The row between Donald Trump's team and the Labour Party was sparked by a LinkedIn post last week from Labour's head of operations, Sofia Patel.

In the now-deleted post, Patel said she has "10 spots available for anyone available to head to the battleground state of North Carolina - we will sort your housing."

She adds that "nearly 100" Labour Party staff, both current and former, will be heading to the US in the next few weeks.

Asked about the Trump campaign's complaint, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer says: "The Labour Party has volunteers, [they] have gone over pretty much every election.

"They’re doing it in their spare time. They’re doing it as volunteers. They’re staying I think with other volunteers over there."

Richard Grenell - who has been mooted as a possible secretary of state if Donald Trump wins the election - has spoken to BBC Newsnight about the Trump-Labour row.

Grenell - who served as Trump's acting director of national intelligence in 2020 - says it amounts to an "open and shut case" of interference.

This is nothing new - but it won't make Starmer's relationship with Trump easierpublished at 07:18 British Summer Time 23 October

07:18 BST 23 October

Sarah Smith
North America editor

Labour Party members helping out Democrats in an election is nothing new.

For decades they’ve been heading to America to both lend a hand and possibly pick up a few tips at the same time. Democrats often return the favour. There are also often contacts between the British Conservative Party and the US Republicans.

But now the Trump-Vance campaign is complaining that it amounts to "blatant election interference" to have volunteers from what they described as the "far left Labour Party" coming to campaign for Kamala Harris

There are strict laws about foreign nationals not being allowed to donate money or anything of value to American candidates.

The Trump-Vance campaign says in the complaint that volunteers coming to America creates a "reasonable inference that the Labour Party has made, and the Harris campaign has accepted, illegal foreign national contributions".

Controversy was created by a now deleted social media post that said any Labour Party volunteers would need to pay for their own flights and car hire but that “we will sort your housing”.

The BBC understands from Labour Party officials that accommodation is being arranged by volunteers campaigning for the Democrats, not being paid for by the party.

Even if Trump is wrong about whether the Labour Party is making illegal campaign contributions to the Harris-Walz campaign, it seems that if he is re-elected president this controversy will not make relations with Prime Minister Keir Starmer any easier.

Chris Mason
Political editor, travelling with Keir Starmer

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has sought to play down the significance of alleged interference by the Labour Party in the American presidential election.

Speaking to reporters while flying to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit in Samoa in the south Pacific, the prime minister said: “The Labour Party has volunteers, [they] have gone over pretty much every election.

"They’re doing it in their spare time. They’re doing it as volunteers. They’re staying I think with other volunteers over there.”

Asked if the row risked jeopardising his relationship with Donald Trump, the prime minister said "no" – pointing to the dinner the two men had together at Trump Tower in New York last month.

"We established a good relationship. We’re grateful for him for making the time... for that dinner," Sir Keir said.

"We had a good, constructive discussion and, of course as prime minister of the United Kingdom I will work with whoever the American people return as their President in their elections, which are very close now."

Sir Keir has never met the Vice-President Harris, Trump’s Democratic rival.

But he has met President Biden several times since becoming prime minister in July.

Welcome to our continuing live coverage of the US election. It's just hit 07:15 in the UK, and 02:15 in Washington DC:

• The Trump campaign has filed a Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint against the UK Labour Party, accusing it of "blatant foreign interference" in favour of the Harris-Walz campaign
• "When representatives of the British government previously sought to go door-to-door in America, it did not end well for them," the campaign says
• The Labour Party is sending volunteers to campaign for Kamala Harris - but Prime Minister Keir Starmer tries to play down the row, telling the BBC it has happened at previous elections