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Sir Keir Starmer has suffered fierce criticism over his refusal to label the US assault on Venezuela as a breach of international law, in a row which has derailed his attempt to start 2026 with a focus on domestic issues.
The UK prime minister wanted to spend more time on cost of living questions and less on the international events that have consumed so much of his energy since he won power in July 2024.
Instead, Starmer has been criticised over failing to question the legality of Donald Trump’s military assault on Venezuela, with MPs denouncing his refusal to say the US action was illegal.
Dame Emily Thornberry, Labour chair of the House of Commons foreign affairs committee, said: “We should be calling it out for what it is: a breach of international law.”
Richard Burgon, a leftwing Labour MP, mocked Starmer for saying that he was waiting to hear Trump’s legal justification for his intervention in Venezuela, accusing the prime minister of trying to curry favour with the US president.
Burgon said this “cowardly, craven approach drags this country’s reputation through the dirt”.
Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said it was “ridiculous” that Starmer had not called out “a clear breach of international law”, adding that Trump’s intervention would delight dictators around the world.
“Putin and Xi will be using this precedent to strengthen their hands in Ukraine and Taiwan,” he added.
Starmer will try to focus his cabinet’s attention on domestic issues on Tuesday in a meeting to discuss Labour’s efforts to regain the political initiative in 2026 and with a focus on measures to cut the cost of living.
A former human rights lawyer, Starmer is walking a difficult tightrope in managing his relationship with Trump, and on Monday faced calls from Davey for ministers to release any legal advice they had received on the US seizure of Nicolás Maduro.
But Yvette Cooper, foreign secretary, said no government ever published such advice, adding she had raised the “importance of complying with international law” in a conversation with US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
Starmer has repeatedly declined to comment on the legality of the US intervention in Venezuela, and on Monday would only say it was a “complicated situation”.
As pressure mounts on the prime minister to stand up to the White House, Starmer and Cooper have taken a more robust stance on Trump’s threat to annex Greenland, the Arctic island that is also a Danish territory.
Starmer said he would “stand” with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who stated on Monday that a US attack to seize Greenland would lead to the end of Nato.
The UK prime minister said: “Denmark is a close European ally, a close Nato ally, and the future has to be for Greenland and the kingdom of Denmark, and only for Greenland and the kingdom of Denmark.”
Starmer has repeatedly described the US as the UK’s most critical military ally, and has worked hard to foster a close relationship with Trump.
But questions over the legality of the US assault on Venezuela have led to attacks from Starmer’s left, including those who see parallels with the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
On Starmer’s right Nigel Farage, leader of the populist Reform UK party, said on Saturday the US intervention was probably “contrary to international law” even as he welcomed the impact it may have on China and Russia.
Sir Jeremy Hunt, a former Tory foreign secretary, warned that if Trump sought to annex Greenland it could spell the end of Nato “with disastrous consequences”.