Quote of the day 3rd January 2026: Starmer turns cakeist

A classic example of trying to eat your cake and have it from the PM today in response to the USA's attack on the Venezuelan government and kidnapping of the Venezuelan President - who had, admittedly, been widely believed to have fraudulently stolen the last couple of elections.

Evidently trying to avoid annoying either the Trump administration or those who have concerns about the international law implications, Starmer commented that the UK Government will "shed no tears" about the end of Nicolás Maduro's regime.

He wrote: "The UK has long supported a transition of power in Venezuela. We regarded Maduro as an illegitimate president and we shed no tears about the end of his regime." 

Referring to his earlier remark on upholding international law, Sir Keir continued: "I reiterated my support for international law this morning.

"The UK Government will discuss the evolving situation with US counterparts in the days ahead as we seek a safe and peaceful transition to a legitimate government that reflects the will of the Venezuelan people."

The Trump administration is not being entirely untruthful when they say that previous US administrations have done things like this before - but it is equally fair to say that previous UK governments have been rather more forthright abut expressing concern when they did.

In one of her few public disagreements with her friend Ronald Reagan, Mr Thatcher commented on his decision to overthrow the regime in Grenada, telling the BBC world service

"We in the Western countries, the Western democracies, use our force to defend our way of life. We do not use it to walk into other people's countries, independent sovereign territories... If you are going to pronounce a new law that wherever there is communism imposed against the will of the people then the U.S. shall enter, then we are going to have really terrible wars in the world."

Mrs Thatcher had the guts to stand up to Ronald Reagan when she disagreed with him.




 














NB, DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and not necessarily those of the Conservative party. My quote of the day for 4th January is the initial response from the leader of the Conservative party.

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