mauritius – a country which never owned the islands in the first place – has been put at £101 million a year over the 99-year term of the lease. But the real cost could end up being multiples of this. Not only did it involve putting the sovereignty of an import airbase into the hands of a nation which is close to China, but it has sent a powerful message to developing countries all around the world that Britain – or at least its current government – is a pushover which can be plundered for payments on all kinds of issues.

Yesterday the International Court of Justice – the same UN body which delivered the verdict on the Chagos Islands which Keir Starmer felt obliged to obey – delivered an opinion that industrialised countries are liable for the consequences of historic carbon emissions. It opens to way for countries which claim to be affected by climate change to put in demands for compensation. The government of........

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