Misley Mandarin

In December 2025, the Great British Political Action Committee organised an election to determine the formation of a self-proclaimed government-in-exile, independently overseen by polling firm Whitestone Insight, stating that all Chagossians worldwide were eligible to participate.^[4]

According to Friends of the British Overseas Territories, 1,341 people voted in the election. 1,233 respondents supported the formation of a government-in-exile with 108 opposed. 1,326 people voted for Misley Mandarin to serve as interim First Minister for a period of a year, during which period a Charter would be drafted and formal elections prepared.^[5]

Royal Marines Major Pete Goddard, as Acting Principal Immigration Officer of BIOT, ordered Mandarin's removal from the territory, on 18 February 2026.

Chief Justice of BIOT, James Lewis, granted the settlers a temporary injunction against the removal notices, on 19 February 2026.

Mandarin's group received funding from British-Thai billionaire Christopher Harborne,^[6] and bought a boat in Thailand. The boat was then loaded with provisions in Galle, Sri Lanka, from where the group embarked on a five-day sail to Île du Coin, entering the exclusion zone of the British Indian Ocean Territory unannounced without seeking permission.^[7]

A landing party of four British citizens defied a British government exclusion zone to set foot on Île du Coin, part of the coral atoll of Peros Banhos, on Monday 16 February 2026 at 08.52 local time (02.52 GMT) with the intention of staying to establish a permanent settlement. The group consisted of Misley Mandarin, his father Michel, Antoine LeMettre, and Guy Castel,^[8] assisted by former British MP Adam Holloway.^[9] Now aged 74, Michel was 14 at the time of the déraciné, or uprooting, put on to boats by the British colonial authorities. There are 322 people who were born on the island and still living that wish to return home before they die. In addition there are descendants of the Chagossian people that consider the Chagos Islands their home and wish to be repatriated there while remaining under British rule.

Mandarin sought to reassure the United States that the settlement did not threaten the military base on Diego Garcia.^[10]

On 18 February 2026, Misley Mandarin was served a removal order in the name of Royal Marines Major Pete Goddard, as Acting Principal Immigration Officer of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), stating that if they did not leave they could face imprisonment of three years or a fine of £3,000, or both.^[11] On the same day, Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that Keir Starmer was "making a big mistake by entering a 100 Year Lease", that the "land should not be taken away from the U.K. and, if it is allowed to be, it will be a blight on our Great Ally" and "DO NOT GIVE AWAY DIEGO GARCIA!".^[12][13]

On 19 February 2026, the Chagossian's lawyer, James Tumbridge, successfully applied for an injunction, which was granted by Chief Justice of the British Indian Ocean Territory, James Lewis, who stated "there is no doubt the balance of convenience falls on the side of the claimants (the islanders). They are 120 miles from Diego Garcia and pose no threat to national security on the evidence before me".^[14]