The US-UK special relationship will survive Labour involvement in this election

The news that 100 or so volunteers from Britain's ruling Labour Party were heading to America to knock on doors for Vice President Kamala Harris created a lot of noise on both sides of the Atlantic.

Elon Musk — a man who has created $1 million sweepstakes to register voters in swing states in order to boost the Republican vote — told his 60 million followers on X that it was illegal, and last week the Trump campaign filed an FEC complaint claiming foreign interference.

Meanwhile, British media have gone into one of their regular collective feeding frenzies, with some suggesting this row will seriously damage the special relationship between the U.S. and U.K. if Donald Trump wins on Nov 5.

For all the diplomatic embarrassment and the faux outrage it has generated, this story represents nothing more than a brilliant campaign wheeze on behalf of the Trump campaign.

The masterful opening paragraph of its submission to the FEC tells us everything we need to know about how seriously even leading Republicans take this issue.

Gary Lawowski, Deputy General Counsel to Trump’s campaign, wrote: “When representatives of the British government previously sought to go door-to-door in America, it did not end well for them. This past week marked the 243rd anniversary of the surrender of British forces at the Battle of Yorktown, a military victory that ensured that the United States would be politically independent of Great Britain. It appears that the Labour Party and the Harris for President campaign have forgotten the message.”

Americans can relax. These modern-day redcoats — a few dozen, fresh-faced Labour Party activists flying in at their own expense to deliver election material to households in far-flung corners of the U.S. — will make no difference to the outcome of the election. They are unlikely to pose a threat anything like that of 1776.

It is also highly unlikely that there has been any breach of federal electoral laws. After all, there is a decades-long practice of activists from parties on both sides of the Atlantic travelling to the other country to volunteer for election campaigns. And it is likely to continue for decades more.

Of course, one of the reasons the British media has been so gripped by the story of the Republican FEC complaint about Labour volunteers in the U.S. is its potential implications for the “special relationship” between the U.S. and the U.K. in the event of a Trump victory.

Some have even suggested it could leave Sir Keir Starmer, the new British prime minister, out in the cold if Trump, who values strong personal relationships, wins. Yet there’s little prospect that this confected story will have any effect at all.

Starmer and Trump met for the first time for dinner in Trump Tower in New York during the week-long meeting of the UN General Assembly in September. British sources were delighted at what proved to be a positive meeting where both struck up a good rapport, despite their very different political backgrounds and beliefs.

We can be fairly confident, therefore, that this issue will disappear without trace as soon as the election is over. It has done its job and should be seen as part of a wider, concerted Republican campaign to sow distrust in the election process.

After all, if there is one big lesson that Trump has learned from four years ago, it is that it is better to get your accusation about rigged elections in first rather than spend weeks crying foul after the event.

Little wonder then that Republicans have been filing most of the more than 150 lawsuits relating to electoral law already with courts across America, and a story accusing Democrats of “foreign interference” helps blunt criticisms being made about the influence of Russia and other malign actors in the U.S. elections.

Brits have long been fascinated by U.S. elections, and the deep links between the main political parties on both sides of the Atlantic have long driven collaboration and exchange of people and ideas.

The strong personal and political relationship between President Ronald Reagan and U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s created strong bonds between the Republicans and British Conservatives.

The center-left British Labour Party has gravitated toward the Democrats. President Bill Clinton and Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair shared a commitment to “third way” politics in the 1990s and the current Labour team has drawn heavily on the lessons of President Biden’s industrial policy to shape its own agenda in the U.K.

The row about political party volunteers involved in the election campaign will not affect these relationships and nor should they. The alliance between the U.K. and U.S. has been an essential pillar of global security and prosperity for decades and is even more important in the unpredictable world of today.

The issue has proved an embarrassment and an unwanted distraction to a British prime minister who has experienced a bumpy start to his premiership in the U.K. But a few red faces in London does not a new army of redcoats make.

Ed Owen is a British strategy and communications adviser in Washington DC and a former political adviser to Tony Blair’s Labour Government in the U.K. between 1997 and 2005.