Labour volunteers helping Harris in US election – Starmer
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has sought to play down the significance of alleged interference by the Labour Party in the American presidential election.
The Trump Campaign has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission in Washington seeking an immediate investigation – after the Head of Operations for the Labour Party, Sofia Patel, posted on social media that she had “ten spots available” for anyone willing to travel to North Carolina to campaign for Kamala Harris, adding “we will sort your housing”.
She said she had around 100 current and former party staff heading to America before polling day.
The post, on LinkedIn, has since been deleted.
Foreign nationals are permitted to serve as volunteers on campaigns in the US as long as they are not compensated, according to Federal Election Commission rules.
The complaint from the Trump Campaign is both pointed and theatrical.
“When representatives of the British government previously sought to go door-to-door in America, it did not end well for them,” it read.
That is a matter-of-fact reference to US independence around 250 years ago.
On matters more contemporary it requests “an immediate investigation” into what it calls “blatant foreign interference”.
Speaking to reporters while flying to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit in Samoa in the south Pacific, the prime minister said: “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.”