Trump accuses British Labor of election interference

The campaign of Donald Trump filed a complaint with the US Federal Election Commission (FEC) accusing the UK Labor Party of “blatant foreign interference” in the election. The complaint cites media reports about meetings between the Labor Party and the Harris campaign, as well as the engagement of Labor volunteers in the United States.

It all starts with a post on LinkedIn by Sofia Patel, head of operations at the Labor Party, in which she said that almost 100 current and former Labor staffers were going to the United States to campaign. In a statement anticipating the complaint, Trump’s campaign criticizes “the far-left Labor Party” for “inspiring Kamala’s dangerously liberal policies and rhetoric.” “When representatives of the British government previously tried to go door-to-door in America (a reference to the American Revolutionary War, ed.), it did not end well for them,” it said in a statement.

US law states that foreign citizens cannot be paid to take part in campaign activities, but the leader of the Labor Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, has specified that volunteers go to the United States of their own volition and in their free time, without being paid.

For members of the Labor Party to help Democrats in an election is nothing new. For decades they have traveled to America both to lend a hand and to pick up some tips. Democrats often return the favor. But, at the same time, there are often contacts between the British Conservative Party and the American Republicans. But now the Trump-Vance campaign complains that this type of activity amounts to “blatant election interference” and that volunteers coming to America create a “reasonable inference that the Labor Party has made, and the Harris campaign has accepted, foreign contributions illegal” violating the law that prohibits it.

Labor told the BBC that travel and car rental were paid for by volunteers and that accommodation was organized by other volunteers and not paid for by the party. Richard Grenell, who has been tipped as a possible secretary of state if Donald Trump wins the election, says it is a “clear and closed case” of interference.

According to Chris Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax Media and Trump ally, the accusation of interference from the Labor Party is more of a “perception issue than a legal one”, but Trump is “very fond” of Britain and “the relationship between the two countries it will remain strong even if there is political turbulence.”