Donald Trump put his relationship with Sir Keir Starmer under strain last night after accusing the ‘far-left’ Labor Party of ‘blatant foreign interference’ in the US election.
Lawyers for the Republican presidential candidate have filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, accusing Labor of making “illegal foreign campaign contributions” that were “accepted” by Kamala Harris’ campaign.
The comments come weeks after Trump and Sir Keir held a two-hour dinner in New York, after which the former president said the prime minister was “very popular”.
Mr. Trump’s camp cited a now-deleted post on LinkedIn from Sofia Patel, Labor’s chief of operations, that said 100 current and former staffers would volunteer in battleground states such as North Carolina and Nevada.
The rules on foreigners participating in US elections are strict and state that they must volunteer and not receive any payment.
Donald Trump (pictured) last night strained his relationship with Sir Keir Starmer after accusing the ‘far-left’ Labor Party of ‘blatant foreign interference’ in the US election
Campaign co-manager Susie Wiles said the ‘far-left Labor Party has inspired Kamala’s dangerously liberal policies and rhetoric’
It also points to a report in the Washington Post suggesting that ‘strategists linked to the British Labor Party have given Kamala Harris advice on how to win back disaffected voters and run a winning campaign from the centre-left’.
The complaint also cited reports that Morgan McSweeney, the prime minister’s chief of staff, and Matthew Doyle, Downing Street’s communications director, met with Ms. Harris’ team at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last summer.
Mr Trump harks back to the US Declaration of Independence from British rule in 1776, saying Britain appears to have “forgotten” that the US wants to be free.
Aid from Labor could amount to an “illegal foreign national contribution,” wrote Gary Lawkowski, deputy general counsel for the Trump campaign.
That would be especially the case if “foreigners” were “exercising control” over Labor staffers, which could well be the case, the document said.
Campaign co-manager Susie Wiles said in a statement that Americans will “once again reject the oppression of big government we rejected in 1776,” another nod to America’s rejection of British rule.
She said, “The Harris campaign’s acceptance and use of this illegal foreign aid is just another feeble effort in a long line of anti-American election interference.”
In comments likely to embarrass Sir Keir, Ms Wiles added that the ‘far-left Labor Party has inspired Kamala’s dangerously liberal policies and rhetoric’.
The complaint also points to a report in the Washington Post suggesting that “strategists affiliated with the British Labor Party have given advice to Kamala Harris (pictured) on how to win back disaffected voters and run a winning campaign from the centre-left.”
She wrote: “In recent weeks they have recruited and sent party members to campaign for Kamala in critical battleground states in an attempt to influence our elections.”
Richard Grenell, former acting director of US National Intelligence and former ambassador to Germany under Trump, told Newsnight last night: ‘We don’t want to have any foreign interference in our elections… so I think this is a pretty open and shut situation . case: don’t interfere in the American elections and you won’t be charged.”
Trump himself has faced accusations of illegal foreign interference in his own campaigns.
In 2016, his critics said he colluded with Russia to win the election, but the investigation into the affair led to no criminal charges.
A recent book by legendary American journalist Bob Woodward claims that Trump has met Vladimir Putin at least 16 times since leaving office in 2021.
Elon Musk, the Tesla and X billionaire who has supported Trump, said: “This is illegal.”
There is no evidence that Labor made any financial contribution to the Democratic campaign.
Downing Street, Mr Doyle and Labor were contacted for comment.
A Labor 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 worker has turned into a diplomatic event.’