The list of his opponents is growing as the elections approach. This week, American presidential candidate Donald Trump even went so far as to sow discord across the Atlantic. According to the billionaire, the British Labor Party (Labour) is guilty of “a long series of anti-American electoral interference”. An accusation which did not fail to provoke a reaction from the press of the countries concerned.
On October 16, Labor Party operations manager Sofia Patel fueled the billionaire’s anger by doing whatBritish conservative weekly The Spectator described as “irresponsible and alarming”: publishing a post on the social network LinkedIn, inviting party activists to campaign for Kamala Harris. “I have almost 100 Labor Party staff traveling to the United States in the coming weeks, to North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia. I have 10 places available for anyone wishing to attend. go to the swing state of North Carolina – we will take care of your accommodation,” she wrote on her since-deleted account. A deletion which, according to the American newspaper New York Post“does not remedy the wrongdoing”, adding that if “Labour is allegedly working to kill twitter […]they have similar plans for Trump’s White House hopefuls.”
An “exceptional” complaint
For the Republican camp, this message was the final blow, prompting the filing of an “extraordinary” complaint with the Federal Electoral Commission, according to the British daily The Guardian. In a letter accompanying the complaint, Donald Trump’s entourage “demands an immediate investigation into blatant foreign interference in the election in the form of apparent illegal foreign contributions made by the United Kingdom Labor Party, and accepted by the Kamala Harris campaign committee,” writes the media.
But according to the general British daily The Independent“there is no evidence that the Labor Party made any financial contribution to the Democratic campaign.” Additionally, “the Federal Election Commission […] states that foreigners […] may not participate in the decision-making process, but may participate in activities as volunteers.” Under federal law, a person may pay their own travel expenses related to the activities of a candidate or party and can spend up to $1,000 per candidate per election in a calendar year. The Spectatorthe present case is not volunteering but “an organized commando, sent by a political party in power, aiming to influence the result of a presidential election in a foreign country”.
In recent months, Labor sent Morgan McSweeney, the prime minister’s chief of staff, and Matthew Doyle, Downing Street communications director, to attend the Democratic Party’s national convention in Chicago and meet the Labor campaign team. Kamala Harris. “Deborah Mattinson, Keir Starmer’s director of strategy, also visited Washington in September to brief Kamala Harris on Labor’s approach to winning the election,” reveals The Telegraph.
“Incurring the wrath of Trump”
Actions that displeased the Republican candidate. “When British government officials previously sought to go door to door in America, it did not end well for them,” he said, referring to the American Revolution of 1776. complaint filed by the Republican camp was therefore highly predictable, according to theThe conservative American magazine Washington Examinerwhich headlined on October 17: “The Labor Party risks incurring the wrath of Trump by launching an ill-advised campaign for Harris.” And it’s done, since on October 22, THE New York Post mentioned Trump’s “go to war against the Labor party”.
And if there is one faculty that the billionaire does not have, it is knowing how to “dissociate his personal interests from the national interest”, regrets the Washington Examiner. British-American relations, although “essential to the economic and security well-being of the United Kingdom” could therefore be degraded. “The Labor government and Keir Starmer’s government have already developed a terrible reputation among many Americans as authoritarian socialists, and this will only enhance that already unpopular image on this side of the Atlantic,” testifies The Telegraph.
A risky bet
Although it is not common to see a foreign party send its team to campaign for an American presidential candidate, this October 16 is not a unique case. “In previous campaigns, members of the Labor Party went to help the Democrats in the United States and the conservatives supported the Republicans,” emphasizes The Independent. This support is all the more expected as Labor and Democrats are both part of the Progressive Alliance, a network of social-democratic and progressive parties founded in 2013 in Germany.
In 2004, The Guardian had asked its readers to write to Ohio voters. The objective: to persuade them to vote for John Kerry, Democratic candidate in the presidential election at the time, against Republican George W. Bush. An initiative which ultimately backfired on the Democrat, generating a tidal wave of Americans demanding that the British not interfere in the election. For the Washington Examiner“this last waltz risks having the same effect”.