Moment Laura Kuenssberg skewers stammering Starmer with | UK News

BBC’s political editor Laura Kuenssberg skewered prime minister Keir Starmer with just one simple query as the Labour chief was in the new seat. Confronting Starmer on Donald Trump’s strike against Venezuela and the US seize of its president Nicolás Maduro, Kuenssberg couldn’t get a straight reply from the evasive PM.

Kuenssberg kicked off by saying: “You’ve been incredibly clear, always, that Vladimir Putin’s attack on the sovereign country of Ukraine was wrong and ought to be condemned. What about President Trump’s attack on the sovereign country of Venezuela?

“There are all sorts of horrors that we know about President Maduro’s government, but for America to strike that country and then capture its leader… that’s an action against a sovereign state that surely flies in the face of international law?”

Starmer tried to trot out the social gathering line: “Well at the moment it’s a fast moving situation-“ but was quickly cut off by Kuenssberg, who pressed: “We know those facts. President Trump, the White House has said that they captured Maduro and they struck his country.

“There’s a lot we don’t know, but we do know that. So will you condemn that action against a sovereign state?”

Starmer again ducked the query, repeating: “Well I want to get all the material facts together and we simply haven’t got the full picture at the moment. It’s fast moving and we need to piece that together.

“I can be really clear with you that there was no UK involvement in this operation and obviously we’re working in relation to British citizens and nationals who were there with our embassy.

“But we need to establish the full picture, I then need to speak to President Trump, I need to speak to our allies. But I don’t shy away from this, I’ve been a lifelong advocate of international law and the importance of compliance with international law.”

He was left stammering as he went on: “But, erm, I want to ensure that I’ve got all the facts at my disposal, erm, and we haven’t got that at the moment and we need to get that before we, erm, come to a decision about the consequences in relation to the actions that have been taken.”