What I want to know is: what did Nicolás Maduro get out of it? Meeting Boris Johnson, I mean. The Venezuelan bus driver turned brutal dictator is a busy man. Murdering 20,000 dissidents, invading Guyana, rigging presidential elections: all these are time-consuming hobbies. Where did he find a spare 45 minutes to hobnob with a former British Prime Minister? And to what end?
For anyone unaware, I refer to Johnson’s recent secret mission to Caracas. As reported by The Sunday Times, Henley’s favourite son took a private jet from a family holiday in the Dominican Republic for a meeting with Maduro. The Financial Times suggests it was organised by Maarten Peterman, a hedge fund manager supposedly keen on normalising Anglo-Venezuelan relations.
Leave aside, for a moment, that Maduro has a $15 million price on his head for drug trafficking and leads a government being investigated by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves. Normalising relations with London would make it easier for Maduro to pursue extraction deals. Great news for potential investors.
Ex-PMs engaging with iffy foreign leaders – perhaps at a reasonable price – is not unusual. Tony Blair tacitly controls several nations. David Cameron found the golden age of Anglo-Chinese relations flourished in and out of office. Johnson has made over £5 million since leaving office through speaking engagements and joined Scott Morrison in Israel last November. Global Britain indeed.
But visiting Venezuela is a particular eyebrow-raiser. It is not a country with which the West currently has the friendliest relations. Following 2018 elections boycotted by opposition leaders amidst widespread repression, Britain hasn’t officially recognized Maduro’s regime. Colin Dick, our top man in Caracas, is stationed as a chargé d’affaires ad interim, rather than as an ambassador.
Joe Biden eased sanctions on Maduro last year, after a failed attempt by Donald Trump’s administration to cripple his regime. But he repaid this by launching fresh attacks on his opponents before summer ‘elections’ and threatening to annex two-thirds of Guyana. Britain sent a warship to defend our former colony – an English-speaking Commonwealth member – in December.
This raises an obvious question: what did the Foreign Office know, and when did it know it? Reports suggest that Johnson texted the Foreign Secretary en route and spoke to Dick both before and after Maduro. Johnson’s spokesman stresses he had his former department’s “active support”. King Charles Street has keenly emphasised the trip was private in financing and purpose.
Johnson is said to have “delivered the FCDO script” during the meeting and emphasised that normalisation requires Venezuela “fully embraces democracy and respects the territorial integrity of its neighbours”. ‘Sources close to Johnson’ have said it was a “robust exchange which focused entirely on democracy and human rights and Ukraine.” Hardly an ex-PM going rogue.
Petermann’s firm previously paid Johnson for consultancy and speeches. He joined him on his trip, covering the flights and expenses. But Johnson is not thought to have been paid for the meeting. No suggestion has been made that commercial matters were discussed. Democracy’s blondest champion was taking advantage of an unusual chance to earwig an autocrat.
Johnson has something of a long-standing interest in Venezuela. In his first PMQs, he claimed Jeremy Corbyn was “Caracas” to consider the country an ally, a gag he had previously deployed as Foreign Secretary. He first sent it into battle against Ken Livingstone, his old Mayoral rival whose cut-price-oil deal with Hugo Chávez he cancelled soon after entering City Hall.
But Johnson’s interest goes further than puns. He wasn’t Venezuela’s only notable visitor last month. Sergey Lavrov, Putin’s Foreign Minister, was there to promote “co-operation in oil production, gas field development, agriculture, medicine, and pharmaceuticals”. Maduro has supported Russia throughout its invasion of Ukraine. Some fear it could prove Putin with military support.
Even by his critics, supporting Ukraine wholeheartedly is regarded as one of Johnson’s greatest triumphs in office. Continuing to drum up global support for Volodymr Zelensky has been central to his post-premiership. He will have leapt at the opportunity to detach an ally from Putin and visited Kyiv for the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion soon after returning from Venezuela.
Johnson is wise enough to know that thinking 45 minutes of him bending Maduro’s ear would see him jack in the dictatorship shtick and throw his weight behind Ukraine is absurd. Still, attempting to do so will have piqued his interest. He is still, at heart, a journalist. He knew his trip would be splashed across the headlines. What was it Oscar Wilde said about being talked about?
Freelance diplomacy in Venezuela sits at the intersection of Johnson’s three post-premiership priorities: remuneration, supporting Ukraine, and keeping himself in the public eye. But it is also exciting – and a warning to those still treating him as the King Across the Water. Playing at being James Bond is much more interesting than trudging around Blyth Valley on behalf of Rishi Sunak.
Had Johnson not shirked last year’s opportunity to defend Uxbridge and South Ruislip, he might still be an MP, perfectly placed as a rallying point for backbench discontent. Hints of plots trickle into the papers even now. Leaving aside his dismal popularity ratings and the logistical impossibility of him re-entering Parliament any time soon, his Venezuela jaunt shows the folly of his supporters.
For all Johnson’s previous obsession with grabbing a ball loose from the scrum, he seems to be quite enjoying retirement. Perhaps he might one day return at his party’s time of need. But it’s much more enjoyable sitting back and watching Sunak flounder without him, making a pretty penny by posing as a statesman without any of the necessary responsibilities. I can think of worse fates.
As for Maduro? One assumes he just enjoys the West taking him seriously. Perhaps he’s just a big fan of The Daily Mail. Or maybe he really is Caracas.