The Labour Left's long love affair with basket-case communists leaves Starmer squirming
Sir Keir Starmer's initial squirming reaction to the US strike on Venezuela is rooted in the long love affair the Left has enjoyed with the basket-case communist country.
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By GLEN OWEN POLITICAL EDITOR
Published: 20:45 GMT, 3 January 2026 | Updated: 01:50 GMT, 4 January 2026
Sir Keir Starmer's initial squirming reaction to the US strike on Venezuela is rooted in the long love affair the Left has enjoyed with the basket-case communist country.
Fearful of angering the US President, but also conscious of his party's veneration of Nicolas Maduro's failed regime, the Prime Minister was reduced to saying that he wanted to 'establish the facts, and take it from there'.
He told the BBC: 'I've been a lifelong advocate of international law', before tiptoeing along a diplomatic tightrope by calling the relationship between the US and the UK 'vitally important for our defence, for our security, for our intelligence. It is my responsibility to make sure that relationship works.'
Privately, officials are more forthright. One diplomat told The Mail on Sunday: 'We know the US had wargamed the 'decapitation' of the Venezuelan regime, and the simulation predicted chaos.
This is a recipe for anarchy, but in No 10 they seem paralysed – basically just sitting there and saying, 'What the f***?' They should be calling for the United Nations to oversee an election there now.'
Later last night, Sir Keir aligned more closely with Mr Trump by saying: 'We regarded Maduro as an illegitimate president and we shed no tears about the end of his regime'. But he knows the Left of his party has long admired the communist regime and hated Mr Trump.
Jeremy Corbyn took inspiration from Venezuelan policies of public ownership and price controls when he led Labour into the general elections of 2017 and 2019.
Mr Corbyn once described Maduro's predecessor, the notorious Hugo Chavez, as 'an inspiration to all of us fighting back against austerity and neo-liberal economics'. When Chavez died in 2013, Mr Corbyn attended a vigil and thanked him for 'showing the poor matter and wealth can be shared'.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer pictured on July 14, 2025
Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro (pictured on August 22, 2025) was captured by US military
President Donald Trump standing near CIA Director John Ratcliffe as they watch the U.S. military operation in Venezuela
Jeremy Corbyn, the interim leader of Your Party, speaks during a press conference, on December 18, 2025