DOSSIER
Why are Labour volunteers causing a stir in the US election race?
Daniel Boffey
Will Cooling
Wed 23 October 2024
CITY AM
Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks on stage during the final day of the Democratic National Convention (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
It’s easy to laugh at try-hard Labour staffers wanting to get involved in US politics by campaigning for Kamala Harris, but what happens in America matters to us all, says Will Cooling
We’ve all experienced the horror of returning from holiday to a massive backlog of work emails and urgent tasks, but few have experienced what dozens of Labour staffers and volunteers are going through. Their planned trip to America to help their ideological bedfellows defeat Donald Trump has managed to get both Kamala Harris’s Presidential Campaign and the Labour Party here in Britain, sued.
It’s worth being clear that this is both real and silly. There really are laws that prevent foreigners from getting too involved in American elections, with those outside the states not just unable to donate money to the campaigns, but unable to act as paid staff on a campaign. The workaround is that foreigners who come to help American candidates do it on a voluntary basis, either during a career break or annual leave. The pretext for the Trump campaign’s legal action was discussions on LinkedIn about accommodation for the volunteers being organised by Labour’s Head of Operations, Sofia Patel. The Trump campaign claims this implies illegal payment whereas Labour are adamant this simply referred to volunteers getting to stay with local Democrats. All precedent suggests the Labour Party have done nothing wrong.
It is easy to dismiss this as a bit of election season rabble rousing on behalf of the Trump campaign. Or indeed roll your eyes at Labour staffers and everyone in the British media who has jumped on the story for being more than a bit naff in their desperation to be part of the big story. But the reality is that what happens in America matters – and it’s perfectly natural that politically engaged people the world over would like to get involved.
Anglophobia
It is of course deeply concerning for Britain that Trump’s instinctive response was to openly attack our government. Not only does the lawsuit contain broadsides against key officials in Sir Keir Starmer’s government, it attacks the ideology of the Labour Party and mocks the way the Harris campaign has utilised some of his election slogans. It also indulges in some unusually blatant Anglophobia, comparing the election volunteers to the King George III’s troops in their war of independence. It certainly suggests that for all Starmer and David Lammy’s attempts to build bridges, Trump will think nothing of throwing them and the rest of Britain overboard, for partisan advantage.
For all Starmer and David Lammy’s attempts to build bridges, Trump will think nothing of throwing them and the rest of Britain overboard, for partisan advantage
But beyond the American Presidency’s impact on Britain, it’s worth thinking about our American friends and family whose lives could be profoundly altered for the worse by a second Trump Presidency. Many of us belong to communities or believe in causes that depend on American liberalism for global leadership – leadership that has been in short supply as it’s been forced on the defensive by MAGA. We all rely on the US military to keep the peace and can see the inhumanity that is unleashed when it is unable or unwilling to do so. Yes, it is the American people’s decision who they should have as President, but it is not they alone that live with the consequences of that decision. It is empowering the worst of their politics to indulge the idea that foreigners cannot offer limited support to their ideological allies, and risks isolating the best.
So laugh at the try-hard Labour staffers and activists as they board their flights to the States, if you really must. But they’re the ones who will get to tell their grandkids that they did their bit to try to stop the election of a man condemned by his own former chief of staff as a fascist. What did you do?
Will Cooling writes about politics and pop culture at It Could be Said Substack
Daniel Boffey
Chief reporter
THE GUARDIAN
Wed 23 October 2024
Early voting in Black Mountain, North Carolina, on Monday. The LinkedIn post called for UK Labour volunteers to canvass in the battleground state.Photograph: Erik S Lesser/EPA
It is usually just a week, but sometimes longer. The hours are long, the socialising limited, and there is no reward beyond free accommodation in a shared house, recalls one Labour staffer who spent three weeks knocking on doors and ferrying leaflets for the 2008 campaign to put Barack Obama, then a junior senator from Illinois, in the White House.
What volunteering in a US election does offer is a walk-on part in a moment in history.
“I arrived on the Saturday, and I was put to work on the Sunday and I worked seven days a week for three weeks, often ending at 10pm,” the staffer recalled.
“There might be a beer after work but that was about it. There was some suspicion in what were predominantly black neighbourhoods of a white man with a clipboard knocking on doors – and then they heard the English accent.
“The response was generally: ‘What do you want?’ But as soon as you said you were from the Obama campaign, the doors opened: ‘Come on in.’ And that was special.”
A post last week on LinkedIn by Sofia Patel, Labour’s head of operations, has started a peculiar row over a longstanding practice of British and American politicos: lending their support to sister parties across the Atlantic.
“I have nearly 100 Labour party staff (current and former) going to the US in the next few weeks heading to North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia,” Patel wrote. “I have 10 spots available for anyone available to head to the battleground state of North Carolina – we will sort your housing. Email me on labourforkamala@gmail.com if you’re interested.”
The message may seem innocuous enough, but with the US presidential race too close to call and with less than three weeks to go, no potential wedge issue is being wasted, and the suggestion of foreign interference has some power to change minds in American politics.
Under Federal Election Commission rules, foreign volunteers on US campaigns are permissible as long as they are not compensated for their work, and in Patel’s message the Trump campaign detected evidence of such remuneration in the form of sponsored accommodation.
The campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission in Washington seeking an immediate investigation into alleged “blatant foreign interference”.
“When representatives of the British government previously sought to go door-to-door in America, it did not end well for them,” the Trump presidential campaign’s deputy general counsel declared, in an apparent reference to the war of independence.
Thrown into the complaint for good measure was that a number of senior Labour party staff – namely, Morgan McSweeney, the prime minister’s chief of staff, and Matthew Doyle, Downing Street director of communications – also attended the Democratic convention in Chicago and met Kamala Harris’s campaign team.
The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, was moved to deny meddling in the US presidential election as he flew to the Commonwealth heads of government summit in Samoa in the South Pacific.
“The Labour party has volunteers; [they] have gone over pretty much every election,” he said. “They’re doing it in their spare time. They’re doing it as volunteers. They’re staying I think with other volunteers over there.”
Lord Wood of Anfield, a former No 10 adviser to Gordon Brown, said such arrangements were not unusual and that he had facilitated volunteering himself.
He said: “Labour people, staffers and others, have been going over to volunteer for the Dems – which is our sister party after all – as long as I have been involved with Labour. Always using their own money, though often asking people like me for contacts.”
It is understood that officials in organisations such as Labour Students and Democrats Abroad, a group that has assisted US citizens in the UK to take part in elections at home, have also in the past organised for British volunteers to help out in swing states.
The moment of maximum cooperation was perhaps during the era of Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, when the “third way” in western politics was in the ascendancy and mutually supportive thinktanks made the connections. But such cooperation is certainly not unknown on the right of politics.
“There were lots of Tories over helping the John McCain presidential campaign,” recalled the Labour staffer of the 2008 election. In 2015, a team organised by the US Young Republicans International Committee, a movement for those aged 18-40, helped out in the marginal seat of Enfield North, and the constituency of Aylesbury, where the Conservatives were being challenged by the UK Independence party.
Then there are those who cross party lines. Simon Burns, a Conservative MP between 1987 and 2017, worked on his gap year in 1972 for George McGovern’s presidential campaign against Richard Nixon. He went on to help secure the elections to the Senate and Congress of Ted and Joe Kennedy, respectively, and he campaigned for Hillary Clinton in 2016.
