The Democrats have entered the election game with a foreign player
The 2015 UK election should be considered a significant part of this country’s political history
An election that, contrary to predictions and what polls indicated, led to a Conservative victory and severely plunged the Labour Party into crisis. Everything changed for Britain after this election. David Cameron, the Conservative leader and UK Prime Minister, under pressure from the extremist faction of his party and the high influence of Nigel Farage, the leader of the anti-EU sentiment wave, was forced to promise a referendum on his country’s EU membership. The Brexit referendum in 2016 turned a new page in Britain’s history and created a deep crisis that remains unresolved.
The Labour Party, also defeated in this election, fell into the hands of extremists who, with the rise of Jeremy Corbyn to leadership, experienced a period of delusion and disintegration. Cameron, losing that referendum, gave way to Theresa May, effectively paving the way for Boris Johnson’s emergence and an era of delusional populist politics.
This is where both British parties look back, and perhaps one person remains in their minds more than anyone else: Barack Obama. With two major election victories in America, British politics was heavily influenced by Barack Obama’s electoral authority.
David Cameron was deeply captivated by Obama during face-to-face meetings, and Obama’s official visit to London should be considered one of the most fascinating visits by foreign officials to Britain in the country’s history. Obama’s speech at the joint session of the British Parliament will always remain in this country’s history.
His next visit also had the same characteristics. This is how it was no surprise when both major British parties turned to senior Obama campaign managers for the 2015 election and employed them.
Jim Messina became an advisor to the Conservatives, and David Axelrod advised Labour. Naturally, Messina emerged victorious, and interesting days unfolded for these two.
Now, after all these years, the tables have turned.
The Labour Party, with Sir Keir Starmer, stood on its own and ended the Conservatives’ years-long dominance.
The ties between the Labour Party and the Democrats are longstanding, and their emulation of Democratic campaigns and meetings has been repeated many times.
Now it is the Democrats who have sought help from Labour.
Two influential Labour political operatives have joined the Democrats in America and are advising the Harris campaign.
Deborah Mattinson and Claire Ainsley, prominent strategists and influential advisors to the British Prime Minister in recent years, have coherent and specific views on what should be done to strengthen Harris’s position in electoral politics.
Harris’s situation is different from Starmer’s, but as a candidate, she faces challenges similar to those Starmer dealt with. The issue of immigrants was important to the British just as it is to Americans.
The state of the far-right and the appeal to lower classes and citizens without higher education is also a relatively similar threat to Harris, which Starmer appeared particularly weak against.
British advisors have had a lot to say to the Harris campaign about positioning her as a moderate and centrist individual with high authority who stands against illegal immigrants and crime.
They have enjoyed watching the debate and believe that Harris’s messaging and discourse framing are progressing.
In the midst of this, it should be noted that there is a very critical point that might have been overlooked.
The Labour Party and Keir Starmer, as the opposition and critics of the status quo, entered the British election arena, and their significant advantage in vote details and what ultimately transpired was more than anything due to the British people’s disdain for the Conservative Party.
Kamala Harris and the Democrats are the party defending the presidency, and Harris must both present herself as independent and defend the Democrats’ achievements during Biden’s era. Keir Starmer is in Washington, and his official meeting with Biden will create interesting scenes.