UK Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has said that the recent US military action in Venezuela was “morally the right thing to do,” even as she expressed uncertainty about the legal basis of the operation. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she said she did not fully understand the legal framework underpinning the former US President Donald Trump’s intervention to remove Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power but welcomed Maduro’s ouster, arguing that he presided over a repressive regime. “Where the legal certainty is not yet clear, morally, I do think it was the right thing to do,” Badenoch said, adding that the action was “extraordinary” but understandable given the nature of Maduro’s leadership.
Badenoch also acknowledged that the intervention has broader implications for global norms and the rules-based international order, saying it “does raise serious questions about the rules-based order,” especially regarding how international law is interpreted and enforced. Drawing on her past experiences growing up under military dictatorship, she said her perspective was shaped by her background. “I grew up under a military dictatorship, so I know what it’s like to have someone like Maduro in charge,” she said, referencing her childhood in Nigeria. However, she stressed that such interventions should not be applied universally, noting the difference between democratic states and others, saying “There is a big difference between democratic states and the gangster state in Venezuela.”