1969: Foreign Secretary Tells British Prime Minister Parliament and US Congress Not Told about Consideration for Diego Garcia

British Foreign Secretary Michael Stewart notes in a memo to Prime Minister Harold Wilson that Parliament and US Congress were not informed that the US had waived several million dollars worth of fees associated with Britain’s Polaris submarine program (see 1963-1965). The US had agreed to waive the fees in exchange for an agreement that the British would rid Diego Garcia of its indigenous inhabitants so the US could build a military base there. [BBC, 11/3/2000; Los Angeles Times, 11/4/2000; CBS News, 6/13/2003]