LONDON — Nigel Farage backed up his old friend Donald Trump after the Republican presidential hopeful accused the governing U.K. Labour Party of meddling in the U.S. election.
Reform UK leader Farage, no stranger to campaigning in the U.S. himself, said British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had “insulted the incoming Trump administration” after volunteers from the governing party went stateside to campaign for Kamala Harris.
Trump’s campaign lobbed a hand grenade into British politics Tuesday night by demanding a Federal Election Commission probe into Labour officials who headed across the Atlantic to campaign for the U.S. Democrats in key swing states, ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
Starmer’s government has faced questions on the row all day.
Labour has pushed back, stressing that it is not funding the activists’ travel or accommodation, meaning any efforts remain within strict U.S. federal election rules which stipulate foreign volunteers can’t spend more than $1,000 helping candidates.
The U.K. prime minister has denied that the row will dent relations with Trump should he triumph next month.
But the plea to the FEC has been swiftly seized on by Trump’s supporters in the U.K.
Farage, who heads up the populist, right-wing Reform UK party snapping at Labour’s heels in key seats, said Starmer had made “a terrible decision” in allowing the activists to head stateside.
Farage has campaigned extensively for Trump, appearing at rallies and even interviewing the U.S. hopeful on his GB News show. But British allies of Trump drew a distinction between the actions of an opposition politician and the governing party.
Greg Swenson, chair of Republicans Overseas UK, said it was “uncool” for Labour volunteers to campaign on Harris’ behalf, and branded the move “a mistake.”
Speaking on Times Radio, he said of Farage’s backing for Trump: “They’ve been friends a long time. So the fact that Nigel supports Trump is just because they were friends long before the recent election. So anyway, I think it’s apples and oranges. And I don’t think it ends up hurting Trump to have him.”
Elon Musk, the owner of X and a staunch supporter of Trump, simply tweeted “Good” in response to the campaign’s complaint.
Noah Keate contributed reporting.
