TOI Correspondent from London: US Republicans have accused Britain of foreign interference in their elections after it emerged that 100 former and current Labour party members have gone to the US to campaign for Kamala Harris.
A LinkedIn post by Sofia Patel, head of operations at the Labour party, was widely circulated on Thursday. She wrote: “I have nearly 100 Labour Party staff (current and former) going to the US in the next few weeks heading to North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia.I have 10 spots available for anyone to head to the battleground state of North Carolina — we will sort your housing.” She then provided her email address as labourforkamala@gmail.com and asked people to email her if they are interested.
An earlier post by her, in Aug, stated: “I’m planning a trip for Labour party staff to help our friends across the pond elect their first female president. If you worked for the Labour party during the general election, have now left, but are interested, please drop me an email to my work address. I will be going for the final two weeks of the election. Let’s show the Democrats how to win election!”
Patel’s entire LinkedIn account has now been deleted.
TOI’s own enquiries have found the posts did exist and these Labour party staff have gone to the US to campaign for the Democratic nominee.
Republican politician Marjorie Taylor Greene said that Labour was breaking Federal Election Commission laws. “Foreign nationals are not allowed to be involved in anyway in US elections. Please go back to the UK and fix your own mass immigration problems that are ruining your country,” she wrote on X.
Leader of Reform UK Nigel Farage said: “This is direct election interference by the governing Labour Party, and particularly stupid if Trump wins. Who is paying for all of this?”
Former UK PM Liz Truss wrote on X: “President Trump is definitely going to win now”, whilst Elon Musk branded it as “illegal” and Conservative activist Robby Starbuck branded it as “foreign election interference”. “Now you know why they invented Russia collusion,” he said.
It is understood that the trips to the US are for individuals in a personal capacity, funded by themselves and on their own time. They are not organised or funded by the Labour party. The accommodation is being arranged by volunteers campaigning for the Democrats.
The Federal Election Commission directed TOI to its website, which states: “Although foreign nationals may not make contributions or expenditures in connection with any federal, state or local election, an individual who is a foreign national may participate in campaign activities as an uncompensated volunteer. In doing so, the volunteer must be careful not to participate in the decision-making process of the campaign.”
On Sept 29, Labour MP Ruth Cadbury posted a photo of herself on X campaigning in New Hampshire with the Harris-Walz team. She wrote: “I’ve taken myself to do my bit to stop Trump winning. Door-knocking yesterday with the #HarrisWalz team in (swing state) New Hampshire, along with State Senate candidate Wayne Haubner.” Sam Forster, who works in regional comms for Labour, posted a photo of himself holding Harris-Jacky Rosen flyers on 10 Oct and wrote: “What happens when two Labour staffers go on holiday to a swing state?”