John Healey, the British defence secretary, suggested the Trump campaign had created a synthetic row. “This is in the middle of an election campaign, that’s the way that politics works,” he said.
But this is not the first time this issue has blown up. In 2018, the Bernie Sanders campaign agreed to pay a $14,500 fine (£11,190) to the FEC after the agency ruled that his 2016 presidential campaign had accepted an illegal contribution from the Australian Labor party.
The FEC found against Sanders on the basis that the Australian volunteers had received a stipend from the Labor party and had their flights paid for. There is no suggestion that anything like that happened in this case – but the row continues.
“The flailing Harris-Walz campaign is seeking foreign influence to boost its radical message – because they know they can’t win the American people,” said Susie Wiles, co-manager of the Trump-Vance campaign. “President Trump will return strength to the White House and put America, and our people, first.”
Opinion
Labour activists are right to campaign for Harris
Wed 23 October 2024
Early voting in Black Mountain, North Carolina, on Monday. The LinkedIn post called for UK Labour volunteers to canvass in the battleground state.Photograph: Erik S Lesser/EPA
It is usually just a week, but sometimes longer. The hours are long, the socialising limited, and there is no reward beyond free accommodation in a shared house, recalls one Labour staffer who spent three weeks knocking on doors and ferrying leaflets for the 2008 campaign to put Barack Obama, then a junior senator from Illinois, in the White House.
What volunteering in a US election does offer is a walk-on part in a moment in history.
“I arrived on the Saturday, and I was put to work on the Sunday and I worked seven days a week for three weeks, often ending at 10pm,” the staffer recalled.
“There might be a beer after work but that was about it. There was some suspicion in what were predominantly black neighbourhoods of a white man with a clipboard knocking on doors – and then they heard the English accent.
“The response was generally: ‘What do you want?’ But as soon as you said you were from the Obama campaign, the doors opened: ‘Come on in.’ And that was special.”
A post last week on LinkedIn by Sofia Patel, Labour’s head of operations, has started a peculiar row over a longstanding practice of British and American politicos: lending their support to sister parties across the Atlantic.
“I have nearly 100 Labour party staff (current and former) going to the US in the next few weeks heading to North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia,” Patel wrote. “I have 10 spots available for anyone available to head to the battleground state of North Carolina – we will sort your housing. Email me on labourforkamala@gmail.com if you’re interested.”
The message may seem innocuous enough, but with the US presidential race too close to call and with less than three weeks to go, no potential wedge issue is being wasted, and the suggestion of foreign interference has some power to change minds in American politics.
Under Federal Election Commission rules, foreign volunteers on US campaigns are permissible as long as they are not compensated for their work, and in Patel’s message the Trump campaign detected evidence of such remuneration in the form of sponsored accommodation.
The campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission in Washington seeking an immediate investigation into alleged “blatant foreign interference”.
“When representatives of the British government previously sought to go door-to-door in America, it did not end well for them,” the Trump presidential campaign’s deputy general counsel declared, in an apparent reference to the war of independence.
Thrown into the complaint for good measure was that a number of senior Labour party staff – namely, Morgan McSweeney, the prime minister’s chief of staff, and Matthew Doyle, Downing Street director of communications – also attended the Democratic convention in Chicago and met Kamala Harris’s campaign team.
The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, was moved to deny meddling in the US presidential election as he flew to the Commonwealth heads of government summit in Samoa in the South Pacific.
“The Labour party has volunteers; [they] have gone over pretty much every election,” he said. “They’re doing it in their spare time. They’re doing it as volunteers. They’re staying I think with other volunteers over there.”
Lord Wood of Anfield, a former No 10 adviser to Gordon Brown, said such arrangements were not unusual and that he had facilitated volunteering himself.
He said: “Labour people, staffers and others, have been going over to volunteer for the Dems – which is our sister party after all – as long as I have been involved with Labour. Always using their own money, though often asking people like me for contacts.”
It is understood that officials in organisations such as Labour Students and Democrats Abroad, a group that has assisted US citizens in the UK to take part in elections at home, have also in the past organised for British volunteers to help out in swing states.
The moment of maximum cooperation was perhaps during the era of Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, when the “third way” in western politics was in the ascendancy and mutually supportive thinktanks made the connections. But such cooperation is certainly not unknown on the right of politics.
“There were lots of Tories over helping the John McCain presidential campaign,” recalled the Labour staffer of the 2008 election. In 2015, a team organised by the US Young Republicans International Committee, a movement for those aged 18-40, helped out in the marginal seat of Enfield North, and the constituency of Aylesbury, where the Conservatives were being challenged by the UK Independence party.
Then there are those who cross party lines. Simon Burns, a Conservative MP between 1987 and 2017, worked on his gap year in 1972 for George McGovern’s presidential campaign against Richard Nixon. He went on to help secure the elections to the Senate and Congress of Ted and Joe Kennedy, respectively, and he campaigned for Hillary Clinton in 2016.
John Healey, the British defence secretary, suggested the Trump campaign had created a synthetic row. “This is in the middle of an election campaign, that’s the way that politics works,” he said.
But this is not the first time this issue has blown up. In 2018, the Bernie Sanders campaign agreed to pay a $14,500 fine (£11,190) to the FEC after the agency ruled that his 2016 presidential campaign had accepted an illegal contribution from the Australian Labor party.
The FEC found against Sanders on the basis that the Australian volunteers had received a stipend from the Labor party and had their flights paid for. There is no suggestion that anything like that happened in this case – but the row continues.
“The flailing Harris-Walz campaign is seeking foreign influence to boost its radical message – because they know they can’t win the American people,” said Susie Wiles, co-manager of the Trump-Vance campaign. “President Trump will return strength to the White House and put America, and our people, first.”
Opinion
Labour activists are right to campaign for Harris
Will Cooling
Wed 23 October 2024
CITY AM
Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks on stage during the final day of the Democratic National Convention (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
It’s easy to laugh at try-hard Labour staffers wanting to get involved in US politics by campaigning for Kamala Harris, but what happens in America matters to us all, says Will Cooling
We’ve all experienced the horror of returning from holiday to a massive backlog of work emails and urgent tasks, but few have experienced what dozens of Labour staffers and volunteers are going through. Their planned trip to America to help their ideological bedfellows defeat Donald Trump has managed to get both Kamala Harris’s Presidential Campaign and the Labour Party here in Britain, sued.
It’s worth being clear that this is both real and silly. There really are laws that prevent foreigners from getting too involved in American elections, with those outside the states not just unable to donate money to the campaigns, but unable to act as paid staff on a campaign. The workaround is that foreigners who come to help American candidates do it on a voluntary basis, either during a career break or annual leave. The pretext for the Trump campaign’s legal action was discussions on LinkedIn about accommodation for the volunteers being organised by Labour’s Head of Operations, Sofia Patel. The Trump campaign claims this implies illegal payment whereas Labour are adamant this simply referred to volunteers getting to stay with local Democrats. All precedent suggests the Labour Party have done nothing wrong.
It is easy to dismiss this as a bit of election season rabble rousing on behalf of the Trump campaign. Or indeed roll your eyes at Labour staffers and everyone in the British media who has jumped on the story for being more than a bit naff in their desperation to be part of the big story. But the reality is that what happens in America matters – and it’s perfectly natural that politically engaged people the world over would like to get involved.
