Green Party leader Zack Polanski has criticised the Labour government’s response to Donald Trump’s recent actions in Venezuela. Polanski exposed their failure to hold Trump accountable for his flagrant breach of international law. And as noted, Trump is hardly being shy about what he’s doing:
Darren Jones saying repeatedly the Labour Government won’t comment on a hypothetical.
It’s not hypothetical – Trump is saying very loudly repeatedly what he’s done and boasting about it.
And yet the UK Government won’t even say it’s a breach of international rules. Shameful.
— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) January 5, 2026
Scared to take a position (unlike Polanski)
Darren Jones was interviewed by Lewis Goodall on LBC, and was asked whether the government would assert to Trump that there must be no repeated abductions of the leaders of sovereign nations:
‘You sound like you’re speaking for a country who’s afraid of a bigger country.’
@Lewis_Goodall grills Labour’s Darren Jones on the UK’s repsonse to the US capture of Nicolás Maduro. pic.twitter.com/FSwKJtxsqv— LBC (@LBC) January 4, 2026
Goodall: Would you urge the United States government not to abduct any other foreign leaders?
Jones: Look, I’m not going to answer hypothetical questions.
Goodall: You won’t urge the United States government not to abduct other foreign leaders?
Jones: We think the rules-based order matters and that people should comply with international law. When an operation like this is-
Goodall: You’re not making an assessment as to whether or not you think it has complied with international law?
Jones: because it’s for the Americans to set up the basis of the legal basis on which they did the operation and then for international courts or the UN Security Council to take a view. I’m not trying to dodge the question, though. So I’m saying this is the way the rules-based order works. It’s not for an individual state to judge international law. It’s for the international courts to do so.
Goodall called out the redundancy of the government’s current position on Trump:
Goodall: In order for a rules-based order to work, surely it’s important on those who believe in the rules-based order to point to people who break the rules-based order and say, you’ve broken it, not just to dodge it because they’re friends of ours.
Jones: For sure, but we’re not the International Court, we’re the UK government. The International Court exists-
Jones appeared to be happy with the notion that the UK government isn’t qualified to take a principled stance of its own which is in line with international law:
Goodall: No, we’re supposed to be an important country.
Jones: Yeah, we are. And we’re a permanent member-
Goodall: You don’t sound like an important country. You don’t sound like you’re speaking for an important country, Chief Secretary. You sound like you’re speaking on behalf of a supplicant country who’s afraid of a bigger country.
Jones: I disagree with that assessment. We are following the proper process that any government would follow.
Goodall finished by confronting the blatant Western hypocrisy when we look at other aggressive states:
Goodall: If this were Russia, if this were China, if this was anywhere else in the world, we would be the first out of the traps, first out the gate saying, this is disgraceful, we condemn it. You know that. I know that.
Jones: As I say, we need to see the legal basis for the operation that was undertaken.
Waiting for permission from the big guy
As Polanski exposed, our leaders consistently ignore crimes committed by allies whilst condemning non-friendly states. This exposes a double standard that is becoming harder and harder to ignore.
This government isn’t just enabling Trump – it’s bragging about it.
Briefing journalists to signal that Trump’s wishes come before international law.
Greenland is right to be nervous. Under this government, they know we just won’t have their back. https://t.co/pjCx5zBCRA
— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) January 5, 2026
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