The presidential candidates are ramping up their campaigns as the race enters its final stretch.
www.bbc.com
This is seriously awkward for the Labour government
Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent
Speaking to Labour people this morning, there’s a little bit of sheepishness about the public row with the Trump campaign – but a complete insistence that no-one has done anything wrong.
The party is not saying anything formally, but the private defence is that these are volunteers who were not paid, therefore their activities were in accordance with the rules of the Federal Election Commission, to whom the Trump campaign has complained.
Moreover, they insist that the party had no official role organising volunteers and that senior figures who visited for the Democratic convention in the summer were there principally as spectators and political tourists, rather than dispensing formal advice to the Democratic Party.
Be that as it may, it’s undeniable that this is seriously awkward for a Labour government which in exactly two weeks could well be placing congratulatory phone calls to a president-elect Trump.
The question is whether it is merely a passing awkwardness, or whether this dispute threatens the potential relationship between Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump.
In opposition and in government, Labour officials have invested significant energy in trying to forge links to the Trump campaign. Those are potentially now at risk.
www.forbes.com
