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Thornberry: Labour will not tolerate abuses by 'socialist' regimes Thornberry: it is wrong to recognise Guaido as interim Venezuela president
(about 4 hours later)
A Labour government would not indulge human rights abuses by Britain’s allies or by regimes that “call themselves ‘socialist’ but … betray every socialist ideal”, the shadow foreign secretary will say on Wednesday. The shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, broke with the European big power consensus by saying it was wrong to recognise Juan Guaido as the interim president of Venezuela, saying she did not wish to strike a pose to help Venezuela, but do something realistic and practical to secure fresh elections.
The reference by Emily Thornberry, when she sets out her proposed policy under a Labour government, is intended as a clear rebuke to the record of the Venezuelan government led by Nicolás Maduro. She was answering questions at the end of a major speech in which she promised a hallmark of a Labour-run foreign office would be a consistent preparedness to criticise human rights abuses by Britain’s powerful allies including Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt.
JeremyCorbyn has so far opposed the decision made by a majority of European Union states, including the UK, to recognise the rival Venezuelan leader Juan Guaidó as interim president, but Thornberry is eager to ensure that Labour’s opposition to interference is not misconstrued as support for the Maduro regime. Guaidó’s party is a member of the Socialist International, with which Labour is affiliated. She also used the speech to criticise the leadership of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, saying indirectly that he called himself socialist but had betrayed every socialist value.
The key themes of Thornberry’s speech at the Institute for Government setting out her vision of a Labour foreign policy will inevitably draw parallels with the ethical foreign policy set out by Robin Cook as the first foreign secretary of Tony Blair’s 1997 government. But she sided with a minority of EU countries, notably the Italian government, in rejecting Guaido’s call to be recognised as the interim president of Venezuela. Britain, France, Spain and Germany have all recognised Guaido.
At the same time she will underline her aversion to trying to reshape the Middle East, or staking everything on UK relations with Washington. Corbyn has been reluctant to support military interventions in any crisis, including in Syria, leading to claims that his dislike of American imperialism leads him to soft-soap forces opposed to Washington, such as Russia. The shadow foreign secretary said: “I do not think you can make demands without knowing what you are going to do next. It’s about not striking a pose, but doing things that are realistic and practical.”
Chakrabarti defends Jeremy Corbyn's Venezuela remarks She added: “Regional voices are very important and I think we should be led by them more than we are, rather than unilaterally, or almost unilaterally, deciding this must happen by this time. I think there should be dialogue facilitated by regional powers. I think it is a question of approaching this with a little more humility.”
In her speech, Thornberry will say the current Foreign Office has lost its purpose with a “mission that has been muddied by an increasingly narrow focus on the promotion of trade and exports in anticipation of Brexit”. She said: “We need to give them time, and that offer has been made internally and externally. We need to ensure that happens – that is the best way to proceed, rather to suddenly say ‘that’s it, we had enough. We recognise X. We do not recognise Y any more.’ It’s not the way to treat another country, even a country in as desperate a situation as Venezuela.”
As a consequence, key principles around values and human rights have been downgraded, she will claim. During an interview in Venezuela’s legislative palace in Caracas on Tuesday, Juan Andrés Mejía, a close Guaidó ally from the Voluntad Popular party, said he was troubled there were those in Britain who “still don’t understand the struggle here in Venezuela, especially some people in the Labour party [including] Jeremy Corbyn and others”.
Promising to restore the morale of a department that has suffered cuts and the loss of key responsibilities, she will say that “our values will never again be sacrificed on the altar of our commercial interests”. Mejía said: “This is not an ideological struggle in Venezuela. This is not left against right ... In the opposition you have parties from across the political spectrum.
“Our basic demand here is elections. We are not trying to set up a government that will stay there forever and control all of the branches of power.”
“We are only trying to have freedom for elections – and that is not what happened here last year. I would ask Corbyn what would happen if his party and himself were banned from running, if millions of voters were forbidden from voting because they were living abroad … Would he or anyone else in the UK accept those rules? Probably not.”
Thornberry said she favoured targeted international sanctions in principle, but did not say if she specifically supported them in the case of Venezuela.
Maduro is the president of Venezuela. He served as the interim president upon the death of Hugo Chávez in March 2013, and won a hastily arranged general election in April 2013, narrowly defeating opposition candidate Henrique Capriles.Maduro is the president of Venezuela. He served as the interim president upon the death of Hugo Chávez in March 2013, and won a hastily arranged general election in April 2013, narrowly defeating opposition candidate Henrique Capriles.