Anglophobia
It is of course deeply concerning for Britain that Trump’s instinctive response was to openly attack our government. Not only does the lawsuit contain broadsides against key officials in Sir Keir Starmer’s government, it attacks the ideology of the Labour Party and mocks the way the Harris campaign has utilised some of his election slogans. It also indulges in some unusually blatant Anglophobia, comparing the election volunteers to the King George III’s troops in their war of independence. It certainly suggests that for all Starmer and David Lammy’s attempts to build bridges, Trump will think nothing of throwing them and the rest of Britain overboard, for partisan advantage.
For all Starmer and David Lammy’s attempts to build bridges, Trump will think nothing of throwing them and the rest of Britain overboard, for partisan advantage
But beyond the American Presidency’s impact on Britain, it’s worth thinking about our American friends and family whose lives could be profoundly altered for the worse by a second Trump Presidency. Many of us belong to communities or believe in causes that depend on American liberalism for global leadership – leadership that has been in short supply as it’s been forced on the defensive by MAGA. We all rely on the US military to keep the peace and can see the inhumanity that is unleashed when it is unable or unwilling to do so. Yes, it is the American people’s decision who they should have as President, but it is not they alone that live with the consequences of that decision. It is empowering the worst of their politics to indulge the idea that foreigners cannot offer limited support to their ideological allies, and risks isolating the best.
So laugh at the try-hard Labour staffers and activists as they board their flights to the States, if you really must. But they’re the ones who will get to tell their grandkids that they did their bit to try to stop the election of a man condemned by his own former chief of staff as a fascist. What did you do?
Will Cooling writes about politics and pop culture at It Could be Said Substack
Angela Rayner issues defiant response to Trump’s Labour election interference claim
Lucy Leeson
Wed 23 October 2024
Angela Rayner issued a defiant response after Donald Trump’s campaign accused the Labour Party of interfering in the US election.
Responding to the claim on Wednesday (23 October), the deputy prime minister said political staff campaigning in the US ahead of the upcoming presidential election is something that happens within all parties.
Ms Rayner’s response came after the leader of the Scottish National Party, Stephen Flynn, asked her to join him in applauding the “brave Labour staff members who travelled across the Atlantic to campaign against Trump”.
She said: “People in their own time often go and campaign, and that’s what we’ve seen.
“It happens in all political parties, people go and campaign and they do what they want to do with their own time, with their own money.”
Farage Slams Labour For 'Interference' In US Election While Excusing His Own Campaigning For Trump
Kate Nicholson
Wed 23 October 2024
Nigel Farage excused his own campaigning for Donald Trump today when he slammed Labour activists for supporting Kamala Harris in the US.
A diplomatic row has broken out after the Republican nominee’s team filed a legal complaint accusing the UK party of “interfering” in the upcoming presidential election.
Labour says no rules have been broken and that activists campaigning there are doing so as volunteers, not in a party capacity.
But critics in the UK have not been so forgiving even if they’ve regularly endorsed a presidential candidate themselves.
“The rules are very clear,” The Reform UK party leader, MP for Clacton and close friend of Farage, told ITV News on Wednesday.
“Foreign nationals can go to America, can campaign, speak, give opinions, that’s all within the rules – but not if they’re being provided money to do it.
“They have to do it off their own back.”
Asked how that was different from his own appearances at Trump rallies, he said: “I wasn’t part of the British government. I didn’t go on behalf of the political party.
“I went in the wake of Brexit, and when I actually spoke in 2016 on the stage, I said to the audience in Mississippi, ‘I’m here but I can’t tell you who to vote for’.
“America is our most important ally in terms of military intelligence, strategic operations, in terms of being the backbone of Nato.
“This is a – politically – very, very, stupid thing to have done.”
According to the Mirror, Farage used £33,000 of UK donor cash to travel to the US after he was elected in July.
But, when Labour minister Chris Bryant asked the Reform leader about these reports on BBC’s Politics Live, Farage said: “You get things very often wrong when it comes to me and money, so be careful on that.
“I went last minute in a purely personal capacity to offer my support after the assassination [attempt].”
He added that he did not pay for his own flight, but supposedly “hopped” on somebody else’s plane who gave him a free lift which he declared.
Farage said: “I didn’t campaign at all actually, I went purely in a personal capacity as a friend of the family.”
Nigel Farage weighs in on US election 'interference' claims
ITN
Wed 23 October 2024
Nigel Farage has responded to the allegations of election interference made by Republican candidate Donald Trump against the Labour party. The former president's campaign accused Labour of “blatant foreign interference” after volunteers travelled to the US to help campaign for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. The Reform UK leader said: "What was very clear from the advert that went out from the Labour party - there was no mention of paying your own way in terms of air fares and it was explicit that accommodation would be free." Mr Farage added that "there was little doubt that the Democrats were in breach of the law." .
'Nobody In America Gives A S**t': Trump Slammed Over Labour 'Election Interference' Claim
Kevin Schofield
Wed 23 October 2024
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump dances at a campaign rally at Greensboro Coliseum on Tuesday. via Associated Press
Donald Trump’s claim that Labour is guilty of “blatant foreign interference” in the presidential election has been virtually ignored in America, it has emerged.
One senior US-based journalist claimed “nobody gives a shit” about the complaint his campaign team lodged on Tuesday night.
In it, they accused Labour of recruiting activists to send across the Atlantic to campaign for Trump’s Democrat rival, Kamala Harris.
The Republican nominee’s team also pointed out that Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, and his director of communications, Matthew Doyle, “attended a convention in Chicago and met with Ms Harris’s campaign team”.
The complaint to the US Federal Election Commission stems from a now-deleted LinkedIn post by Labour’s head of operations Sofia Patel, which claimed almost 100 current and former party officials were heading to campaign for the Democrats in battleground states.
Speaking to reporters on his way to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHoGM) in Samoa, the prime minister insisted the row would not derail the UK’s relationship with the White House if Trump becomes president again.
He said: “I spent time in New York with President Trump, had dinner with him and my purpose in doing that was to make sure that between the two of us, we established a good relationship, which we did, and we’re grateful for him for making the time.
“We had a good, constructive discussion, and, of course as prime minster of the United Kingdom I will work with whoever the American people return as their president in their elections which are very close now.”
Starmer also insisted that UK political activists travelling to America to campaign in presidential elections is nothing new.
He added: ”“Of course as prime minister of the United Kingdom, I will work with whoever the American people return as their president in the elections that are very close now.”
Daniel Knowles, Midwest correspondent at the highly-respected Economist magazine, insisted the story had barely registered in the US.
Writing on Bluesky, he said: “Sorry but nobody in America gives a shit about a few Labour activists door-knocking or whatever. The Trump complaint is entirely cynical, and one of dozens of random speculative press releases I was sent yesterday. I’m not surprised British media is as ever just fucking delighted for a local angle.
“The story here isn’t ‘is door knocking actually an illegal contribution’ etc. The legitimate UK angle to cover is, ‘Donald Trump will pick massive fights with the British government over nothing if it wins him a nice headline’. Which we know, from his conduct in office.”
