The campaign of former United States President Donald Trump has filed a petition against the UK's Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, alleging "blatant foreign interference" in the U.S. presidential election. The accusations arose following reports that Labour volunteers traveled to the U.S. to support Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.
According to Reuters, Trump's campaign has lodged a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, calling for an investigation into what it termed "apparent illegal foreign national contributions" made by the Labour Party to Harris's campaign. The complaint highlights media reports and a now-deleted LinkedIn post by Sofia Patel, Labour’s head of operations, in which she stated that "nearly 100" current and former Labour staffers would be heading to the U.S. to assist in the election efforts for Harris.
The complaint asserts, “Those searching for foreign interference in our elections need to look no further than [the] LinkedIn post,” and claims that the interference is "occurring in plain sight."
In response, Prime Minister Starmer, who met with Trump in New York in September, stated during a flight to Samoa that he did not anticipate the complaint would adversely affect relations with Trump if he were to win the election on November 5. Starmer explained that Labour volunteers have historically supported U.S. elections and emphasized, “They’re doing it in their spare time, as volunteers, staying with other volunteers. It’s what they’ve done in previous elections and what they’re doing now — it’s straightforward