Labour leader’s silence ‘is beyond satire’

JEREMY Corbyn’s failure to condemn Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro while calling for protests against Donald Trump is ‘ beyond satire’, Boris Johnson said yesterday.

‘It is striking that you’ve got the Labour opposition refusing to condemn Maduro but lining up to denounce the visit of our closest, most trusted, most important ally,’ the Foreign Secretary said. ‘It is beyond satire, it is a paradox.’

He condemned Labour for refusing to speak out after elections that were ‘very far from free, obviously rigged and obviously fraudulent’. Mr Johnson also criticised Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell for blaming chaos in Venezuela on Mr Maduro not being socialist enough.

‘He reminds me of those deluded people who used to claim the problem with Soviet Russia is that they never really practiced Communism,’ Mr Johnson said.

‘This is a refusal to face reality. It is incredible that these people should seriously think that is the right foreign policy for the UK.’