Starmer plays down row after Trump campaign accuses Labour of election interference

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The BBC understands from Labour officials that activists campaigning in the US are doing so in a personal capacity, and any staff members travelling to the US have taken leave from their roles.

The indication is that they and are funding themselves and the party has not helped to organise or pay for any of the trips.

Asked about the Trump campaign’s complaint, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “The Labour Party has
volunteers, [they] have gone over pretty much every election.

“They’re doing it in their spare
time. They’re doing it as volunteers. They’re staying I think with other
volunteers over there.”

The Harris-Walz campaign has not commented.

Sarah Smith
North America editor

Labour Party members helping out Democrats in an election is nothing new.

For decades they’ve been heading to America to both lend a hand and possibly pick up a few tips at the same time. Democrats often return the favour. There are also often contacts between the British Conservative Party and the US Republicans.

But now the Trump-Vance campaign is complaining that it amounts to “blatant election interference” to have volunteers from what they described as the “far left Labour Party” coming to campaign for Kamala Harris

There are strict laws about foreign nationals not being allowed to donate money or anything of value to American candidates and the Trump-Vance campaign says in the complaint that volunteers coming to America creates a “reasonable inference that the Labour Party has made, and the Harris campaign has accepted, illegal foreign national contributions”.

Controversy was created by a now deleted social media post that said any Labour Party volunteers would need to pay for their own flights and car hire but that “we will sort your housing”.

The BBC understands from Labour Party officials that accommodation is being arranged by volunteers campaigning for the Democrats, not being paid for by the party.

Even if Trump is wrong about whether the Labour Party is making illegal campaign contributions to the Harris-Walz campaign, it seems that if he is re-elected president this controversy will not make relations with Prime Minister Keir Starmer any easier.

Image source, Reuters

The Donald Trump presidential campaign has filed a complaint with the US Federal Election Commission (FEC) accusing the Labour Party of “blatant foreign interference” in the presidential election.

The complaint cites media reports about meetings between Labour and the Harris campaign, as well as volunteering efforts by Labour activists in the US.

US law states foreign nationals can’t be paid to take part in campaign activity.

The Trump campaign’s complaint points to a LinkedIn post from Sofia Patel, Labour’s head of operations, in which she said nearly 100 current and former staff members would be going to the US in the coming weeks.

The post said there were “10 spots available” for anyone who wanted to join them and that “we will sort your housing”.

The complaint asserts that the mention of a limited number of “available” spots, and the promise to “sort” volunteers’ housing, implies that the Labour Party is at least in part “financially supporting” the trips.

As we’ve heard this morning, Starmer says Labour members campaigning in the US are doing so in their “spare time”.

Chris Mason
Political editor

Image source, Getty Images

More now on the Trump campaign accusing Labour of “blatant foreign interference” in the US election.

Starmer is asked whether he is worried about whether the row would damage his relationship with Donald Trump.

“No”, he replies, pointing to a two-hour dinner he shared with the former president at Trump Tower in New York last month.

“We
established a good relationship. We’re grateful for him for making the time…
for that dinner,” he says.

“We
had a good, constructive discussion, and of course as prime minister of the
United Kingdom I will work with whoever the American people return as their
President in their elections, which are very close now.”

Speaking ahead of the New York dinner, Trump said he thought Sir Keir, who was then less than three months into the job, was “actually very nice”.

“He ran a great race. He did very well. It’s very early. He’s very popular,” he said.

Chris Mason
Political editor, travelling with the prime minister

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has played down claims by the Trump campaign that the Labour Party has sought to interfere with the US presidential election.

“The
Labour Party has volunteers, [they] have gone over pretty much every election,” he tells reporters on a flight to Samoa, where he is due to take part in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit.

He adds: “They’re doing it in their spare
time. They’re doing it as volunteers. They’re staying I think with other
volunteers over there.”

It comes after a formal complaint against the Harris campaign was filed by Trump’s on Tuesday.

