We Brits care a lot about the US presidential election. Perhaps too much, after the complaint by the Trump campaign this week alleging “foreign election interference” by the Labour Party.
At least the Labour activists are in line with public opinion here on the battle between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Polls show that two out of three of us want Harris to win. Only one in six want a second Trump term.
It is clear what the UK and allies in the EU might have to fear from another Trump presidency. The dark possibilities range from growth-crushing, up to 20 per cent tariffs on exports, to withdrawal from Nato and appeasement of Russia’s fighting forces as they drive westward across our continent.
The hope is that Europe and America would be back to business as usual with president Harris. Maybe. She will represent a new generation of leadership in the United States, one that is less concerned with what happens here. Those in London, Paris or Brussels hoping for much warmer special relationships are likely to be disappointed, unless emergencies force political allies back into intimate co-operation.
Harris was born in Oakland, California on 20 October, 1964. Her father was of Jamaican descent, her mother Indian. Her career was entirely focused on domestic politics and law enforcement until she became a US senator in 2017. She would be the first post-baby boomer president, on whom neither the Cold........