Anyone trying to understand why Yvette Cooper studiously avoided saying whether the UK viewed the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro as a breach of international law only needs to look to what was planned in Paris a day later.
After the foreign secretary’s 90-minute humiliation in the House of Commons on Monday night, a joint statement was expected in the French capital by the coalition of the willing – and a draft included the US promising binding security guarantees to protect Ukraine in the event of a further Russian attack.
