Keir Starmer: ‘We simply haven’t got the full picture at the moment’
The US has struck Venezuela’s capital Caracas and captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. Maduro is now in detention in New York. In a press conference after the military operation, President Trump said that the US will ‘run the country until such time as we can do a safe… transition’, and that America’s ‘greatest oil companies in the world’ will be ‘very much involved’. In a long interview with Prime Minister Keir Starmer this morning, Laura Kuenssberg asked if an American attack on a sovereign state was in breach of international law, and whether the prime minister would condemn Trump’s actions. Starmer said it is a ‘fast moving situation’, that there was no UK involvement, and said he had been a ‘lifelong advocate of international law’. Kuenssberg noted that Nigel Farage has said the US action is ‘probably against international law’. Starmer said the government takes it ‘very seriously’, and he wanted to discuss with allies to gather ‘all the facts’.
Priti Patel on Maduro’s capture: ‘We’re not shedding any tears’
On GB News, Camilla Tominey asked Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel for the Conservatives’ reaction to the news coming from Venezuela. Patel called President Maduro ‘an oppressive tyrant… a terrible dictator’, and argued the US has been moving towards this action for a long time because of their national policy around drug trafficking. She said more information would need to come out around the legality of President Trump’s operation, but claimed it was ‘alarming’ that the British government doesn’t know more about the situation. Tominey asked Patel to clarify whether she supported Trump’s actions. Patel said her party support ‘the fact that Maduro has now gone’, and that the key thing is what sort of transition happens next in the country.
Starmer: ‘I will be sitting in this seat by 2027’
Laura Kuenssberg also asked Keir Starmer if he worries about his disastrous ratings in the polls. Starmer said he intended to be faithful to his ‘five year mandate to change the country’, and that he would be judged on whether he achieved that positive change. Kuenssberg pointed out that he would be judged much sooner in the upcoming May elections, and that many Labour politicians believe a change in leadership will be required if, as expected, the government performs badly in those elections. Starmer said that ‘every vote has to be earned’, but suggested local elections are not a ‘referendum on the Westminster government’, and are not a good predictor of the next general election. Kuenssberg asked if Starmer would step down under any circumstances if there were to be a leadership challenge. Starmer said that nobody wants to go back to the chaos of the leadership changes under the Tories, and claimed he would be here next year.
PM wants ‘closer alignment with the Single Market’
Laura Kuenssberg noted that some in the Labour Party have advocated for a customs union with the EU, and asked the prime minster if he would still rule that out. Starmer said the government has already taken steps to align with the Single Market on food and agriculture, and that it was in our national interest to have a ‘closer relationship with the EU’. Kuenssberg asked if Starmer meant the government is considering a relationship like that of Switzerland or Norway, who allow freedom of movement in exchange for access to the Single Market. Starmer said the government would consider aligning with the Single Market in other industries on a case by case basis, but ruled out freedom of movement.
Starmer hoping for peace in Ukraine this year
Security talks were held in Kyiv on Saturday between Ukraine and its allies. Ukraine has said a peace deal is ‘90%’ ready, with President Zelenskyy hoping for a summit in the US by the end of January. Laura Kuenssberg asked Keir Starmer if he thought 2026 could be the year that peace is achieved in the region. The prime minister said he hoped so, but that the key point is the security guarantee that would make any peace deal lasting. Starmer said ‘serious progress’ had been made on both the American and European sides on how to integrate potential security forces. Discussions around territory are the other ‘sticking point’, the prime minister noted, arguing that any decisions made have to be ‘for Ukraine, without being overly optimistic’. Starmer argued that peace in Ukraine would make a material difference in the UK, because fuel prices have increased dramatically as a result of the war.
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