It focuses in part on a social media post by Labour’s head of operations, Sofia
Patel, in which she said she had “ten spots available” for anyone
willing to travel to North Carolina to campaign for Harris, adding “we
will sort your housing”.

Foreign nationals are permitted to serve as volunteers on campaigns in the US as long as they are not compensated, according to Federal Election Commission rules.

Richard Grenell, who has been mooted as a possible secretary of state if Donald Trump wins the election, has been speaking to BBC Newsnight after the Trump campaign complained over the UK Labour Party’s ties with the Democrats.

Earlier we reported how Trump’s campaign has alleged election interference over Labour members volunteering for the Harris campaign in the US, and contact between the two groups.

Grenell – who served as Trump’s acting director of national intelligence in 2020 – says it amounts to an “open and shut case” of interference, adding: “Don’t interfere in the American elections and you won’t be sued.”

When it was put to him that high-profile Conservatives have attended Republican campaign events, he says it was “quite different” as they were “speaking on their behalf”.

Ties between Labour and the Democrats are nothing new and activists from the UK have often gone to the US to support election efforts. BBC News understands Labour activists in the US are there in a personal capacity.

Grenell describes it is a “slippery slope” and a “really dangerous precedent to have the ruling party of a ally somehow playing politics”.

In Detroit, Barack Obama demonstrated that eight years after leaving the White House, he still knows how to get a crowd off its feet, our correspondent in Michigan reports.

The BBC’s Gary O’Donoghue gave his take from the hall where the former president appeared alongside rapper Eminem.

Christal Hayes
Reporting from Arizona

Image source, Reuters

Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance addressed a rally in Tuscon, Arizona, on Tuesday, where he told the crowd he was likely the “only person” there who felt bad for Tim Walz, his Democratic counterpart.

The Republican vice-presidential nominee said: “He’s got to go around and convince the American people that Kamala Harris is somehow gonna solve the very problems she has been creating over the last three-and-a-half years.”

He accused Harris of failing to articulate polices on the cost of living and inflation, adding: “Every time they ask her a question she’ll say, ‘well, I grew up in a middle-class family’ or she’ll talk about Donald Trump.

“The audacity of a person who has been in power for three-and-a-half years blaming Donald Trump.”

This is how supporters of Kamala Harris used an AirTag to locate what they said were stolen campaign posters in Missouri.

Laura McCaskill and her partner filmed an encounter with a man they accused of stealing the posters, one of which had the Apple tracking device attached.

Police say they have seized the signs and are investigating. Stealing campaign yard signs is classed as a misdemeanour under state law.

Image source, Reuters

President Joe Biden was in New Hampshire alongside Senator Bernie Sanders on Tuesday.

He repeated his attack that Trump is a threat to democracy, saying he wants “to eliminate, actually physically eliminate, shoot, kill, someone who he believes to be a threat to him”.

Biden then continued: “I know this sounds bizarre. I know if I said this five years ago you’d lock me up. We gotta lock him up.”

After a pause, he added, “politically lock him up”.

It’s an emotive phrase in US politics. “Lock her up” was a controversial chant aimed at Hilary Clinton at Trump rallies in 2016.

In recent days we’ve heard Harris ask her own crowd not to chant “lock him up”.

Earlier, we mentioned Barack Obama had treated a rally in Detroit, Michigan, to a bit of rapping.

He was sharing a stage with hometown hero Eminem, who offered his full endorsement to Kamala Harris.

Obama has form for bursting into song on stage: he famously sang Amazing Grace on stage at a memorial event in the aftermath of the 2015 Charleston church shootings.

You can watch his take on Lose Yourself below.

Christal Hayes
Reporting from Arizona

In Arizona, a swing state that borders Mexico, migrant policies are personal. Roughly one in four voters here are Latino – and many of the Republicans among them are motivated by immigration.

Karla Sanchez recalls how she migrated with her family from Mexico when she was 10 years old. Speaking outside a JD Vance rally in Tuscon, she says: “We had to go through a lengthy process.

