Labour’s Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, has defended the party’s stance on its employees volunteering for Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, stating that “people in their own time often go on campaigns” and that it happens across political parties. The row was triggered by a deleted social media post from Labour’s head of operations, Sofia Patel, who claimed that around 100 current and former party staff would travel to the United States before polling day to volunteer. Donald Trump’s campaign filed a complaint alleging that Labour broke US election rules on foreign interference. Rayner dismissed the allegations, stating that no laws had been broken and that the campaigners were volunteers.
Labour sources insist no-one has done anything wrong, but there is concern over whether this row could impact the so-called “special relationship” between the United Kingdom and the United States if Trump were to win the election. It should be noted that foreign nationals are permitted to volunteer in political campaigns in the US as long as they are not compensated, under Federal Election Commission rules. On Wednesday, the Scotland Office Minister Kirty McNeil pulled out of an online event supporting Harris during the US election night. McNeill had been scheduled to speak at the Labour for Women meeting via Zoom called “Come on Kamala” in a “personal capacity.”
It has been argued that the Trump campaign is “creating controversy” ahead of the US Presidential elections. However, Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader and Trump supporter, expressed his belief that the wording of Patel’s LinkedIn post broke US election law, stating that “the rules are very, very clear.” Farage has also received help on three occasions since his election as an MP from a PR firm based in Pennsylvania, including with hotel expenses on a trip to the USA. The company, Capital HQ LLC, run by Alexandra Preate, an ex-aide to Trump’s former strategist Steve Bannon, helped Farage with his “perception management”, as well as travel and logistics. Farage declared £32,836 he separately received from a donor for flights and accommodation for a visit to the US in July
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