Market Analysis

The UK's Labour Party is accused of electoral "interference" by the Trump campaign

Amos Simanungkalit · 23 Oct 20247.4K Views

Donald Trump's campaign has accused British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour Party of "blatant foreign interference" in the upcoming U.S. presidential election, following reports that its volunteers have traveled to the U.S. to assist in the campaign for Kamala Harris.

The campaign has lodged a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in Washington, calling for an immediate investigation into what it describes as "apparent illegal foreign national contributions made by the Labour Party of the United Kingdom and accepted by Harris for President."

The complaint references media reports and a now-deleted LinkedIn post from Sofia Patel, the Labour Party's head of operations, who indicated that "nearly 100" current and former Labour staff would be heading to the U.S. in the coming weeks to support Harris, the Democratic vice president.

"Those searching for foreign interference in our elections need to look no further than that LinkedIn post," the letter of complaint stated. "The interference is happening in plain sight."

The centre-left Labour Party, which considers the U.S. Democrats its sister party, came to power in July. Since then, Starmer has attempted to foster relations with Trump, having met him at Trump Tower during a trip to New York in September.

While traveling to Samoa, Starmer told reporters he did not anticipate that the complaint would damage relations with Trump if he wins the election on November 5. He noted that Labour volunteers have historically participated in U.S. elections.

"They're volunteering in their spare time and staying with other volunteers over there," he explained. "This is what they've done in previous elections, and it continues in this one; it's quite straightforward."