There are certain lines to take and positions to hold that work in opposition. Shadow Chancellors, for example, can call for more spending and lower taxes, knowing full well that such a plan is unfeasible. In Government, however, others – whether it be the bond markets or foreign actors – are listening a little more closely.
That is the trap into which the Labour Party has fallen in recent days. Sir Keir Starmer has been accused by Donald Trump of interfering in the US Presidential election, after it emerged that Labour staffers were organising a mass visit to America in order to campaign for Kamala Harris.
It ought to come as a surprise to no one that young Labour staffers enthusiastically endorse the Democratic nominee, and that they are prepared to take time off work to visit all parts of the States to drink in the heady feeling that only an American election can conjure up. Moreover, this does not qualify as the UK head of government endorsing one candidate or another. Yet Labour’s response has revealed a level of naivete.
Sir Keir, alongside his Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, has gone to great lengths in order to build relationships with the Trump world. The Prime Minister met with the Republican nominee in Trump Tower only last month, while Lammy has been working with Trump loyalists for years. These are all eminently sensible actions. The problem is that it may all be for nought as a result of this row.
Clearly, this incident says more about Trump than it does Sir Keir. The former president, who in 2020 sought to overturn the result of an election he lost, is again trying to cast doubt on this one, with baseless claims of foreign interference. The idea that twenty-something Labour staffers are a subterranean attempt by MI6 to fix the US election is patently absurd. But it remains a political own goal by the new Labour government.
Should Trump return to the White House, Britain, like the rest of the world, will be in for a bumpy ride.
