Starmer rejects Trump’s ‘election interference’ accusations

Sir Keir Starmer has rejected Donald Trump’s complaint about Labor activists campaigning for Democrats in the US election and insists it will not endanger his relationship with the Republican presidential candidate.

The Trump campaign has filed a formal election interference complaint against Labor and Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign for “making and accepting illegal contributions from foreign nationals.”

The complaint centers on meetings between Labor officials and the Harris campaign and people linked to Starmer’s party traveling to the United States to volunteer for the Democratic campaign.

But the Prime Minister insisted it was a “simple” arrangement that had happened in the past, and suggested he had established “good” relations with Trump following ‘constructive discussion’ at a dinner in New York last month during the UN General Assembly.

Speaking to reporters on his way to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit in Samoa, Starmer said: “The Labor Party has volunteers and has participated in almost every election.

“They do it on their own time, they do it as volunteers, they stay, I think, with other volunteers there.

“That’s what they did in previous elections, that’s what they’re doing in this election and it’s very simple.”

Asked if it would jeopardize his relationship with President Trump if the Republican defeated Harris on November 5, Starmer said: “No. I spent time in New York with President Trump, I had dinner with him, and my goal in doing that was to make sure that between the two of us we established a good relationship, which we did, and we We are grateful to him for making the time to Florida for this dinner.

“We had a good and constructive discussion and, of course, as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom I will work with whoever the American people choose as president in their now very close election.”

A statement on DonaldJTrump.com Tuesday evening claimed that the “far-left” Labor Party had “inspired Kamala’s dangerously liberal policies and rhetoric.”

The statement said “the Trump-Vance campaign has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against the Harris-Walz campaign and the UK Labor Party for illegal foreign campaign contributions and interference in our elections.” .

The related complaint to the Federal Election Commission refers to reports from The Telegraph newspaper about people associated with the Labor Party traveling to the United States to campaign for Kamala Harris.

It asserts that reporting “on the relationship between the Harris campaign and the Labor Party creates a reasonable inference that the Labor Party made, and the Harris campaign accepted, illegal contributions from foreign nationals.”

The letter also references a Washington Post article that claims advice was offered between Labor strategists and Ms. Harris’s campaign, as well as other reports of meetings between Labor executives and the campaign. Democrat.

Among those mentioned in the letter are Matthew Doyle, No 10 communications director, and Morgan McSweeney, the prime minister’s chief of staff.

A No 10 source said McSweeney and Doyle visited the Democratic National Convention on their own in August and highlighted former Starmer pollster Deborah Mattinson, who reportedly met with Harris’ campaign team to share campaign councils after Labour’s election victory in July, was not working. for the government and had a contract which expired when the party left the opposition.

The complaint also refers to a social media post, which now appears to have been deleted, in which a Labor staffer appeared to have stated that “nearly 100 current and former Labor staffers would be traveling to the States -United in the coming weeks.” in swing states.

The letter refers to a “volunteer exemption” in the US election, meaning foreign nationals can volunteer, but the letter clarifies that “they cannot be compensated, foreign nationals cannot perform spending and they cannot direct or control the activities of American campaigns.

It is understood that volunteer trips were organized in their personal capacity and accommodation was arranged by volunteers for the Democrats.

It seems that the volunteers left for the United States at their own pace.