Sorry but nobody in America gives a shit about a few Labour activists door-knocking or whatever. The Trump complaint is entirely cynical, and one of dozens of random speculative press releases I was sent yesterday. I'm not surprised British media is as ever just fucking delighted for a local angle
— Daniel Knowles (@dlknowles.bsky.social) October 23, 2024 at 12:17 PM
Shadow Scottish secretary John Lamont described the controversy as “a diplomatic car crash by this Labour government”.
He said: “There’s now somebody who could potentially be the next president of the United States who’s lodged an official complaint with the American authorities about the Labour party, the Labour government, and their involvement in their election.
“If Donald Trump were to win for the election in a few weeks, how on earth is the prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, going to rebuild that relationship with one of the most important countries in the world, not least from a diplomatic perspective, but also from a trading perspective?”
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “It is common practice for campaigners of all political persuasions from around the world to volunteer in US elections.
“Where Labour activists take part, they do so at their own expense, in accordance with the laws and rules.”
Millie Cooke and David Maddox
Wed 23 October 2024
Donald Trump and Elon Musk have been accused of launching a “phoney war” on Sir Keir Starmer and Labour as an attention-grabbing exercise as the former president struggles in his bid to return to the White House.
Former Labour ministers are among the critics of the tech billionaire and ex-president, who appear to be laying the groundwork for a claim of cheating in the election if Mr Trump loses on 5 November.
But even sources close to the Trump camp have told The Independent the claims of interference being made against Labour are “not being taken seriously at all”, and they have warned it will lead to questions about Nigel Farage’s role as a Trump campaign cheerleader.
The row broke out as Mr Musk declared war on a campaign group linked to the heart of Sir Keir’s government.
Elon Musk and Donald Trump have claimed that Labour figures are breaking US election laws (AFP via Getty)
The tech billionaire accused the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), founded by Sir Keir’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, of “violating US criminal statutes against foreign interference in elections”.
Mr Musk said he and his team are “going after” the CCDH and their donors after a report from the Disinformation Chronicle newsletter claimed to have uncovered a strategy document from the group which included a plan to “Kill Musk’s Twitter”.
Mr Musk’s remarks come hours after the Trump-Vance campaign filed a legal complaint accusing the Labour Party of illegal foreign campaign donations after it emerged that scores of party activists had flown across the Atlantic to help campaign for Kamala Harris ahead of the presidential election next month.
But the double attack has been blasted on both sides of the Atlantic.
Responding to the Labour activists flying into the US to help the Harris campaign, one source close to the former president’s campaign said: “This is not taken seriously at all. It’s not illegal. The campaign is making noises just for the sake of it but no one really cares. Plus if they go after them on this they’ll have to go after Nigel Farage for the same thing.”
Starmer has denied allegations of election interference (PA Wire)
Former Labour cabinet minister Ben Bradshaw told The Independent: “This is a political stunt from the Trump campaign and I am amazed the UK media are taking it seriously. People across politics have always helped out in their sister party campaigns as volunteers. It’s a complete non-story.”
A Tory ex-foreign secretary described the whole row as “ridiculous” adding: “It is more about domestic US politics; accusing the Democrats of having to look for foreign support... ridiculous, but that is Trump.”
Former international development minister Lord George Foulkes described it as “a phoney war”.
He added: “It is a long tradition that members help sister parties and the Tories also do this. What is unusual is that party leaders like Nigel Farage get paid flights to the US in direct support of one candidate.”
Mr Trump also risks being accused of double standards. In 2016, his campaign team emailed British MPs asking for money. If any MPs had sent him cash it would have been deemed foreign election interference under the same law Mr Trump is using to complain about Labour.
In one of the 2016 emails, Mr Trump pledged to “personally match every dollar that comes in within the next 48 hours up to $2m. This means any donation you make between $1 and $2,700 will be matched, dollar-for-dollar.”
As the row caught light in the US, Mr Musk was also enraged about claims that the CCDH sought out meetings with Democratic senators in an attempt to lobby against his ownership of X.
Morgan McSweeney has been dragged into the row (Shutterstock)
The organisation was founded by Mr McSweeney, who was appointed as Sir Keir’s chief of staff earlier this month, but he hasn’t been involved since 2020.
In response to the news, the prime minister insisted that he has a “good relationship” with the former president and any members of his party were in the US on an entirely voluntary basis, similar to previous elections.
“That’s what they’ve done in previous elections, is what they’re doing in this election. And that’s really straightforward,” he told reporters as he travelled to Samoa for a meeting of Commonwealth leaders.
But the row has already seen a Labour Women’s Network event supporting Vice-President Harris apparently cancelled after it was due to be addressed by Scotland Office minister Kirsty McNeill.
Sources in the Trump-Vance campaign have already suggested that the intervention could be part of wider legal action if they lose to Ms Harris on 5 November.
One source at a right-wing think tank in Washington linked to the Trump campaign told The Independent: “It is an incredibly foolish move on the part of Labour, and hugely damaging to the special relationship.”
The Trump campaign complaint cited a Daily Telegraph report suggesting Mr McSweeney and Matthew Doyle, Sir Keir’s director of communications, “attended a convention in Chicago and met with Ms Harris’s campaign team”.
The complaint also cited a now-deleted LinkedIn post from Sofia Patel, head of operations at the Labour Party, who wrote that “nearly 100” current and former Labour Party staff would be travelling to the US to help elect Ms Harris.
Mr Trump’s lawyers argue such support amounts to “contributions” from foreign actors, in violation of US campaign finance laws.
However, there is no evidence that the Labour Party has made any financial contributions to the Democrat campaign. Previous campaigns have also seen Labour members go to help the Democrats in America and Tories help their sister party, the Republicans.
Pressed on whether any Labour help for the Harris-Walz campaign could jeopardise UK-US ties if Mr Trump wins, Sir Keir said: “No.”
Sir Keir met Mr Trump for the first time last month on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, where the pair shared a two-hour dinner.
Mr Musk, meanwhile, has been locked in a long-running feud with the CCDH, with the tech billionaire last year bringing a lawsuit against the campaign group, seeking to blame it for “tens of millions of dollars” in lost advertising revenue after the non-profit reported on hate speech and misinformation on X.
But the case was dismissed by a federal judge in March 2024, with a CCDH spokesperson saying: “CCDH’s research held up a mirror to Elon Musk’s increasingly toxic and ugly platform, and rather than do the right thing and tackle the hate and lies disfiguring X, Mr Musk chose instead to sue the mirror.”
The CCDH has campaigned for improvements to online safety as well as having previously criticised multiple social media sites including Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.
The CCDH has been contacted for comment.
Elon Musk declares ‘war’ over ‘Kill Twitter’ plan
Matthew Field
Wed 23 October 2024
The Tesla owner said he was ‘going after’ the Centre for Countering Digital Hate over an alleged plan to ‘Kill Musk’s Twitter’ - Alex Wong/Getty Images North America
Elon Musk has declared “war” on a Labour-linked online campaign group founded by Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff.
The billionaire owner of X, formerly Twitter, accused the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) of violating rules “against foreign interference in elections”. Mr Musk wrote on the social media network: “We are going after CCDH and their donors.”
The Tesla owner was responding to a report from the Disinformation Chronicle newsletter, which claimed this week to have uncovered a strategy document from the CCDH which included a plan to “Kill Musk’s Twitter”.
