Fears Trump support for Farage’s Reform party could disrupt general election

MPs and diplomats are worried that Donald Trump could try to influence the general election, with Reform UK leaders hoping they will benefit.

Conservative and Labour politicians both voiced their concerns, after Mr Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton told i that the US presidential candidate would not be afraid to intervene in this year’s campaign.

“It’s entirely possible he would say something and wouldn’t care about the conventions of not interfering,” Mr Bolton said in an interview.

Mr Trump hailed the Reform party’s honourary president Nigel Farage as a “prophetic leader” this week, saying he awaited the Brexit campaigner’s “next move”.

Sir Peter Westmacott, a former UK ambassador to the US, told i: “I have often disagreed with John Bolton but he knows Donald Trump better than most, so we should heed his warnings.

“Trump prizes loyalty and adulation above all else so it is quite possible that he will speak out in support of Nigel Farage’s party.”

Watch John Bolton’s interview with i

Risks for Reform

A Reform source said the party was confident that Mr Trump would be on their side, because so many Conservative and Labour MPs have been “bloody rude about him”.

They said: “There’s not much for him to engage with other than a shout-out for Nigel and Reform, if Nigel decides to come back. People forget but Trump loves the UK, and Nigel represents the aspects of Britain that he likes.”

But Sir David Lidington, an ex-Foreign Office minister with the Tories who is now chair of the defence think tank Rusi, said that Reform may need to be careful what they wish for.

“It might fire up the people are going to vote for them anyway, but I don’t think it’s going to win them any new converts,” he told i.

“A Trump intervention here would probably be bad news for whoever he supported. Every opinion poll shows that he is deeply unpopular in the UK.”

Seven out of 10 Britons have an unfavourable view of Mr Trump, according to a survey by Ipos Mori in February.

Graham Stringer MP, a Labour member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, agreed that anyone seeking the Republican candidate’s support may find it backfires.

“When [Barack] Obama interfered in the Brexit referendum in 2016, it was counterproductive,” he said.

“The gut reaction of most British people to interventions from foreigners – even from a friendly foreign power, however eccentric Trump – is really to feel that they should keep their nose out.”

But another Tory former minister, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “The UK’s relationship with the US is more important now than ever. Whether we like it or not, what Trump thinks matters.”

In a video address to Mr Farage’s 60th birthday party this week, Mr Trump said his nationalist ally was a “historic figure”.

“I know that the people of the UK are grateful for your patriotism and service,” Mr Trump said.

“I’m very much looking forward to watching what your next move is going to be, it’s going to be an interesting one.”

Reform is not projected to win any seats, in the latest UK opinion poll. But its support is growing and Tories are concerned that this is eating into their numbers.

A clash of elections

Mr Trump’s supporters may argue that his British opponents are hypocrites, given that so many of them disparage their candidate, frequently and forcefully.

However, Sir David said that it was notable how senior Labour figures, such as foreign spokesperson David Lammy, have stopped castigating Mr Trump in case they need to work with him in office.

“You have to be able to deal with the world as it is, not as you want it to be,” said the Rusi chair.

Fabian Hamilton, a Labour member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said that Mr Trump should keep “out of our parliamentary democracy”.

“People who cannot vote in UK elections should never be allowed to interfere with our vital democratic processes,” he said. “It’s important that the Government reminds Trump of that fact, should he attempt to intervene.”

The US election will be held on 5 November. The date of the UK’s vote is still being speculated, but Michael Gove, the Levelling-up Secretary, predicted last week that the UK election might be called for 14 November or a week later.

Sir Peter, who served in Washington from 2012 to 2016, was among several former ambassadors to warn of Mr Trump’s threat to the UK in interviews with i this year.

He said the impact of anything that Mr Trump says or does may depend on whether the British election is held before or after the US ballots.

“I would hope that Trump’s contempt for the rule of law, the truth, alliances and the democratic process would limit his appeal to British voters,” Sir Peter added.

Mr Bolton also warned that the risk of the US “withdrawing from Nato is very likely in a second Trump term”.

Mr Hamilton said that the UK must do what it can to protect “the most successful defence alliance in history” and that Labour’s commitment to it remains “unshakeable”, regardless of whoever occupies the White House.

Civil servants have reportedly warned the prime minister of increased security risks from “cyberwarfare and electoral manipulation” if the UK and US campaigns climax within days of each other.

The political scientist Professor Ben Ansell has written that parallel elections could increase polarisation and “create double the opportunity” for hostile forces spreading misinformation.