Sir Keir Starmer has called on Donald Trump to halt his aggressive efforts to acquire Greenland, while remaining noncommittal on the recent operation in Venezuela.

The Prime Minister expressed solidarity with Denmark, a NATO ally, in its firm rejection of the US President’s continuing attempts to claim the Arctic region.

Sir Keir’s stance was notably firmer compared to Home Office minister Mike Tapp, who earlier avoided commenting directly on the matter.

However, the Prime Minister refrained from stating whether he believed the United States’ dramatic capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro violated international law.

Sir Keir emphasized the importance of upholding international norms, suggesting that the US should present its reasons for the action they took.

President Trump had greenlit the operation in Venezuela last Saturday, which resulted in special forces apprehending Maduro along with his wife, Cilia Flores.

It has emerged that Operation Absolute Resolve may have killed 40 people, including almost all of Maduro’s security team, but there were no US fatalities.

Mr Trump has vowed to ‘run’ the oil-rich country in the meantime – a move which has been widely condemned by other nations.

Sir Keir Starmer is desperately sitting on the fence over Donald Trump’s Venezuela operation amid mounting Labour anger

The PM has refused to criticise the move as he tries to avoid angering Mr Trump (pictured centre), merely saying he was not ‘shedding tears’ for the ousting of Maduro

In a statement to the House of Commons on Monday night, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper echoed Sir Keir’s message to Mr Trump about Greenland

Dame Emily Thornberry, the Labour chair of the Commons’ foreign affairs select committee, urged Britain and other Western allies to ‘call out’ Mr Trump’s actions

In a statement to the House of Commons on Monday night, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper echoed Sir Keir’s message to Mr Trump about Greenland.

‘Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark,’ she told MPs.

‘Our close European partners, our long-standing Nato allies and all our countries work closely together on security issues, and will always do so.

‘The future of Greenland is a matter for the Greenlanders and Danes, and no-one else.’

But Ms Cooper, like Sir Keir, was more circumspect when she set out the UK’s position on Venezuela.

She said Britain wanted a ‘peaceful transition from authoritarian rule to a democracy that reflects the will of the Venezuelan people’ following Maduro’s capture.

‘We should be under no illusion as to the nature of the Maduro regime,’ the Foreign Secretary added.

‘A once functioning democracy has become a hub for very dangerous organised criminal gangs.

‘Corrupt links involved Iran with Hezbollah increasingly present in recent years as well as malign support from Russia.’

Ms Cooper also told the Commons she had spoken to Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, and had ‘raised the importance of complying with international law’.

‘It is, of course, for the US to set out the legal basis for their actions and the UN Security Council is discussing Venezuela this afternoon,’ she added.

‘These issues will continue to be matters for international discussion.

‘I discussed with Secretary Rubio what should happen next and our continued commitment to a transition to a peaceful and stable democracy.

‘Our collective immediate focus must be on avoiding any deterioration in Venezuela into further instability, criminality, repression or violence that would be deeply damaging for the people of Venezuela, our own overseas territories, our allies and in the US and other regional partners.’

But Sir Keir and Ms Cooper faced fresh pressure from among Labour MPs to directly condemn Mr Trump’s actions as a breach of international law.

Dame Emily Thornberry, the Labour chair of the Commons’ foreign affairs select committee, said: ‘If a large and powerful country abducts the leader of another – however abhorrent that leader is – and then tries to intimidate the smaller country in order, it says itself, to gain access to its resources, doesn’t the Foreign Secretary agree this should be called out?

‘Not just by Britain but by our Western allies, we should be calling it out for what it is – a breach of international law.

‘It is not for the country that is breaking the law to say whether or not it has broken the law.’

Dame Emily added there was a ‘profound risk of international norms changing’.

In reply, Ms Cooper reiterated she had raised ‘this issue of international law’ with Mr Rubio.

Challenged himself about the Venezuela raid on a visit to a community centre in Berkshire earlier on Monday, Sir Keir said: ‘What’s happened here in Venezuela is obviously really important. We have long championed a peaceful transition to democracy, because the president was illegitimate.’

Sir Keir also said international law needed to be the ‘anchor’ for the future of Venezuela after the US removed president Maduro at the weekend.

He added that the US will ‘want to justify’ its actions in international law.

But the PM would not be drawn on whether he believed the US had breached international law when asked directly.

He told reporters: ‘International law is really important. It’s the framework, and it’s for the US to set out its justifications for the actions that it’s taken.

‘But it is a complicated situation. It remains a complicated situation. The most important thing is stability and that peaceful transition to democracy.’

The PM added: ‘I think the vast majority of Labour MPs would say that they want to see democracy in Venezuela. That is hugely important.’

Pressed on his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen’s insistence Mr Trump has no right to claim Greenland, the PM said: ‘Well, I stand with her, and she’s right about the future of Greenland.’

He added: ‘Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark are to decide the future of Greenland, and only Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark.

‘Denmark is a close ally in Europe, it is a Nato ally, and it’s very important the future of Greenland is, as I say, for the Kingdom of Denmark, and for Greenland, and only for Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark.’

Dame Emily has become the most senior Labour figure to urge clarity. She stressed that she was not shedding tears for Maduro and ‘he shouldn’t have been there’ after losing elections.

But she said there was no legal justification for the US action.

‘I’m not in government. I can basically say it as it is,’ she told BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour on Sunday night.

‘I think in the end there is no getting away from it – this is not a legal action.

She added: ‘He may well want to hear what the justification is from the American government. I can get in front of that and say I literally cannot think of anything that would be a proper justification.’

Dame Emily said Sir Keir should join with allies such as France and Germany to criticise the US move.

‘I think that it’s important that we make it clear that this is unacceptable,’ she added.

Mr Tapp dodged on the UK’s view as he toured broadcast studios this morning.

‘The British Government is and will be in conversations with the Americans,’ he said.

‘We’re also talking with close allies looking at the legal aspect of this.’

Mr Trump has suggested that Venezuela may not be the last country subject to American intervention, telling the Atlantic magazine: ‘We do need Greenland, absolutely.’

But Mr Tapp seemed unwilling to give a full-throated rebuttal of the US President’s desire to take over Greenland, which is a territory of Denmark, a Nato ally of both Britain and America.

Mike Tapp squirmed and said he would not give a ‘running commentary’ as he was grilled on the UK’s view of the action in Venezuela – and US demands to take over Denmark’s territory

Mr Trump authorised the operation in the South American country on Saturday which culminated in special forces capturing Maduro (pictured last year) and his wife Cilia Flores

Richard Burgon is among the Labour MPs calling for Sir Keir to condemn the US action

He told Sky that Venezuela and Greenland were ‘obviously different’ situations, but suggested it was for Denmark and the US to discuss, adding: ‘It’s for Nato to have that solid anchor to ensure that there is no division here.’

Repeatedly challenged to say that America should not invade Greenland, Mr Tapp said: ‘Diplomacy is delicate, which means we’re not here to give a running commentary in the news unfortunately, as much as that would be fantastic for for viewers and on Twitter.

‘But it’s the end results that matter. And working together with our allies and sticking to international laws is what we stand for as a country.’

Asked on Saturday whether he would condemn the military action in Venezuela, Sir Keir said he wanted to wait to ‘establish the facts’ and speak to Mr Trump, and later insisted the UK would ‘shed no tears’ over the end of Maduro’s regime.

Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside Kim Johnson questioned whether ‘we as a country still stand for international law and sovereignty’, while Leeds East Labour MP Richard Burgon described the Prime Minister’s statement as ‘shameful and reckless’.