The reports allege that the CCDH had been seeking meetings with Democratic senators as it lobbied against Mr Musk’s running of X.
The CCDH was launched by Morgan McSweeney, who was appointed Downing Street’s chief of staff earlier this month after Sue Gray was ousted from the role. He has not been involved with the company since 2020. The group has campaigned for improvements to online safety and previously led criticism of multiple social media sites including Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.
Its chief executive is the former Labour strategist Imran Ahmed, who previously worked for the Labour MP Angela Eagle on her efforts to replace Jeremy Corbyn as the party’s leader in 2016. The group has also attracted support from Hollywood A-listers, such as the actor Mark Ruffalo, who urged fans to donate to the non-profit.
The CCDH has been locked in a long-running feud with Mr Musk, accusing him of failing to halt the spread of anti-Semitism and racist hate speech.
In August, the CCDH accused Mr Musk of allowing “viral disinformation” to thrive during the Southport riots and alleged the billionaire had “actively amplified hateful posts” to his 200m X followers.
Last year, the billionaire sued the campaign group, accusing it of “unlawfully” scraping data from the social media site and launching a “scare campaign” to drive away advertisers, demanding millions of dollars in damages.
Following the lawsuit, the CCDH called Mr Musk an “entitled billionaire who thinks he can bully his critics into silence”.
The case was later dismissed by a California judge, who accused Mr Musk of “punishing the defendants for their speech”.
He said the legal claims had been issued “perhaps in order to dissuade others who might wish to engage in such criticism”.
Mr Musk’s comments came as Labour was accused by Donald Trump of orchestrating “far-Left” interference in the US Presidential election in a lawsuit filed by the Republican candidate’s campaign. Mr Musk has become a vocal supporter of Mr Trump, donating $75m (£58m) to his campaign.
Labour has been accused by Donald Trump of orchestrating ‘far-Left’ interference in the US presidential election - Alex Brandon/AP
It followed plans by Labour activists to head to the US to campaign for Kamala Harris in crucial battleground states. Around 100 current and former Labour staff were said to be planning to travel ahead of November’s vote.
The Prime Minister has insisted their involvement is entirely voluntary and no different from previous elections, and the activists are said to be funding the travel by themselves.
A LinkedIn post from Labour’s head of operations said the activists would “show the Democrats how to win”. Mr Musk claimed their involvement was “illegal”.
Sofia Patel’s now deleted LinkedIn post
A CCDH spokesman said: “The Centre for Countering Digital Hate works to stop the spread of online hate and disinformation through innovative research and policy advocacy. We are not supported, advised, or financed by any political party or organisation.
“Our mission is to protect human rights and civil liberties online and we will continue to fight for changes to outdated legislation that continues to allow social media platforms to run rampant with dangerous disinformation that causes harm to children and people around the world.
“The Centre for Countering Digital Hate researches conspiracy theories, we do not engage with them.”
UK's Starmer plays down Trump team claims of interference
AFP
Wed 23 October 2024
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer says his party has done nothing wrong (Jaimi Joy) (Jaimi Joy/POOL/AFP)
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday played down allegations made by Donald Trump's team of "blatant foreign interference" by his Labour Party in the US election, saying it was normal for its volunteers to campaign.
Starmer also insisted that he maintained "a good relationship" with Trump, having met him for talks last month.
The former president's legal team filed a complaint to the US Federal Election Commission alleging the "British Labour Party made, and the (Kamala) Harris campaign accepted, illegal foreign national contributions".
The filing cited media reports that Labour officials, including the prime minister's new chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, travelled to the United States to advise the Harris campaign.
Trump's team also submitted a now-deleted LinkedIn post by Labour director of operations Sofia Patel calling for volunteers to travel to North Carolina, saying "we will sort out your housing".
Foreign nationals are allowed to volunteer in US elections but may not be compensated.
Starmer told media travelling with him to a Commonwealth meeting on the Pacific island of Samoa that his party had done nothing wrong, and that the volunteers had paid for themselves.
"The Labour party has volunteers, who have gone over pretty much every election," he said.
"They're doing it in their spare time, they're doing it as volunteers, they're staying, I think, with other volunteers over there.
"That's what they've done in previous elections, that's what they're doing in this election and that's really straightforward."
He also denied suggestions that it could damage relations with the UK's most important ally should Republican party candidate Trump beat Democrat Harris and secure a return to the White House.
Starmer said he had "established a good relationship" with the former president, having met him last month for a two-hour dinner at the former real estate tycoon's Trump Tower residence in New York.
Adding to the row, Trump surrogate Elon Musk wrote on his X site on Tuesday that "this is war" after leaked documents from campaign group Center for Countering Digital Hate appeared to show that one of its objectives was to "kill Musk's Twitter", X's former name.
The campaign group and think-tank is led by a former Labour adviser and McSweeney is a former director.
jwp/phz/jxb
Trump campaign accuses UK's Labour Party of election interference
Updated Wed 23 October 2024
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Trump visits Florida
By Kate Holton and Andrew MacAskill
LONDON (Reuters) -Donald Trump's campaign has accused British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour Party of "blatant foreign interference" in the U.S. presidential election after some volunteers travelled to help campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Republican candidate's camp has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission in Washington, calling for an investigation into what it termed apparently illegal contributions from Labour to the Harris campaign.
British political activists have long travelled to the U.S. ahead of elections, with those from the centre-left Labour Party typically supporting the Democrats, its sister party, and Conservatives and the right-wing Reform backing the Republicans.
Labour leader Starmer denied that the complaint would damage relations with Trump if the former president wins again on Nov. 5, saying Labour supporters were volunteering in their own time.
But the complaint is a potential complication as Trump is already close to Britain's right-wing politician Nigel Farage and former prime minister Boris Johnson, both of whom are critical of Starmer.
The British prime minister met Trump at Trump Tower in September in a bid to build a relationship ahead of the vote.
"I write on behalf of Donald J. Trump for President 2024, Inc. to request an immediate investigation into blatant foreign interference in the 2024 Presidential Election in the form of apparent illegal foreign national contributions," the complaint said.
British officials, who asked not to be named, told Reuters that some senior Labour advisers travelled to meet Democrat strategists in recent months, on the back of their landslide victory in the British election in July.
One topic they discussed was how Labour won back almost all the former industrialised areas that abandoned them in 2019.
Reform leader Farage, the right-wing politician who was instrumental in Britain's vote to leave the European Union, has also campaigned in the U.S. for Trump this year. Former British prime minister, Liz Truss, from the Conservative Party, also attended the Republican convention and denounced President Joe Biden as weak.
RULES ON FOREIGNERS
According to U.S. rules, foreigners can volunteer on election campaigns but cannot make financial contributions, and the allegations of interference will hinge on whether Labour covered any activists' costs.
The FEC previously fined the campaign of Bernie Sanders after Australia's Labour Party funded the flights and food of its volunteers to travel to the U.S. and support his campaign.
The Trump complaint cited media reports and a now deleted LinkedIn post from Sofia Patel, head of operations at Britain's Labour Party, who wrote that nearly 100 current and former Labour party staff would be travelling to the U.S. in the coming weeks to help elect Harris, a Democrat.
Patel's post had said she had 10 spots to fill in North Carolina, adding "we will sort your housing".
