Henry Zeffman: How a LinkedIn post sparked a transatlantic row

A call for Labour activists to campaign for Kamala Harris has put Keir Starmer in an awkward spot.

British Broadcasting CorporationWatchHomeNewsUS ElectionSportBusinessInnovationCultureArtsTravelEarthVideoLiveHomeNewsIsrael-Gaza WarWar in UkraineUS & CanadaUKUK PoliticsEnglandN. IrelandN. Ireland PoliticsScotlandScotland PoliticsWalesWales PoliticsAfricaAsiaChinaIndiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastIn PicturesBBC InDepthBBC VerifyUS ElectionElection pollsKamala HarrisDonald TrumpJD VanceTim WalzSportBusinessExecutive LoungeTechnology of BusinessWomen at the HelmFuture of BusinessInnovationTechnologyScience & HealthArtificial IntelligenceAI v the MindCultureFilm & TVMusicArt & DesignStyleBooksEntertainment NewsArtsArts in MotionTravelDestinationsAfricaAntarcticaAsiaAustralia and PacificCaribbean & BermudaCentral AmericaEuropeMiddle EastNorth AmericaSouth AmericaWorld’s TableCulture & ExperiencesAdventuresThe SpeciaListEarthNatural WondersWeather & ScienceClimate SolutionsSustainable BusinessGreen LivingVideoLiveLive NewsLive SportHomeNewsUS ElectionSportBusinessInnovationCultureArtsTravelEarthVideoLiveAudioWeatherNewslettersHenry Zeffman: How a LinkedIn post sparked a transatlantic rowGetty ImagesLinkedIn: the social network for CVs, apparently motivational corporate messages and - as of late last night - transatlantic diplomatic spats.

When Sofia Patel, the Labour Party’s head of operations, posted on the site last week that she was coordinating nearly 100 current and former party officials to campaign in battleground states in the final weeks of the US presidential election, she surely could not have imagined that she would provoke a legal complaint filed in Florida.

In a formal complaint to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the Trump presidential campaign’s deputy general counsel declared: “When representatives of the British government previously sought to go door-to-door in America, it did not end well for them.”

Last week, he noted, was the 243rd anniversary of the Battle of Yorktown - a military victory which ensured the United States’ enduring independence from “Great Britian" [sic].

Bombastic as that may sound, it’s hardly of trivial interest that a Labour Party that has conspicuously sought to improve its ties to Trump and his team is now being formally accused of “blatant foreign interference” on behalf of his opponent, Kamala Harris.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce318l17dd3o

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