A former British ambassador has suggested the accusations from Donald Trump’s campaign about Labour’s “interference” in the presidential election are just part of a “political game” connected to Vladimir Putin.
The Republican nominee’s team filed a legal complaint against Labour activists campaigning for Trump’s rival Kamala Harris this week.
They claimed this was “foreign interference” in the US election, although Labour says the individuals involved are volunteers and not representing the party.
Sir Peter Westmacott, who was a diplomat to the US between 2012 and 2016, has claimed this legal move from Trump’s team is actually just an attempt to distract from Russia’s support for the former president.
The former ambassador told Sky News this morning: “I think this is, to some extent, a political game, and it helps to deflect the criticism there has been of Trump being supported by the Russian state in the past and Russian bots in the current campaign.
“I think this is a bit of political game rather than a major political crisis.”
Putin has not officially backed Trump for this race and has endorsed Kamala Harris instead – although his ironic reasoning meant this was widely written off as a Kremlin joke.
Meanwhile, Trump has repeatedly praised Putin over the years, even calling his invasion of Ukraine “genius” and “savvy”.
When asked about the potential ramifications of this row if Trump secures a second term, Westmacott said: “It depends a little bit on how the former president reacts, he does feel grievances, he does sometimes remember those things.
“But he knows the other political party is supporting him, so he can’t easily criticise one when the other lot are supporting him – or even two political parties.”
Former Conservative prime ministers Liz Truss and Boris Johnson, along with leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick, have all voiced their support for Trump.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has also made it clear that he backs his friend, the Republican nominee.
Westmacott continued: “My guess is this would not cause lasting damage, there’s a perfectly decent relationship that’s been established between Keir Starmer and Donald Trump, David Lammy and other players on that side of the Republican Party.
“I think this will probably blow over, I suspect it’s more of a story here then it is there.”
He also noted that Trump himself has not actually spoken out on the issue yet, just his campaign, and that that their complaint was “slightly tongue-in-cheek” with its references back to the war between the US and the UK in 1812.
He added: “I think by complaining about [Labour] that’s a little bit hypocritical if I may say so, there’s a lot of people from Reform, a lot of Conservative party leaders campaigning for and with the Trump team.
“It’s gone on since time immemorial, that volunteers from sister political parties go there and help campaign.”