UK Labour leaders under fire for recruiting British citizens to volunteer for Kamala Harris campaign

The U.K.’s Labour Party leaders are taking flak for social media posts that show the British progressive party intervening in U.S. elections on behalf of presidential candidate Kamala Harris. 

Posts to Facebook and LinkedIn by a Labour Party operative who specializes in elections bragged that Labour is sending 100 staff members to volunteer for Harris, the Democrat Party nominee for president, in key battleground states. 

The posts’ authenticity were verified by the Washington Examiner.  

“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,” Sophia Patel, head of operations for the U.K.’s Labour Party wrote on LinkedIn. “I have 10 spots available for anyone available to head to the battleground state of North Carolina – we will sort your housing. Email me on [redacted] if you’re interested. Thanks!” 

A similar post asking for volunteers was also made to Patel’s X account.  

Both accounts have subsequently been deleted without any explanation. 

Posts on X allegedly from Patel show she may have traveled the U.S. on behalf of Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2016, working as a field operative. 

A message by The Lion was sent to the email address in the Patel posts asking how the trips would be paid for and what purpose would be stated on the visa application for entering the U.S. 

Similar messages by The Lion were sent British Prime Minister Sir Keir Rodney Starmer; David Evans, who previously served as general secretary of the Labour Party; Matthew Doyle, executive director of the Labour Party; Alex Jones, the communications lead at the Labour Party; and former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is the Conservative Party leader. 

Those emails additionally ask about the appropriateness of the Labour Party’s intervention in another country’s elections. 

The Examiner reported that while such foreign support as Labour offered Harris is generally legal, problems can arise if a third party pays for travel or if the foreign volunteers coordinate their activities with the Harris campaign. 

The Federal Election Committee website states, “Foreign national[s] could not manage or participate in any of the campaign committee’s decision-making processes.” 

That boundary, however, may have been crossed already in September, when strategists linked to Britain’s Labour Party visited the U.S. to share advice with Harris’ campaign after Labour won U.K. elections in July, reported the Washington Post.   

The U.K.’s Telegraph detailed individual instances where British political activists have campaigned in the U.S., but a widespread effort by a foreign political party in U.S. elections has not been reported in the media previously. 

The Telegraph confirmed, however, that Labour leaders know about the Harris project by reporting the party has told volunteers they must pay for their own travel costs, although housing will be provided by volunteers in America. 

It’s not the first time people with ties to the U.K. government have been accused of interfering in U.S. politics to hurt Donald Trump on behalf of Democrats. 

Just days before Trump took office in 2017, Buzzfeed published a now-discredited dossier by a former spy who worked for Britian’s intelligence service. 

Christopher Steele, who used to work for the British MI6 Secret Intelligence Service, was contracted by Democrats to gather a dossier that falsely accused Trump and his campaign of colluding with Russia to help defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential campaign.  

That dossier was used by the FBI to obtain search warrants to spy on Trump and his associates. The dossier eventually became the subject of two special counsel investigations and an unsuccessful impeachment attempt against Trump.  

Republicans are not happy with this latest push by U.K. progressives to enter the U.S. presidential fray. 

“Yet another reason to vote for President Trump,” said U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, about the Labour scheme to help Harris.