LONDON — Evoking the Battle of Yorktown and misspelling the word “Britain,” former President Donald Trump's legal team issued a remarkable complaint against the United Kingdom’s ruling Labour Party late Tuesday, accusing it of “blatant foreign interference” in the U.S. election in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump’s team asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate after a senior Labour figure posted a rallying cry for current and former staffers to travel to battleground states and campaign for Harris ahead of the Nov. 5 vote.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Wednesday his party had done nothing wrong. Party members often travel to the U.S. ahead of elections to help out their Democratic bedfellows, he said, but he added that it was voluntary rather than party-led and therefore does not contravene American election law.
Nevertheless, if the FEC agrees with Trump — that Labour and Harris are guilty of flouting foreign interference rules — it could issue big fines.
Either way, if Trump wins next month, the filing paves the way for a deeply awkward start to the partnership with Britain’s Labour — which he described as “far left” despite the party's notably centrist shift in recent years. It would also appear to signal he has no plans to soften the bruising and norm-busting treatment he meted out to Washington’s closest allies during his first term.
“When representatives of the British government previously sought to go door-to-door in America, it did not end well for them,” Trump campaign lawyer Gary Lawkowski wrote. “This past week marked the 243 anniversary of the surrender of British forces at the Battle of Yorktown, a military victory that ensured that the United States would be politically independent of Great Britian [sic]. It appears that the Labour Party and the Harris for President campaign have forgotten the message.”
When Trump’s letter dropped, Starmer was on a 28-hour flight to the Pacific island of Samoa, where he will attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
He denied Labour had broken any laws, saying it has volunteers “who have gone over pretty much every election,” NBC News’ British partner, Sky News, which is on the plane, reported.
“They’re doing it in their spare time. They’re doing it as volunteers. They’re staying, I think, with other volunteers over there,” he said, adding that he had "established a good relationship" with Trump. “That’s what they’ve done in previous elections, that’s what they’re doing in this election, and that’s really straightforward.”
A Labour spokesperson reiterated in an email that it was "common practice for campaigners of all political persuasions from around the world to volunteer in U.S. elections." The spokesperson said that "where Labour activists take part, they do so at their own expense, in accordance with the laws and rules."
The crux of Trump's complaint is a now-deleted LinkedIn post in which Labour’s head of operations, Sofia Patel, said nearly 100 “Labour Party staff” were traveling to North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Nevada. There were 10 “spots” left in North Carolina, she posted, and “we will sort your housing.”
It’s that offer that Trump’s team says constitutes foreign interference — alleging the “we” refers to the Labour Party itself.
Foreign nationals are allowed to volunteer during election campaigns but must not participate in any decision-making process or incur expenses of more than $1,000 per candidate. Any British volunteer whose flights, accommodation and daily expenses exceed that amount could be in breach of the law.
Trump's legal letter also highlights that Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, and communications director, Matthew Doyle, traveled to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August. It is not uncommon or controversial for foreign political allies to travel to such summits, however.
Former Starmer advisers have briefed campaign staffers for Harris, who has also adopted some of the same slogans — “turn the page” and “end the chaos.”
Trump is no stranger to wading into other countries’ politics, including Britain’s. In 2019, he called populist hard-right lawmaker Nigel Farage’s radio show to praise Prime Minister Boris Johnson and lambaste his opponent, Jeremy Corbyn.
Washington’s friends are well used to Trump’s brusque style, but the letter could be a significant event in the trans-Atlantic relationship because it hints at how things might play out should Trump win.
President Joe Biden describes the U.K. as his “closest ally,” and British politicians are always eager to make the most of their “special relationship.” Starmer would never publicly bad-mouth the possible soon-to-be Leader of the Free World, but his center-left policies far more closely resemble those of Harris’ Democrats.
In 2016 the FEC fined the Australian Labor Party and the campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., after the ALP paid for its delegates to campaign for Sanders.
Help also goes the other way across the pond.
A year earlier, in 2015, Jim Messina and David Axelrod, both former aides to then-President Barack Obama, were hired as advisers by Britain's Conservative and Labour parties, respectively.
Messina's Conservatives came out on top.
CORRECTION (Oct. 23, 2024, 9:25 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated Bernie Sanders’ political affiliation. He is an independent, not a Democrat.
