OPINION:
Britain’s Labor Party is quartering political foot soldiers in American homes, and former President Donald Trump is not happy about it. Last week, the GOP nominee filed a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission over the potential foreign interference.
“When representatives of the British government previously sought to go door-to-door in America, it did not end well for them,” wrote Gary Lawkowski, a lawyer for Mr. Trump’s campaign. “It appears that the Labour Party and the Harris for President campaign have forgotten the message.”
Top officials from Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s team — including Morgan McSweeney, his chief of staff — reportedly met with Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign team during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to offer assistance.
Ms. Harris appears to be taking advantage of the advice from Downing Street and has copied Labor’s political rhetoric. She has even borrowed signature slogans such as “it’s time to turn the page.”
Sofia Patel, Labor’s head of operations, posted a call to arms on LinkedIn, seeking 10 Labor staff to join the 90 already committed to “going to the U.S. in the next few weeks heading to North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia.”
She assured those willing to cross the pond that “we will sort your housing.” In another message, she explained the mission: “Let’s show those Yanks how to win elections!”
Accepting 100 volunteer foot soldiers from a foreign government might be construed as an illegal in-kind political donation. It may also run afoul of FEC prohibitions on foreign nationals “participating in the decision-making process” of a political organization’s election-related activities.
This provision landed Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign in hot water in 2016 when it was caught illegally enlisting the help of Australia’s Labor Party. Mr. Trump’s campaign seeks an immediate investigation.
This isn’t the only example of Old Blighty’s electoral meddling. Before becoming Mr. Starmer’s right-hand man, Mr. McSweeney created an organization called the Center for Countering Digital Hate, whose mission has been to destroy the largest U.S. social media site that allows free speech.
According to internal documents obtained by journalists Matt Taibbi and Paul Thacker, the group’s top goal was to “kill Musk’s Twitter.” It held meetings with the White House, State Department and left-wing groups such as Media Matters to gin up regulatory action against the platform now known as X, owned by billionaire Elon Musk.
Former U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss is appalled by what Labor has been doing.
“There have been numerous attacks on X by the prime minister,” she told Glenn Beck in an interview on Blaze TV. “Now, I don’t believe that he will succeed if he takes on Elon Musk. But the mentality isn’t to have an honest discussion about what’s happening in Britain; the mentality is to quash any dissent.”
With no First Amendment protecting their speech, U.K. citizens are at risk of being jailed for saying anything the government deems objectionable. In August, dozens were sentenced to up to three years in jail for complaining about mass migration on Facebook.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate also organized an effort to falsely label conservative websites such as The Federalist as racist in order to scare advertisers away, draining funding for opposition voices.
The group pulled off staggering feats of censorship as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in the United States and under a “charitable” classification in England. The matter deserves a full review by both the FEC and Congress.
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