US Action in Venezuela Morally Right, Says Kemi Badenoch

UK Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has expressed support for the recent US military operation in Venezuela, describing it as “morally… the right thing to do,” even though she admitted uncertainty over its legal foundation.

Speaking to the BBC, Badenoch said she did not fully understand the legal framework behind President Donald Trump’s operation to remove Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power.

Nevertheless, she welcomed Maduro’s ouster, citing his leadership of a repressive regime.

“Where the legal certainty is not yet clear, morally, I do think it was the right thing to do,” Badenoch said on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. She described the intervention as “extraordinary” but argued that it was justified given the circumstances, adding: “He was overseeing a brutal regime, and I’m glad he’s gone.”

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Badenoch acknowledged that the operation raises broader questions about international norms, noting that it “does raise serious questions about the rules-based order,” particularly regarding how international law is interpreted and enforced.

While the UK government has avoided outright criticism of the US move, instead maintaining that Maduro was an “illegitimate president,” opposition parties—including Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party, and the Scottish National Party—have urged officials to condemn the action and describe it as illegal.

Reflecting on her own experience growing up under military rule in Nigeria before moving to the UK at 16, Badenoch said her perspective on Maduro’s regime was shaped by firsthand understanding of dictatorship. “I grew up under a military dictatorship, so I know what it’s like to have someone like Maduro in charge,” she said.

However, she cautioned against using the Venezuela intervention as a universal precedent. Badenoch argued that democratic nations should be treated differently, highlighting Greenland as an example: “There is a big difference between democratic states and the gangster state in Venezuela… What happens in Greenland is up to Denmark and the people of Greenland.”