Opinion / Columnist
Britain's interference in the US presidential election will backfire badly
19 Oct 2024 at 20:22hrs | Views
Foreign interventions in elections or referenda rarely end well for the interventionists. In 2016, then US President Barack Obama foolishly lectured the British people on how they should vote in the upcoming referendum on EU membership, warning that they would be at the "back of the queue" for a trade deal with the United States if they dared vote to leave. Obama's arrogant comments likely had the effect of actively encouraging many Brexit supporters to thumb their noses at the then US president, and redouble their efforts to free Britain from the shackles of the EU. It was a spectacularly dumb move by the Remainer camp, which included the then prime minister David Cameron, who no doubt egged Mr Obama on.
I suspect that the revelation that nearly 100 former and current Labour Party staff members are travelling, or have already travelled, to the US to campaign for Kamala Harris in crucial swing states ahead of the November presidential election, including North Carolina and Pennsylvania, will badly backfire on both the Democrats and Labour.
As The Telegraph has reported, there has already been a strong backlash from US Republicans, who see this as a dangerous act of foreign interference in the presidential race. American voters value their sovereignty and self-determination when it comes to making up their minds at the ballot box, and will not take kindly to members of a foreign political party telling them how to cast their vote.
It is highly unusual to have the Head of Operations of a foreign political party, in this case Labour, mobilising dozens of staff to campaign for a candidate in the US presidential election. This is clearly direct foreign interference in an American election and should be firmly rejected and condemned.
I have already spoken with many Americans who are outraged over what Labour is doing, which they overwhelmingly view as incredibly risky and also fundamentally wrong. After all, the American people fought and won a war of independence from Great Britain nearly 250 years ago, and have become a superpower in their own right. They are now being told how to vote by a bunch of "progressive" Left-wing activists from the UK, under the auspices of Britain's hugely unpopular ruling party.
Labour and Keir Starmer's government have already developed a terrible reputation as authoritarian socialists among many Americans, and this will only enhance that already unpopular image on this side of the Atlantic. One only has to look at myriad posts on X (formerly Twitter) to see that a great deal of American people, including X's owner Elon Musk, already think the UK is devolving into a woke tyranny under Starmer, locking people up for their tweets while bowing to pro-Hamas Islamist extremists demonstrating on the streets of London.
This reckless political intervention in the US election by some of Starmer's own staff will hardly endear the new British PM to the American people, and will inevitably have implications for the US/UK Special Relationship if Kamala Harris does not end up in the White House.
It is highly doubtful that Donald Trump, if he returns as president, will take kindly to Starmer's people actively campaigning for his political opponent in an incredibly tight contest. It is bad enough that Britain's Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, has referred to Trump as "a neo-Nazi sympathizing sociopath", and that over half the Labour cabinet has attacked Trump in the past. The outlook for relations between a potential Trump presidency and Starmer's government was already looking grim before this latest news. It will be significantly worse now.
The Labour campaign to directly intervene on behalf of Kamala Harris is one of the most stupid and dim-witted political operations in modern British history, with far-reaching implications if the outcome on November 5 does not go the way Britain's Left hopes it will. It has the potential to seriously undermine relations with Britain's most important friend and ally in the world. It could also lead to significant Congressional scrutiny, with the potential for hearings on Capitol Hill and investigations into foreign influence operations.
There may also be mounting questions in Washington over the legality of what Labour is doing under US Federal Election Commission (FEC) rules. A constitutional lawyer spoken to by the Telegraph said that any activist who spends more than $1,000 on the trip could end up with a "substantial" fine by the FEC. This could well be a huge can of worms once it is opened.
This sorry episode is also a damning indictment of Keir Starmer's stunning lack of judgment. The fact that the Prime Minister is allowing this to happen less than three weeks before one of the most consequential elections in US presidential history is an illustration of just how short-sighted and amateurish Starmer is.
