Shadow Paymaster General Richard Holden says Labour’s top brass are “begging” Donald Trump to spare their Chagos blushes by vetoing the arrangement.

The Government is preparing to cede sovereignty of the Indian Ocean islands to Mauritius, but lease back the military base on Diego Garcia for a 99-year term at a reported cost of almost £9billion.

Speaking on GB News, Holden said Lammy’s confession that the US President has the power to scupper the deal is a sign of Labour rapidly losing confidence in their decision.

Asked if he wants Trump to veto the deal, he said: “Yes. I think Labour are trying to work their way into a get out clause, out from a really sticky situation which is entirely of their own making.”

Richard Holden hit out at Labour

It was pointed out to Holden that his own party set talks in motion for the handover, to which he responded: “You’re absolutely right. We had some negotiations, they were stopped by Lord Cameron.

“When he was foreign secretary, we couldn’t do a deal which would ever have been acceptable to the UK. That’s why we stopped those negotiations.

The deal will see the UK hand over the Chagos Islands to MauritiusGetty

“Astonishingly, Lord Herman, one of the old mates of Keir Starmer, seems to have restarted them and then said we should surrender British sovereignty over this territory and then pay billions and billions of pounds for the privilege.

“David Lammy was basically saying last night, ‘please get me out of this sticky situation because there’s clearly internal factions within the Government in the UK’.

“It’s absolutely astonishing they should be so divided internally over this and almost begging President Trump to intervene and to try and bring and end to this absolute chaos.”

It comes after Foreign Secretary David Lammy confirmed that the controversial deal will not go ahead without Trump’s approval.

Richard Holden joined Stephen Dixon and Ellie Costello on GB News

The agreement to cede the British Indian Ocean Territory hinges on American support due to shared military and intelligence interests.

Lammy maintains it is still the "best deal" possible.

Speaking on ITV's Peston programme, Lammy was explicit about the US leader's influence over the deal.

"If President Trump doesn't like the deal, the deal will not go forward," he said.

He explained this was because of "shared military and intelligence interest with the United States".

"They've got to be happy with the deal, or there is no deal."

The controversy comes amid questions over how the deal would be funded.