“Keir Starmer, where’s your spine? Occupation is a crime,” was among the chants that echoed outside the British prime minister’s residence on Monday, January 5, as more than 2,000 people rallied against US attacks on Venezuela and the illegal abduction of President Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores.

Since the Trump administration escalated its assault on Venezuela on Saturday, European leaders have repeatedly refused to describe the attack as a violation of international law, causing widespread anger at home. Keir Starmer and his cabinet have been no exception, as emphasized by several speakers at the rally. “Instead of standing up to Trump, European leaders have given him the green light over Venezuela,” Labour MP Richard Burgon said. “The prime minister’s statement was shameful. It was reckless. He abandoned international law to appease Donald Trump. We saw it with Gaza, and now we’re seeing it again with Venezuela.”

Read more: Venezuela’s Revolution still stands: debunking Trump’s psyop

Statements released by Europe’s political establishment were virtually void of any substance, declaring generic support for international law while avoiding to locate US actions inside the same framework. “Starmer’s obsequiousness is matched by the EU leaders, who fear Trump but rush to appease him every time,” wrote Lindsey German of Stop the War. “This is despite the [US] national security strategy explicitly encouraging far-right parties in Europe.”

“Trump is a war criminal and we should have nothing to do with him,” she added at the rally. “What a scandal it is that Keir Starmer is frightened to say anything at all about this.”

While European governments have avoided explicitly declaring backing for illegal US actions, the emerging narrative leaves little doubt about the direction they intend to take. This extends to the media field. BBC staff were apparently instructed not to use the word “kidnapping” to describe the abduction of President Maduro, although Donald Trump himself said this is “not a bad term.” Such attempts to shape public opinion, however, have done exceptionally little to help Starmer’s own standing. Even mainstream polling suggests that the British prime minister is roughly twice as unpopular in the UK as Nicolás Maduro, despite the latter being constantly vilified in corporate media. Starmer, by contrast, has managed to discredit himself entirely on his own.

In this context, solidarity organizations are calling for more solidarity with the Venezuelan people and a stronger anti-war movement. “Donald Trump is not interested in international law; he is only interested in power,” Jeremy Corbyn told the rally. “This is really about a US grab for the natural resources of Latin America. It is our job to stand in solidarity with the people of Latin America, who oppose all this.”

Read more: Popular movements and workers across Asia condemn US aggression in Venezuela

As pressure grows from the left and progressive movements, demands for the British government to grow a spine, lacking a better term, show no sign of abating. “If a foreign power accused the British prime minister of breaking its domestic law, bombed targets in the UK, killed dozens of British citizens, and abducted the prime minister and his wife in the middle of the night, would the government be able to say that was legal?” Zarah Sultana asked Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper during a parliamentary session. “Or is international law only something that applies when Donald Trump says it can? And if so, is the Prime Minister and this Labour government anything more than Donald Trump’s poodle?”

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