Eric Trump says UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer risks ‘poisoning’ relations with America by interfering in the US election.
In a deepening crisis for Sir Keir, the ex-president’s second son told the Daily Mail that it was ‘pretty disappointing’ to learn that 100 Labour Party operatives had been dispatched from Britain to support Kamala Harris’ campaign.
Eric warned that if Donald Trump is re-elected on November 5 – polls increasingly predict he will be – Sir Keir will find his actions have proved ‘counterintuitive’ to UK-US relations.
He dismissed any influence it could have on voters, saying that a British Kamala Harris supporter knocking on doors in Georgia or Florida ‘wouldn’t be well received’.
‘I have a general rule and that’s not getting involved in other country’s politics,’ Eric said.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer arriving for a press conference during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa on October 26
Eric Trump speaks to the Daily Mail at his office in Palm Beach, Florida, on Thursday
‘We have people who dabble in US politics all the time from all over the world, it never quite works and as a US citizen, it pisses me off.’
The 40-year-old head of the Trump Organization, which has invested millions into golf courses in Scotland, said ‘a Trump presidency would be unmatched for the UK as long as people can embrace it and not play games.’
‘You would think a leader would want to make best friends with both sides because it’s only in the benefit of a country to have good relationships with whoever actually wins the election,’ Eric said.
‘It poisons a relationship if the election goes another way.’
The Trump campaign last week accused Sir Keir of ‘blatant foreign interference’ and filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission in Washington, calling for an investigation into ‘illegal contributions’ from Labour to the Harris campaign.
Sir Keir denied that the complaint would damage relations with Trump if he wins, saying Labour supporters were volunteering in their own time.
Eric told the Mail that the timing of the British left-wing party’s intervention was ‘interesting’.
It comes as Trump pulls ahead in crucial swing states in the so-called Democratic Blue Wall, including Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. If any one of these states falls into Republican hands, the likelihood of a Harris victory is vanishingly thin.
Harris, who narrowly edged Trump in the betting markets throughout last month, now finds herself trailing the former president by no less than 20 percentage points.
‘The momentum my father has right now is unbelievable,’ Eric said.
‘So if my father wins, which is wholly likely – the betting odds have him winning – so let’s just say that plays out to be true … What benefit did the UK have sending an entire party over to the United States?
‘How in the world does that benefit UK-US relations? It’s so counterintuitive to me. I think a lot of people would find that pretty disappointing.’
Donald Trump gestures as he arrives to speak during a Turning Point Action ‘United for Change’ campaign rally in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 24
In its filing to the Federal Election Commission, the Trump campaign cited a now-deleted post on LinkedIn by Sofia Patel, Labour’s head of operations, which said 100 current and ex-staffers were going to be volunteering in battleground states such as North Carolina and Nevada.
Trump harked back to America’s Declaration of Independence from British rule in 1776 and said that the UK appeared to have ‘forgotten’ that the US wanted to be free.
Rules about foreigners working in US elections are strict and state that they must volunteer and cannot receive any payment.
Patel’s post had said she had 10 spots to fill in North Carolina, adding: ‘We will sort your housing.’
Labour said in a statement that any party members taking part would be doing so at their own expense. Volunteers were put up by other local supporters. Sir Keir claimed that they were there in their spare time.
