Over the past few years, ministers in Labour and Conservative governments have criticised Russia for its illegal invasion of Ukraine. They were right to do so, as we all decided after WWII that one sovereign nation should not invade another. The problem, of course, is that there’s no difference between Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the US invasion of Iraq. While America had refrained from committing an Iraq-level atrocity for a while, we knew the Imperial War Machine would once again kick into gear sooner or later. Now it’s happened with Venezuela, government ministers are squirming as they try to square this criminal circle:
Darren Jones is asked if the US bombing Venezuela & abducting its leader was lawful
Jones says he won’t give a view on the action & he goes on to say its not up to politicians to make judgements on international law. Phillips points out thats exactly what they’ve done on Ukraine pic.twitter.com/NgabQVviRx
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) January 4, 2026
Embarrassing – pathetic – wretched
Darren Jones is the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, which means he’s the senior minister in the Cabinet Office. In the video above, host Trevor Phillips says to him:
You must have a view about, for example, whether this was lawful.
Jones responds:
It’s for the Americans to set out the legal basis for their operation.
Oh, is that right, is it? So we’ll just let Russia decide if the invasion of Ukraine was legal, will we?
After some stammering, Jones said of what the US did to Venezuela:
Of course, the United Kingdom abides by international law. We’re advocates for international law and the rules-based order.
As we’ve covered, the UK continued to send arms to Israel despite the Middle Eastern nation being accused of committing an ongoing genocide. And as Iain Overton from Action on Armed Violence wrote:
International law is explicit: states have a duty not only to refrain from committing genocide but also to prevent it. The International Court of Justice has already ruled that there is a plausible case of genocide underway in Gaza. For the UK to persist with arms exports and military cooperation is to knowingly aid a state accused of the gravest crime in human history.
Back to the interview, Jones said:
as I’ve said on your show in the past, in other circumstances around the world, it’s not for politicians to make judgments around international law.
To which Phillips inevitably responded:
You did make a judgment. You made a judgment that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was unlawful. What’s different about this?
Jones did not have a clear answer to this.
To be fair to Jones, he did at least say the UK is against colonialism (although we’ve no doubt they’ll row this back should the US turn Venezuela into an actual colony):
Trump: the United States is going to run Venezuela.
Darren Jones is asked if we are now in favour of colonialism. pic.twitter.com/JpcXotMawU
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) January 4, 2026
Starmer is a disgrace – and not just over Venezuela
As bad as Jones comes across, he’s only following the lead of his boss Keir Starmer, who said the following over Venezuela (emphasis added):
The UK has long supported a transition of power in Venezuela. We regarded Maduro as an illegitimate President and we shed no tears about the end of his regime.
I reiterated my support for international law this morning. The UK government will discuss the evolving situation with US counterparts in the days ahead as we seek a safe and peaceful transition to a legitimate government that reflects the will of the Venezuelan people.
This may be the worst instance of management speak ever committed by a British politician.
It does not matter that he said ‘I support international law‘ if he said it while turning a blind eye to international law being violated. Anyone can see this, which is why Starmer and his advisors cannot.
And lest we forget, Starmer does actually understand international law; he just thinks Britons are too ignorant to spot when he’s being dishonest:
Here is Keir Starmer in 2014 representing Croatia against Serbia for genocide at The Hague.
This is a man now too cowardly to condemn violations of international law in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, Qatar, Yemen, and now Venezuela.
The most pathetic Prime Minister in British History. pic.twitter.com/T5AtFmMCWb
— Philip Proudfoot (@PhilipProudfoot) January 4, 2026
Empire
If Venezuela had somehow managed to abduct Donald Trump, do you think UK ministers would be refusing to answer if it was legal for them to do so?
And if the answer is ‘no’, what does that say?
If we’re admitting the law only works in one direction, ‘international law’ does not exist. It’s a shroud, obscuring the hideous truth that we’re all second class citizens in the American Empire, and that the US has instigated a system of global apartheid against anyone who isn’t a compliant billionaire or an associate of Jeffrey Epstein.
Featured image via Trevor Phillips
By Willem Moore
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