United Kingdom Conservative Party leader, Kemi Badenoch, has said the recent United States military action in Venezuela was morally right, even as she expressed doubts about its legal justification.
Speaking in a series of BBC interviews, Badenoch said she was not fully clear on the legal framework behind former US President Donald Trump’s move to oust Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
Nonetheless, she maintained that the action was justified on moral grounds, citing the nature of Maduro’s rule.
Badenoch described the operation as unusual but said she could understand why it was carried out, given what she characterised as repression under Maduro’s leadership.
“Where the legal certainty is not yet clear, morally, I do think it was the right thing to do,” Badenoch said on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
She said Maduro had been in charge of a harsh and oppressive system of government and welcomed his exit from power.
“He was overseeing a brutal regime, and I’m glad he’s gone,” she added.
At the same time, the Conservative leader acknowledged that the intervention had wider consequences for international norms, noting that it raised concerns about the global rules-based system and the application of international law.
According to her, the intervention “does raise serious questions about the rules-based order,” particularly around how international law is interpreted and enforced.
The UK government has so far avoided directly criticising Washington’s action or declaring it a breach of international law, instead reiterating its long-held position that Maduro was an “illegitimate president.”
Opposition figures have taken a firmer stance. Several Labour MPs, alongside the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and the Scottish National Party, have urged the government to formally condemn the intervention and label it illegal.
Badenoch said her views were influenced by her personal background, having grown up under military rule.
“I grew up under a military dictatorship, so I know what it’s like to have someone like Maduro in charge,” she said, referring to her childhood in Nigeria before relocating to the UK at the age of 16.
However, she cautioned against treating all countries the same when it comes to US intervention.
Badenoch said Trump should be discouraged from interfering in Greenland, stressing that democratic societies should not be equated with authoritarian states.
“There is a big difference between democratic states and the gangster state in Venezuela,” Badenoch said, adding, “What happens in Greenland is up to Denmark and the people of Greenland.”