“I believe in the American dream… I’m for immigration but I’m not for an invasion.”

Juvy England, 48, came to the US from Mexico in the 1980s and says she did it the “right way, the legal way”, before telling me about her concerns over illegal border crossings.

She is voting for Trump and so are her two daughters. The family tells me they don’t give credence to those who say Trump’s language on immigration is inflammatory.

“I did my own research,” Juvy says, wearing a cap that reads, “I’m a Trump girl”.

Image source, Getty Images

Earlier we heard Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic Hawaii congresswoman, tell a Trump rally in North Carolina that she is formally switching her party affiliation.

She said: “I’m proud to stand here with you today, President Trump, and announce that I’m joining the Republican Party. I am joining the party of the people.”

Gabbard said the decision was in part due to Trump’s ability to “transform the Republican Party and bring it back to the party of the people, and the party of peace”.

Gabbard switched her affiliation to Independent after she was unable to secure the Democratic presidential nomination, losing out to Joe Biden.

She has been increasingly critical of her former party and endorsed Trump’s run for the White House over the summer.

Image source, Reuters

Obama wrapped up his speech after warning the crowd against voting for an older – and “loonier” – Donald Trump.

His speech even included a bit of rapping, quoting songs by famous rapper Eminem, a Detroit native.

We’ll bring you video of that moment shortly.

Image source, Reuters

Earlier we heard Eminem criticising Donald Trump at a rally in Detroit, the rapper’s hometown.

He told the crowd: “I don’t think anyone wants an America where people are worried about retribution or what people will do if you make your opinion known.

“I think Vice-President Harris supports a future for this country where these freedoms and many others will be protected and upheld.”

Michigan is one of the swing states which could decide this election.

At the Detroit rally, former President Barack Obama has been criticising Donald Trump’s rhetoric on immigration.

He says if you challenge Trump or his running mate JD Vance, they have one response: “This is there go to about
everything – blame immigrants.”

“He wants you to believe
that if you let him round up whoever he
wants and ship them out, all your problems will be solved,” Obama continues.

Obama says immigration
is a real issue, and it needs solutions.

“He has no plan,
he has ‘concepts of a plan’ and it’s mean and ugly, designed to make people
resentful and angry,” Obama says.

Polls suggest more Americans trust Trump over Harris on handling the border and illegal immigration. Obama talking at length on the issue is clearly part of an attempt to blunt attacks on Harris over the issue.

Iona Hampson
Reporting from Detroit

Image source, Iona Hampson

A couple of thousand people are watching former President Barack Obama in person here in Detroit, but hundreds of thousands are watching at home – and many more could see his speech via social media.

Something I have spotted at rallies this election season is campaign teams filming rally speeches in a portrait frame, ready for platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.

The potential to engage with voters who don’t watch traditional news is huge – and in a race this tight, could be crucial.

Christal Hayes
Reporting from Arizona

A sea of red caps and bright blue Trump-Vance signs have taken over the Pima County fairgrounds here in the swing state of Arizona – so many people have turned up that some have been turned away.

Tim McCorkle, 69, says he moved from the New York area to Arizona, and has escaped high taxes but landed in the middle of a “migrant invasion”.

He says Trump is “his own worst enemy” when it comes to some of the things he says but believes his policies put America on a better track.

Nearly everyone I speak to mentions immigration and how it has impacted their lives in the border state. Others point to issues like abortion and the economy.

Bonnie Park, 84, a retired school teacher, says she can barely afford to go to the grocery store, and blames Joe Biden.

She says hearing Vance’s story and “what he made of himself” is “wonderful”.

Image source, Reuters

While Donald Trump’s North Carolina rally continues, let’s check in on what’s happening in Detroit.

Barack Obama has just walked on stage to “Lose Yourself”, an Eminem song.

And the Detroit rapper is there with him, the two hug as the crowd roars.

Barely a minute into his speech and Obama starts rapping the lyrics – “My palms are sweaty,
knees weak, arms are heavy” he tells the crowd.