UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has downplayed accusations from Donald Trump's campaign, which claimed that the UK Labour Party engaged in "blatant foreign interference" in the U.S. election by sending volunteers to campaign for Kamala Harris, Trump's Democratic opponent.
The Trump campaign filed a legal complaint with the U.S. Federal Election Commission, arguing that Labour’s involvement could be seen as equivalent to illegal foreign contributions.
Starmer responded by clarifying that the individuals in question were volunteers acting in a personal capacity and not on behalf of the Labour Party. He emphasized that this kind of volunteer campaigning in U.S. elections has occurred in previous years.
Starmer also denied any harm to his relationship with Trump, noting that they had met in New York and had a constructive discussion, and reaffirmed his intention to work with whoever is elected as the next U.S. president.
The Trump campaign referenced reports suggesting that senior Labour officials, including Starmer's chief of staff Morgan McSweeney and director of communications Matthew Doyle, had met with Harris’s team, further fueling accusations of political interference.
They also pointed to a now-deleted LinkedIn post by Labour’s head of operations, Sofia Patel, which mentioned sending nearly 100 Labour officials to volunteer for Harris’s campaign.
Starmer and his party have maintained that the volunteers' activities were personal and not part of any official Labour campaign, with Environment Secretary Steve Reed reinforcing that Labour had not organised accommodation for the volunteers and that the activities were legal and normal. There is no evidence that Labour donated to Harris’s campaign.
