 In the 1960s , the Privy Council made an order to evict the 2 @,@ 000 inhabitants of the 65 @-@ island Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean , in preparation for the establishment of a joint United States – United Kingdom military base on the largest outlying island , Diego Garcia , some 60 miles ( 97 km ) distant . In 2000 the Court of Appeal ruled the 1971 Immigration Ordinance preventing resettlement unlawful . In 2004 , the Privy Council , under Jack Straw 's tenure , overturned the ruling . In 2006 the High Court of Justice found the Privy Council 's decision to be unlawful . Sir Sydney Kentridge described the treatment of the Chagossians as " outrageous , unlawful and a breach of accepted moral standards " : Justice Kentridge stated that there was no known precedent " for the lawful use of prerogative powers to remove or exclude an entire population of British subjects from their homes and place of birth " , and the Court of Appeal were persuaded by this argument , but the Law Lords ( at that time the UK 's highest law court ) found its decision to be flawed and overturned the ruling by a 3 – 2 decision thereby upholding the terms of the Ordinance . 
