Stephen Pollard

but it would not have crossed her mind not to attend. Were it not entirely predictable that Mr Corbyn should show such contempt to our Armed Forces it would be shocking.

But this is the man who stood silent at a Battle of Britain memorial event in 2015 while everyone else sang the National Anthem. To add insult to injury a Labour source defended him by pointing out that Mr Corbyn “marked the event on social media”. How good of him.

For Jeremy Corbyn, true heroes are not brave soldiers who give their life for their country. They are socialist despots who destroy their country.

Exactly the sort of socialist despots who have run Venezuela into the ground. With the country’s parliament in the hands of the opposition, President Maduro called an election to a new body designed to give the pretence of legitimacy for his attempts to further entrench his power.

Along with the constitutional changes he is also arresting opponents – you may have seen the footage of a local mayor being dragged off in the middle of the night in his pyjamas.

Across the world democratic politicians have condemned what is happening. In France, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Australia – in fact everywhere you care to look – political leaders have said enough is enough and come up with suggestions for freeing Venezuelans from the tyranny and economic collapse imposed by Maduro.

In other countries Left-wing political leaders have joined in this condemnation. Because this is not an issue on which the mainstream Left and Right are divided. For mainstream politicians democracy is the key and Maduro is no democrat.

But there is one exception. There is one leader of a supposedly mainstream Left-wing party who has not uttered a word of condemnation of President Maduro: Jeremy Corbyn.

In June 2015, a few months before becoming Labour leader, he spoke at a “Solidarity with Venezuela” event: “When we celebrate, and it is a cause for celebration, the achievements of Venezuela, in jobs, in housing, in health, in education but above all its role in the whole world as a completely different place, then we do that because we recognise what they have achieved.”

The year before, he rang Mr Maduro’s own TV show to praise the regime’s “fight against capitalism” after he had earlier spoken at a commemoration for Hugo Chavez who, he said, “showed us that there is a different and a better way of doing things. It’s called socialism, it’s called social justice and it’s something that Venezuela has made a big step towards.”

NOW, even as decent Labour MPs demand that he condemns Maduro’s jailing of opponents and self-inflicted economic collapse, Mr Corbyn cannot bring himself to utter a word of criticism of his hero.

For Ken Livingstone, Mr Corbyn’s comrade in arms for so many years, the real problem is that, “Hugo Chavez did not execute the establishment elite, he allowed them to continue so they’re still there”.

Could there be a more chilling insight into the mindset of the Labour leadership?

Jeremy Corbyn’s hero worship of the Venezuelan regime shows why we should all fear letting him and his gang of hard-Left acolytes anywhere near power.

‘He has contempt for our Armed Forces’