By Titilope Adako
UK Conservative Party 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 widespread legal and diplomatic controversy.
Badenoch made the remarks on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday.
She said she did not fully understand the legal basis for the operation but argued that Maduro presided over a “brutal regime” and that 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.
Badenoch linked her position to her upbringing in Nigeria 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 added.
However, she warned that the raid raised “serious questions about the rules-based order”.
She stressed that the situation was different from intervention in democratic territories, citing Greenland and saying its future was rightly a matter for Denmark and its people.
The UK government has so far avoided directly criticising the US action, while continuing to describe Maduro as an “illegitimate president”.
Opposition parties, including Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and the Scottish National Party, have urged the government to condemn the operation and declare it illegal.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting defended the government’s cautious stance.
He said the prime minister was acting in the UK’s national interest and in the “best interests of the people of Venezuela”.
Labour MP Emily Thornberry warned that the raid could embolden countries such as Russia and China.
She said the UK needed to clearly state its position on international law.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said she had reminded her US counterpart of his obligations under international law.
She added that it was for the United States to set out the legal justification for its actions.
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