Andy McSmith's Diary: Secrets of world’s least-used prison remain undisturbed

The British took charge of what is euphemistically called the island’s 'reception centre' in 2007

The world’s least-used prison, apparently, is to be found on the coral island of Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean, a British Overseas Territory leased to the US for use as a naval base. All the island’s indigenous inhabitants were forcibly removed at least 40 years ago, and no one lives there but military personnel.

The British took charge of what is euphemistically called the island’s “reception centre” in 2007, for the stated purpose of locking up anyone caught illegally fishing off the island’s waters, though after nearly two years, no fishermen had darkened its doors. The only prisoner the British had held there was a man accused of assault.

Reading about this little-used jail, in answers to questions tabled by the Tory MP Andrew Tyrie, jogs memories of an allegation in The Washington Post in 2002 that the US had a site on Diego Garcia where prisoners from Afghanistan were interrogated by the CIA before being passed on to countries like Egypt, where they could be tortured, a process known as extraordinary rendition.

The US government flatly denied holding political prisoners on the island. The Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that the notion that the island was used for extraordinary rendition was one for conspiracy theorists. In 2008, his successor, David Milband, admitted that actually it was true.

So what secrets does that little-used reception centre hold? It was built by the Americans in 1984. Though the island is supposedly under British jurisdiction, the Foreign Office says that we, the British, never knew who was held prisoner there over the ensuing 23 years.

In 2007, as the scandal over extraordinary rendition became embarrassing, the US decided it did not need the prison any more, so handed it over to the British. Why might that be? “UK authorities do not hold information as to the reasons,” Mr Tyrie was told.

An easy mistake to make

Interviewed on Sky, Labour’s rising star Chuka Umunna called for unity so “we get Dave, er Ed Miliband into No 10”. Keep up Chuka. Dave is already in No 10. You lot are supposed to be trying to get him out.

Bluffers exposed

Everybody who matters in politics, at any rate on the left, has read the year’s surprise bestseller, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, by Thomas Piketty. Or have they? During yesterday’s CBI conference, a member of the audience said to Ed Miliband: “I’m sure you’ve read Thomas Piketty” – to which the Labour leader replied: “Not all of it. Hands up who has.” Only one hand was seen to rise. It belonged to Miliband’s adviser, Stewart Wood.

May’s mood music

It is a theory no one disbelieves that a politician who is planning a leadership bid will begin by appearing on Desert Island Discs. But it would be purely speculative to read any significance into the identity of next week’s guest, who is the Home Secretary, Theresa May.

Will the eight songs she chooses for her island paradise include that Buffy Sainte-Marie track that began “Oh welcome, welcome emigrante, to my country, welcome.”? I think not. Given her taste in footwear, perhaps she might opt for the Wynter Gordon number, “Talk Dirty” – “I like it when you talk, dirty when you talk/Kitten heels…” Unlikely, though.

No, the song most likely to endear her to the Tories would be “Nasty” by Pixie Lott – “Hey, hey, N-A-S-T-Y, you’re nasty/But baby I don’t mind.”