Labour said in a statement that any party members taking part would be doing so at their own expense. Volunteers were put up by other local supporters. Starmer said they were there in their spare time.
British political activists have a history of trying to be involved in U.S. politics.
A 2004 effort by the left-leaning Guardian newspaper to get Britons to write to American voters in Clark County, to urge them to vote against George Bush, appeared to backfire when it recorded a swing towards Bush.
Greg Swenson, the chairman of Republican Overseas UK, said while campaigners had always travelled from Britain to support the two main parties, he said Labour had drawn attention by talking about it so publicly.
"The issue here is it looks organised," he told Reuters. "It is really amazing that they have been so blatant about it."
Trump has also long engaged in rhetorical reversals, accusing his political rivals of engaging in the sort of behaviour that he has been criticised for.
He regularly describes Harris' replacement of President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket as a "coup," mirroring the way some critics described his supporters' Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol.
And in 2019 he called into a British radio show held by Farage ahead of an election, praising the then prime minister Johnson and criticising his rival, drawing accusations of electoral interference.
(writing by Kate Holton; additional reporting by Scott Malone. Editing by Michael Perry, Andrew Cawthorne, William Maclean and Sharon Singleton)
Donald Trump's campaign file complaint over Labour 'interference' in US election
Caitlin Doherty & Chris Slater
Tue 22 October 2024 at 4:07 pm GMT-6·2-min read
-Credit: (Image: Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
Donald Trump's presidential campaign has accused the Labour Party of 'interference' in the US election. The Republican nominee's team have filed an official complaint after reports of British party activists travelling to the States to campaign for his rival Kamala Harris.
A statement on DonaldJTrump.com on Tuesday night said: “The Trump-Vance Campaign has filed a Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint against the Harris-Walz Campaign and the Labour Party of the United Kingdom for illegal foreign campaign contributions and interference in our elections”.
The linked complaint addressed to the Federal Election Commission refers to reports by The Telegraph newspaper regarding people associated with Labour going to the US to campaign for Kamala Harris.
READ MORE: What could be announced in Autumn Budget 2024 - from state pension rise to tax changes
It claims that reporting “surrounding the relationship between the Harris campaign and the Labour Party create a reasonable inference that the Labour Party has made, and the Harris campaign has accepted, illegal foreign national contributions”.
The letter also refers to a report in the Washington Post which claims that advice has been offered between the Labour Party and Ms Harris’ campaign, and other reporting regarding meetings between senior Labour staff and the Democratic campaign.
The complaint also references a social media post, which now appears to have been deleted, in which a Labour staff member appeared to have said there were “nearly 100 Labour Party staff (current and former) going to the US in the next few weeks” to swing states.
It is understood that trips have been organised in a personal capacity and accommodation has been arranged by volunteers for the Democrats.
Sir Keir Starmer met with Mr Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, during a trip to New York last month. The Prime Minister visited Trump Tower for talks ahead of the US election, and said he wanted to meet Mr Trump face-to-face because “I’m a great believer in personal relationships on the world stage”.
The Labour Party has been approached for comment.
Read Trump campaign’s full complaint over Labour’s ‘foreign interference’ in US election
Athena Stavrou
Wed 23 October 2024
Prime minister Keir Starmer, left, and Donald Trump after assassination attempt, right (WPA Pool/Getty Images & Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has accused the “far-left” Labour Party of interfering in the US election in a six-page legal complaint to the Federal Election Commission.
The letter, addressed to the electoral commission’s acting general counsel, was published on the former US president’s website on Tuesday evening along with a statement from a campaign manager.
Both the letter and the website notice make parallels to the American Revolution, with the former president’s team stating “the British are coming!” and warning: “When representatives of the British government previously sought to go door-to-door in America, it did not end well for them.”
The letter also misspells Britain in the second sentence.
The complaint itself references reports in The Telegraph newspaper several times and cites a now-deleted LinkedIn post from a Labour staffer stating almost 100 staff were going to the US and offering to cover housing for ten others who may be able to join.
The complaint follows reports of senior Labour officials meeting with Kamala Harris’ campaign. Sir Keir Starmer has insisted his relationship with Trump is not in jeopardy, and when asked if it was a mistake for senior staffers to have met with the Harris campaign, he insisted that any members of his party were in the US on an entirely voluntary basis, similar to in previous elections.
Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has filed a six-page legal complaint to the Federal Election Commission (AP)
Here is the Trump campaign’s statement in full:
When representatives of the British government previously sought to go door-to-door in America, it did not end well for them. This past week marked the 243 anniversary of the surrender of British forces at the Battle of Yorktown, a military victory that ensured that the United States would be politically independent of Great Britian.
It appears that the Labour Party and the Harris for President campaign have forgotten the message. I write on behalf of Donald J. Trump for President 2024, Inc. to request an immediate investigation into blatant foreign interference in the 2024 Presidential Election in the form of apparent illegal foreign national contributions made by the Labour Party of the United Kingdom and accepted by Harris for President, the principal campaign committee of Vice President Kamala Harris.
I. Factual Background
The Washington Post reports, “[s]trategists linked to Britain’s Labour Party have been offering advice to Kamala Harris about how to earn back disaffected voters and run a winning campaign from the center left.”
The Telegraph adds more detail to these statements, reporting “Morgan McSweeney, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, and Matthew Doyle, director of communications, attended the convention in Chicago and met with Ms Harris’ campaign team” and “Deborah Mattinson, Sir Keir’s director of strategy, also went to Washington in September to brief Ms Harris’ presidential campaign on Labour’s election-winning approach.”
In the wake of these strategic meetings, the Harris campaign has been following in the footsteps of then-Senator Joseph Biden by generously borrowing language and themes from prominent Labour Party officials:
The Harris campaign appears to be mirroring much of Starmer’s language in its slogans and advertisements. The Labour Party attacked conservatives with slogans like “stop the chaos” and “turn the page” while Harris has used language like “we’re not going back” and “it’s time to turn the page.”
In addition, just this past week, Sofia Patel, the head of operations for the Labour Party, stated in a now-apparently-deleted post on LinkedIn:
[A screenshot in the complaint reads:] “I have nearly 100 Labour Party staff (current and former) going to the US in the next few weeks heading to North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia. I have 10 spots available for anyone available to head to the battleground state of North Carolina - we will sort your housing. Email me on labourforkamala@gmail.com if you’re interested. Thanks!”
The Telegraph reports that Ms. Patel further emailed Labour staff on August 2, 2024, and asked “if anyone would be willing to travel to the US to ‘help our friends across the pond elect their first female president’” and “[l]et’s show those Yanks how to win elections!” Ms. Patel further indicated “she plans to arrive in the U.S. two weeks prior to the election and stay in Washington, D.C., for a few days afterward.”
The Telegraph further reported, “Labour activists who want to help with the Harris campaign have been told they will need to pay for their own flights and car hire but that Democrat volunteers would provide accommodation” and that “[a]ny staff intending to travel are expected to book annual leave for the duration of their trip.”
II. Legal Background
As Justice Kavanaugh wrote while serving as a judge on the D.C. Circuit, “[T]he Supreme Court has drawn a fairly clear line: The government may exclude foreign citizens from activities ‘intimately related to the process of democratic self-government.’” Bluman v. Federal Election Commission, 800 F.Supp.2d 281, 287 (D.D.C. 2011) (Kavanaugh, J.).
