Sir Keir Starmer’s right-hand man refused to say whether the US has broken international law by striking Venezuela and capturing its president.
Darren Jones, chief secretary to the prime minister, told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips it was “for the Americans to set out the legal basis for their operation”.
He also confirmed the UK was not involved and was not informed beforehand.
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However, former Conservative foreign secretary Priti Patel said the UK should “absolutely” have anticipated what was going to happen as “it’s pretty clear that was the direction of travel”.
US airstrikes were carried out across Venezuela in the early hours of Saturday morning, when President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured and flown to the US, arriving in New York on Sunday, where they were charged with narco-terrorism.
Mr Trump said on Saturday the US will “run” Venezuela until a “proper transition” can take place.
In the UK government’s first reaction to that, Mr Jones said they are “not entirely clear yet what President Trump meant by those comments” and insisted no assumptions should be made – but said they are “not in favour of colonialism”.
He refused multiple times to say whether the US had violated international law, which several other nations have questioned – including France, Spain, Canada, Germany, as well as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
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Mr Jones said: “We’re advocates for international law and the rules based order. But I can’t give you a view right now on President Trump’s legal basis for his operation, because that’s for the Americans to explain.”
He added: “It’s for international courts to make judgments on international law.”
Sir Keir would also not be drawn on whether the US broke international law, telling the BBC he was waiting to establish all the facts but would not “shy away from this”, adding he was a “lifelong advocate of international law”.
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The head of MI6 from 2009 to 2014, Sir John Sawers, told Trevor Phillips the US operation would “not have passed muster” in the UK or Europe as Mr Trump’s government is relying upon a law enforcement legal basis rather than defence.
“I’m not surprised Keir Starmer and his government have distanced themselves from this operation without actually making any criticism of it, because it wouldn’t pass muster here in the UK,” he said.
“But Americans are a law unto themselves.”
