UK Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said the recent US military operation in Venezuela was morally justified, even though she expressed doubts about its legal basis.
Speaking in interviews with the BBC, Badenoch said she was unclear about the legal framework behind US President Donald Trump’s decision to remove Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro from power. Despite this, she maintained that the action was the right one on moral grounds, citing the nature of Maduro’s rule.
“Where the legal certainty is not yet clear, morally, I do think it was the right thing to do,” she said on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. She described the intervention as unusual but said she understood the reasoning behind it, adding that Maduro had led a harsh and oppressive government.“He was running a br¥tal regime, and I’m glad he’s gone,” Badenoch stated.
She also acknowledged that the move raises wider concerns about international norms, noting that it brings up serious questions about the rules-based global order and how international law is applied.
So far, the UK government has avoided directly criticising the US action or confirming whether it breached international law, instead reiterating its position that Maduro was an “illegitimate president.”
However, several Labour MPs and opposition parties, including the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and the Scottish National Party, have urged the government to formally condemn the operation and label it illegal.
Badenoch said her views were influenced by her personal experience of growing up under military rule. She referenced her childhood in Nigeria, saying it gave her an understanding of life under authoritarian leadership.
At the same time, she cautioned against making US intervention a general rule, arguing that democratic nations should be treated differently. She said potential intervention in places like Greenland would be inappropriate, stressing that such decisions should be left to Denmark and the people of Greenland.