Foreign nationals are prohibited from “directly or indirectly” making “a contribution or donation of money or other thing of value, or to make an express or implied promise to make a contribution or donation, in connection with a Federal, State, or local election” or an independent expenditure in support of a U.S. candidate. U.S. candidates may not “solicit, accept, or receive a contribution or donation.”
The term “foreign national” includes both individuals who are not citizens or lawful permanent residents of the United States and “foreign political parties.”
In addition, under Commission regulations “[a] foreign national shall not direct, dictate, control, or directly or indirectly participate in the decision-making process of any person, such as a corporation, labor organization, political committee, or political organization with regard to such person’s Federal or non-Federal election-related activities.”
While the Commission has previously determined that the volunteer exemption allows foreign nationals to volunteer in U.S. elections, they may not be compensated, foreign nationals may not make expenditures, and they may not direct or control activities of U.S. campaigns.
III. Analysis
There is sufficient evidence to support a reason to believe finding that the British Labour Party made, and the Harris campaign accepted, illegal foreign national contributions.
MUR 7035 (Australian Labor Party) is particularly illustrative. In that matter, the Australian Labor Party (“ALP”) established an international program to send delegates to “engage with progressive, social democratic, and Labor parties.” The ALP then contacted Bernie 2016 (“Bernie”), the principal campaign committee for then-Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders, who agreed to accept several “delegates to be placed with the campaign.” ALP paid for “delegates” flights and a daily stipend. “ALP delegates engaged in hands-on activity while placed with the Committee, including encouraging voter attendance at campaign events, recruiting volunteers, canvassing with volunteers, and planning events,” which the Commission determined constituted campaign services to Bernie. Based on these facts, the Commission determined that ALP and Bernie violated the foreign national prohibition and assessed each a civil penalty of $14,500.
The British Labour Party appears to be following the same model as the ALP. Ms. Patel is the head of operations, and her LinkedIn posts indicate that she is speaking as a representative of the party.
The language of her post supports a reasonable inference that the Labour Party will finance at least travel and facilitate room and board. To wit, Ms. Patel states, “we [presumably, the Labour Party] will sort your housing.”
Ms. Patel also states that she “ha[s] 10 spots available.” The limited number of “spots” supports a reasonable inference that the Labour Party is financially supporting this effort. After all, if individuals were being asked to volunteer on their own and sort out their own housing, there would be no reason to cap the number of remaining “spots.” The 10 spot number suggests scarcity, which in turn suggests an expenditure of resources.
Press reports further support a reasonable inference that the Harris campaign is aware of these efforts, and thus has accepted a prohibited foreign national contribution. As the Washington Post story indicates, there are close ties between the Harris campaign and the Labour Party. It strains credulity that the Labour Party would deploy 100 people to assist the Harris campaign without the campaign’s knowledge.
It is true that the Telegraph article suggests “Labour activists” are “volunteers,” responsible for their own travel and board. However, the Telegraph article draws a distinction between “Labour activists” and “staff,” creating ambiguity as to whether these conditions also apply to paid staff. In addition, these claims are unattributed in the Telegraph article, while LinkedIn posts and emails supporting a contrary inference are attributed to Ms. Patel. Anonymous, self-serving statements do not overcome the reasonable inference from the clear public record that an investigation is necessary and appropriate.
Moreover, even if the individuals traveling to the United States were “volunteers,” the Labour Party appears to be using party resources, including paid staff time, to coordinate their travel.
Next, there is reason to believe that foreign nationals are exercising direction and control over elements of the Harris campaign. The Washington Post story suggests that Labour Party officials are closely advising the Harris campaign. The similarity in messaging between the Harris campaign and the Labour Party supports a reasonable inference that this advice is influencing campaign messaging and resource allocation.
IV. Conclusion
Those searching for foreign interference in our elections need to look no further than Ms. Patel’s LinkedIn post. The interference is occurring in plain sight.
Ms. Patel’s posts and press reporting surrounding the relationship between the Harris campaign and the Labour Party create a reasonable inference that the Labour Party has made, and the Harris campaign has accepted, illegal foreign national contributions.
To protect our democracy from illegal foreign influence, it is imperative that the Federal Election Commission open a MUR, find reason to believe, and investigate this matter immediately.
Keir Starmer Plays Down Donald Trump's Accusations Of Labour Interference In US Election
Kate Nicholson
Wed 23 October 2024
Donald Trump's campaign has slammed Keir Starmer AP
Prime minister Keir Starmer has downplayed a surprise attack from Donald Trump’s election campaign of “blatant foreign interference”.
The Republican nominee filed a legal complaint against Labour overnight after party officials flew to US swing states to voluntarily campaign for the Democrats’ Kamala Harris, Trump’s rival.
The Trump campaign sent a letter to the US Federal Election Commission overnight and said this contact between the “far-left” Labour Party and the Democrats was akin to “illegal foreign national contributions”.
The team added: “In recent weeks, they have recruited and sent party members to campaign for Kamala in critical battleground states, attempting to influence our election.”
The ex-president’s team said that Starmer’s party had “inspired Kamala’s dangerously liberal policies and rhetoric”.
But the UK prime minister has insisted that the individuals at the centre of this row were volunteers, rather than representing the Labour Party.
Speaking to reporters travelling with him to the Commonwealth summit in Samoa, he said: “The Labour party.... volunteers, have gone over pretty much every election.
“They’re doing it in their spare time, they’re doing it as volunteers, they’re staying I think with other volunteers over there.
“That’s what they’ve done in previous elections, that’s what they’re doing in this election and that’s really straightforward.”
Pressed over whether this will jeopardising his relationship with Trump, Starmer said: “No. I spent time in New York with President Trump, had dinner with him and my purpose in doing that was to make sure that between the two of us, we established a good relationship, which we did, and we’re grateful for him for making the time.
“We had a good, constructive discussion, and, of course as prime minster of the United Kingdom I will work with whoever the American people return as their president in their elections which are very close now.”
The US electorate will hit the ballot box on November 5. Harris and Trump are currently neck-and-neck in most polls.
The Republican nominee’s team also cited a report from the Telegraph which claimed Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney and his director of communications, Matthew Doyle, “attended a convention in Chicago and met with Ms Harris’s campaign team”.
Trump’s campaign said: “When representatives of the British government previously sought to go door-to-door in America, it did not end well for them.
“This past week marked the 243 anniversary of the surrender of British forces at the Battle of Yorktown, a military victory that ensured that the United States would be politically independent of Great Britian [sic].
“It appears that the Labour party and the Harris for President campaign have forgotten the message.”
This row stems from a now-deleted LinkedIn post by Labour’s head of operations Sofia Patel, which claims almost 100 current and former party officials were heading to the US to campaign for the Democrats in battleground states.
It adds: “We will sort your housing.”
But environment secretary Steve Reed told Times Radio that Labour has not organised any accommodation for those campaigning for Harris, adding: “They are private individuals, choosing to spend their time and money as they like.”
He insisted that it was “perfectly normal” for people to campaign in different countries.
There is no evidence that Labour has donated to Harris’s campaign.
Trump campaign files complaint against Labour for election ‘interference’
Caitlin Doherty, Deputy Political Editor
Tue 22 October 2024
Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has filed a complaint against the Labour Party for what it claims is “interference” in the US election.
