DONALD Trump’s campaign has accused the Labour Party of "blatant foreign interference" in the US presidential election. This comes after Labour Party volunteers travelled to the United States to assist in Kamala Harris’s campaign.
A complaint has been filed with the Federal Election Commission in Washington, demanding an investigation into what the Trump campaign described as "apparent illegal foreign national contributions" by the Labour Party, which they say were accepted by the Harris campaign.
The complaint referred to media reports and a deleted LinkedIn post by Sofia Patel, Labour Party’s head of operations, who mentioned that “nearly 100” current and former Labour staff members would travel to the US to support Harris.
The Trump campaign stated in the complaint, "Those searching for foreign interference in our elections need to look no further than [the] LinkedIn post. The interference is occurring in plain sight."
Labour, which sees itself aligned with the US Democratic Party, won power in the UK in July. Keir Starmer has since attempted to build relations with Trump, meeting him in New York at Trump Tower in September.
Starmer, speaking to reporters during a flight to Samoa, said he did not expect the complaint to affect relations with Trump if he wins the US election. He noted that Labour volunteers had participated in previous US elections.
"They’re doing it in their spare time, they’re doing it as volunteers, they’re staying I think with other volunteers over there," Starmer said. "That’s what they’ve done in previous elections, that’s what they’re doing in this election, and that’s really straightforward."
(With inputs from Reuters)