The PM should call his woke Labour provocateurs off America's front lawn before further damage is inflicted to Britain's image in the United States, and issue a public apology for the involvement of some of his own party's staff in a foreign election.
Nile Gardiner is a former aide to Margaret Thatcher, and is based in Washington, DC. He is writing in a personal capacity
I suspect that the revelation that nearly 100 former and current Labour Party staff members are travelling, or have already travelled, to the US to campaign for Kamala Harris in crucial swing states ahead of the November presidential election, including North Carolina and Pennsylvania, will badly backfire on both the Democrats and Labour.
As The Telegraph has reported, there has already been a strong backlash from US Republicans, who see this as a dangerous act of foreign interference in the presidential race. American voters value their sovereignty and self-determination when it comes to making up their minds at the ballot box, and will not take kindly to members of a foreign political party telling them how to cast their vote.
It is highly unusual to have the Head of Operations of a foreign political party, in this case Labour, mobilising dozens of staff to campaign for a candidate in the US presidential election. This is clearly direct foreign interference in an American election and should be firmly rejected and condemned.
I have already spoken with many Americans who are outraged over what Labour is doing, which they overwhelmingly view as incredibly risky and also fundamentally wrong. After all, the American people fought and won a war of independence from Great Britain nearly 250 years ago, and have become a superpower in their own right. They are now being told how to vote by a bunch of "progressive" Left-wing activists from the UK, under the auspices of Britain's hugely unpopular ruling party.
Labour and Keir Starmer's government have already developed a terrible reputation as authoritarian socialists among many Americans, and this will only enhance that already unpopular image on this side of the Atlantic. One only has to look at myriad posts on X (formerly Twitter) to see that a great deal of American people, including X's owner Elon Musk, already think the UK is devolving into a woke tyranny under Starmer, locking people up for their tweets while bowing to pro-Hamas Islamist extremists demonstrating on the streets of London.
This reckless political intervention in the US election by some of Starmer's own staff will hardly endear the new British PM to the American people, and will inevitably have implications for the US/UK Special Relationship if Kamala Harris does not end up in the White House.
It is highly doubtful that Donald Trump, if he returns as president, will take kindly to Starmer's people actively campaigning for his political opponent in an incredibly tight contest. It is bad enough that Britain's Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, has referred to Trump as "a neo-Nazi sympathizing sociopath", and that over half the Labour cabinet has attacked Trump in the past. The outlook for relations between a potential Trump presidency and Starmer's government was already looking grim before this latest news. It will be significantly worse now.
The Labour campaign to directly intervene on behalf of Kamala Harris is one of the most stupid and dim-witted political operations in modern British history, with far-reaching implications if the outcome on November 5 does not go the way Britain's Left hopes it will. It has the potential to seriously undermine relations with Britain's most important friend and ally in the world. It could also lead to significant Congressional scrutiny, with the potential for hearings on Capitol Hill and investigations into foreign influence operations.
There may also be mounting questions in Washington over the legality of what Labour is doing under US Federal Election Commission (FEC) rules. A constitutional lawyer spoken to by the Telegraph said that any activist who spends more than $1,000 on the trip could end up with a "substantial" fine by the FEC. This could well be a huge can of worms once it is opened.
This sorry episode is also a damning indictment of Keir Starmer's stunning lack of judgment. The fact that the Prime Minister is allowing this to happen less than three weeks before one of the most consequential elections in US presidential history is an illustration of just how short-sighted and amateurish Starmer is.
The PM should call his woke Labour provocateurs off America's front lawn before further damage is inflicted to Britain's image in the United States, and issue a public apology for the involvement of some of his own party's staff in a foreign election.
Nile Gardiner is a former aide to Margaret Thatcher, and is based in Washington, DC. He is writing in a personal capacity
Source - telegraph
All articles and letters published on Bulawayo24 have been independently written by members of Bulawayo24's community. The views of users published on Bulawayo24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Bulawayo24. Bulawayo24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.
