Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has defended the United States’ military operation that removed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power, describing the raid as “morally right” despite legal and diplomatic controversy.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday, Badenoch said she did not fully understand the legal basis for the operation but argued that Maduro was overseeing a “brutal regime,” and she was “glad he’s gone.”
“Where the legal certainty is not yet clear, morally, I do think it was the right thing to do,” she said, adding that her childhood in Nigeria under military dictatorships gave her insight into life under authoritarian rule. “I grew up under a military dictatorship, so I know what it’s like to have someone like Maduro in charge.”
However, Badenoch cautioned that the raid raised “serious questions about the rules-based order,” and stressed that it was different from interventions in democratic countries. She cited Greenland, saying the territory’s future was rightly a matter for Denmark and its people.
The UK government has so far avoided directly criticising the US action, describing Maduro as an “illegitimate president.” Opposition parties—including Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party, and the SNP—have called for the government to condemn the operation and declare it illegal.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting defended the government’s approach, arguing that the prime minister was acting in the UK’s national interest and the “best interests of the people of Venezuela.” Critics, including Labour MP Emily Thornberry, have warned that the raid could embolden countries such as Russia and China, and stressed that the UK should clarify its stance on international law.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said she had reminded her US counterpart of his obligations under international law but reiterated that it was for the US to set out the legal justification for its actions.