The complaint to the Federal Election Commission in the United States is against Labour and Kamala Harris’ US election campaign for “making and accepting illegal foreign national contributions”.
It refers to reporting regarding meetings between Labour officials and the Harris campaign and people connected to Labour going to the US to volunteer for the Democrat campaign.
A statement on DonaldJTrump.com on Tuesday night claimed that “far-left” Labour has “inspired Kamala’s dangerously liberal policies and rhetoric”.
The statement said that “The Trump-Vance Campaign has filed a Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint against the Harris-Walz Campaign and the Labour Party of the United Kingdom for illegal foreign campaign contributions and interference in our elections”.
The linked complaint addressed to the Federal Election Commission refers to reports by The Telegraph newspaper with regards to people associated with Labour going to the US to campaign for Kamala Harris.
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
It claims that reporting “surrounding the relationship between the Harris campaign and the Labour Party create[s] a reasonable inference that the Labour Party has made, and the Harris campaign has accepted, illegal foreign national contributions”.
The letter also refers to a report in the Washington Post which claims that advice has been offered between Labour Party strategists and Ms Harris’ campaign, and other reporting regarding meetings between senior Labour staff and the Democratic campaign.
Those referenced in the letter include Matthew Doyle, the director of communications, and Morgan McSweeney, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff.
The complaint also references a social media post, which now seems to have been deleted, in which a Labour staff member appeared to have said there were “nearly 100 Labour Party staff (current and former) going to the US in the next few weeks” to swing states.
The letter refers to a “volunteer exemption” in US elections which means foreign nationals can volunteer, but the letter states “they may not be compensated, foreign nationals may not make expenditures, and they may not direct or control activities of US campaigns”.
It is understood that volunteer trips have been organised in a personal capacity and accommodation has been arranged by volunteers for the Democrats.
Volunteers are understood to have gone to the US in their own time.
Sir Keir Starmer met with Mr Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, during a trip to New York last month.
The Prime Minister visited Trump Tower for talks ahead of the US election, and said he wanted to meet Mr Trump face-to-face because “I’m a great believer in personal relationships on the world stage”.
The Labour Party has been approached for comment.
Trump makes legal complaint over Labour’s ‘blatant foreign interference’ in US election
Rozina Sabur
Tue 22 October 2024
Donald Trump at a campaign rally on Tuesday - ERIK S LESSER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Donald Trump’s campaign has accused the Labour Party and Kamala Harris of election interference in a federal complaint.
The former president’s team said it had filed a formal complaint to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the agency that oversees election laws, accusing Labour of making “illegal foreign campaign contributions and interference in our elections”.
In a release announcing the complaint, the Trump campaign accused Labour of being a “far-Left” party that had “inspired Kamala’s dangerously liberal policies and rhetoric”.
Susie Wiles, Trump’s campaign manager, said: “In two weeks, Americans will once again reject the oppression of big government that we rejected in 1776.
“The flailing Harris-Walz campaign is seeking foreign influence to boost its radical message – because they know they can’t win the American people.
“President Trump will return strength to the White House and put America, and our people, first. The Harris campaign’s acceptance and use of this illegal foreign assistance is just another feeble attempt in a long line of anti-American election interference.”
Starmer: ‘They’re doing it in their spare time’
It comes after Labour Party staff organised a trip last week for almost 100 activists to campaign for Ms Harris in several critical battleground states.
Asked if this was a mistake, Sir Keir Starmer insisted any members of his party were in the US on an entirely voluntary basis, similar to previous elections.
On a plane to Samoa for a meeting of Commonwealth leaders, the Prime Minister told reporters: “The Labour Party has volunteers, they have gone over pretty much every election.
“They’re doing it in their spare time, they’re doing it as volunteers, they’re staying I think with other volunteers over there.
“That’s what they’ve done in previous elections, that’s what they’re doing in this election and that’s really straightforward.”
Sir Keir also denied the row would damage relations with Mr Trump, who has inched ahead in the race for the White House.
He said: “I spent time in New York with President Trump, had dinner with him, and my purpose in doing that was to make sure that between the two of us we established a good relationship, which we did.
“We’re grateful to him for making the time for that dinner. We had a good, constructive discussion.
“Of course, as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom I will work with whoever the American people return as their president in their elections which are very close now.”
Activists to target battleground states
Over the next two weeks leading up to the presidential election, the Labour activists will target Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia, which are all seen as crucial to Ms Harris’s path to the White House.
It is understood the activists are funding travel by themselves.
The news was shared in a now-deleted LinkedIn post by Sofia Patel, the head of Labour’s operations.
Ahead of lodging their complaint with the FEC, Republicans branded the plan an “outrage” and warned it would damage the UK’s relationship with the US should Donald Trump win the presidency.
Speaking on British current affairs television programme Victoria Derbyshire, Richard Grenell, former US acting director of national intelligence and former ambassador to Germany under Trump said: “We don’t want to have any foreign interference in our elections... so I think this is a pretty open and shut case: don’t interfere in the American elections and you won’t be sued.”
The FEC conducts its reviews on a case-by-case basis. If it finds that a violation has occurred, responses vary from a written warning to a fine, according to its website.
In July, the Trump campaign lodged an official complaint over money raised for Joe Biden’s re-election run being transferred to Ms Harris’s campaign, but this latest move appears to be the first time a complaint of this nature has been made about a UK political party.
However, in the 1990s Sir John Major apologised to Bill Clinton after the Home Office checked to see if the then-president had applied for UK citizenship while at Oxford University in order to dodge the Vietnam war draft, according to a letter by the former prime minister reported in the Washington Post.
In 2004, Sir Tony Blair was accused by British politicians of trying to help George W Bush’s re-election effort by moving British troops closer to Baghdad. At the time Mr Bush was under pressure to counter claims that only US soldiers were suffering high casualties in Iraq.
In 2018, Bernie Sanders’s campaign was fined $14,500 after the Federal Election Commission found it had accepted an illegal contribution from the Australian Labor Party.
If any of the complaints are pursued by the FEC, it is unlikely any action will be taken until after Nov 5, experts said.
In the letter of complaint to the FEC, Gary Lawkowski, a Trump campaign lawyer, accused Labour of “blatant foreign interference in the 2024 presidential election”.
He wrote: “When representatives of the British government previously sought to go door-to-door in America, it did not end well for them.
“This past week marked the 243 anniversary of the surrender of British forces at the Battle of Yorktown, a military victory that ensured that the United States would be politically independent of Great Britain.
“It appears that the Labour Party and the Harris for President campaign have forgotten the message.”
He concluded: “Those searching for foreign interference in our elections need to look no further than Ms Patel’s LinkedIn post. The interference is occurring in plain sight.
“Ms Patel’s posts and press reporting surrounding the relationship between the Harris campaign and the Labour Party create a reasonable inference that the Labour Party has made, andthe Harris campaign has accepted, illegal foreign national contributions.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the GOP congresswoman and a top Trump ally, said that “foreign nationals are not allowed to be involved in any way in US elections”.
Elon Musk, the Tesla mogul who has endorsed Trump, said: “This is illegal.”
In response, a Labour official told Politico: “It says a lot about the current level of political discourse on both sides of the Atlantic that an innocuous LinkedIn post from a party staffer has turned into a diplomatic event.”
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