Boris Johnson debriefed the Foreign Office following his secret meeting last month with Nicolas Maduro, the autocratic leader of Venezuela.
The former prime minister reported back to Colin Dick, the most senior British diplomat in Venezuela, after his 24-hour visit to Caracas, which was revealed by the Sunday Times.
The Foreign Office denied that Johnson was acting as an intermediary for the British government and insisted the former prime minister’s meeting with Maduro was a purely private matter.
“He was acting entirely in a personal capacity and not on behalf of the UK government,” a government source said.
Johnson was holidaying in the Dominican Republic, when he flew by private jet to Caracas last month. He received advice from Dick before the talks. A spokesman for Johnson also confirmed he briefed Dick afterwards in a sign of the close collaboration between Johnson and the Foreign Office over the visit.
The UK does not accept the legitimacy of the Maduro government, which is in the midst of a crackdown on civil society ahead of elections later this year. Maduro came to power in 2013 following the death of Hugo Chávez.
Johnson’s private jet to Caracas was funded independently with neither the UK nor Venezuelan governments contributing; it is not clear who met the costs. Johnson texted Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton, the foreign secretary, on his way to Caracas to inform him of his visit.
Labour said the visit raised “serious questions” over Johnson “freelancing in the shadows”. In a letter to Cameron, Anna McMorrin, shadow minister for Latin America, asked whether the Foreign Office knew who subsidised the trip and whether Johnson was given official resources.
McMorrin asked whether Johnson was being routinely used “as a diplomatic backchannel”.
Venezuela, which has the largest oil deposits in the world, is a close ally of Russia and has Soviet-era military equipment.
Johnson discussed the war in Ukraine with Maduro amid Western fears that Venezuela could supply military support to Russia. Since leaving office, Johnson has been a cheerleader for Ukraine, and was in Kyiv for the two-year anniversary of the war.
The former prime minister also discussed Maduro’s recent threats to annex Essequibo, the oil-rich province of neighbouring Guyana, a former British colony.
While Venezuela is suffering from crippling inflation, Guyana has one of the fastest-growing economies in the world following the discovery of offshore oil in 2015.