Maduro was previously a bus driver and trade union leader. He was elected to the national assembly in 2000 and was appointed to a number of government positions by Chávez, including foreign ministerMaduro was previously a bus driver and trade union leader. He was elected to the national assembly in 2000 and was appointed to a number of government positions by Chávez, including foreign minister
The president, who lacks the charisma of his predecessor, has seen his approval ratings plunge amid widespread food shortages and triple-digit inflation. He stands accused of authoritarianism over his crackdowns on protests and attempts to shut off opposition paths to power. He claims he is the target of a US-backed economic war aimed at removing socialist control over the world's biggest oil resourcesThe president, who lacks the charisma of his predecessor, has seen his approval ratings plunge amid widespread food shortages and triple-digit inflation. He stands accused of authoritarianism over his crackdowns on protests and attempts to shut off opposition paths to power. He claims he is the target of a US-backed economic war aimed at removing socialist control over the world's biggest oil resources
She will say: “It has become a disturbing mantra in the last two decades that the maintenance of our strategic alliances – other than with Europe of course – is the consideration allowed to subsume all others. The bulk of her speech suggested a Labour foreign office will retilt the policy balance towards values, rather than interests, promising a consistent support for human rights, while at the same time engaging frankly with regimes with which Labour disagrees.
“Theresa May doesn’t even have the misguided ideological fixation that Tony Blair had on reshaping the Middle East, just an instinctive panicked reaction to Brexit, which says this is not the time to lose friends elsewhere, no matter who those friends are or whether they behave as friends should. She said recent years “had seen a perceptible shift to make the promotion of trade, business links and the financial bottom line not just the top priority of Foreign Office staff based here and overseas, but one allowed to override all others, most notably the protection of human rights”.
“But a Labour government would, I guarantee, be different – simply by applying the principle I have spelt out that above our alliances, above the protection and pursuit of our commercial and security interests, there must be certain values and rules, which we take to be inviolable and that we will apply with consistency. And the keyword there is consistency. She accused Theresa May of “an instinctive panicked reaction to Brexit, which says this is not the time to lose friends elsewhere, no matter who those friends are or whether they behave as friends should”.
“Because for too long, and this was as true of the past Labour government as it is true of this Conservative one, there has been a grave tendency to patronise and punish those nations with whom our trade links and strategic alliances are less important – because their human rights abuses are safe to criticise and their breaches of international law are easy to support UN resolutions against – while the stronger countries have had their own abuses and crimes ignored and indulged. She added: “How else do we explain the craven indulgence of the human rights abuses committed by President Sisi in Egypt or President Erdoğan in Turkey, and the frankly shameful blind eye being turned to the crimes of Crown Prince Bin Salman?
“Kick-down and kiss-up has never been my personal style, and it would not be my policy as foreign secretary. But nor will we ever lurch in the other direction: the point is not to turn the tables, but to treat both sides the same. “For too long, and this was as true of the past Labour government as it is true of this Conservative one, there has been a grave tendency to patronise and punish those nations with whom our trade links and strategic alliances are less important – because their human rights abuses are safe to criticise and their breaches of international law are easy to support UN resolutions against – while the stronger countries have had their own abuses and crimes ignored and indulged.”
“So, under a Labour Foreign Office, I can also guarantee there will be no indulgence of human rights abuses because they are committed by less powerful countries, or by governments who call themselves ‘socialist’ but who, by their actions, betray every socialist ideal.” Chakrabarti defends Jeremy Corbyn's Venezuela remarks
The whole of the foreign office has lost its sense of purpose, and become afflicted by short-term thinking, muddied goals, shrunken budgets and “a dangerous indulgence of authoritarian regimes”.
At the same time she insisted Labour in office cannot afford to live in a parallel universe, saying “we must deal with the world as it is now, not as we wish it could be, and be ready to do whatever we can, and deal with whoever it takes, to achieve our goals”.
Offering what she agreed might be seen as Robin Cook’s ethical foreign policy laced with realism, she conceded critics will say if her stance “means dealing with the likes of Iran or Russia on one side, or Saudi Arabia or Turkey on the other – that we will, right from the outset, be compromising the values that we claim will guide Labour’s foreign policy.
She added: “I fundamentally disagree. If we are true to our values, and the objectives that flow from those values, we must accept that – in the world as it is now – that will inevitably mean negotiating and working with people with whom we don’t agree.”
In specific proposals she said she supported the Blair government intervention in Kosovo without explicit UN backing, defended limited arms sales to Israel and promised an end to arms sales to Saudi Arabia for use in the war in Yemen. She promised a root and branch review of the British arms exports control systems, and dogged pursuit of a two-state solution in Israel.
She added she was not interested in merging the department of international development back in to the foreign office.
Emily ThornberryEmily Thornberry
LabourLabour
Nicolás MaduroNicolás Maduro
VenezuelaVenezuela
Human rightsHuman rights
Foreign policyForeign policy
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