US Republican activists fly in to help out Tories

A group of young US Republican party activists will travel to the UK to help the Conservative general election campaign in a handful of marginal constituencies.

The international committee of the Young Republican National Federation is organising the trip for a group that will arrive on Saturday May 2 and spend four days campaigning before the vote.

They will be in Enfield North, where the Tories are fending off a challenge from Labour; Aylesbury, where they are under threat from Ukip, and the safer seat of Windsor.

The YRNF's website says the organisation "is excited to offer this unique opportunity to witness first-hand the 2015 general election in the United Kingdom and to help our Conservative colleagues win.

"Conservatives currently have the most support nationwide, but a clear majority in the Commons isn't guaranteed. With strong opposition from Labour on the left and smaller parties splitting the vote, polling suggests this will be the closest run election in decades."

It added the trip was being planned "by our colleagues in the Conservative party", though a party spokesman said this was inaccurate. David Lidington, the Tory MP for Aylesbury, said he had not previously heard about the plans.

Transatlantic political co-operation is fairly common. Many UK politicians and advisers earned their spurs working for either the Democrats or the Republicans, and both Labour and the Conservatives have hired top advisers from Barack Obama's campaign.

Recent polls show that the Labour party's on-the-ground campaigning may be reaching more people. Data from Lord Ashcroft, a pollster and former Conservative peer, showed that in seats that both hope to win, considerably more voters had heard from Labour than the Conservatives in the past few weeks.

Labour MPs have complained about the YRNF involvement.

Joan Ryan, Labour candidate for Enfield North said: "It says a lot when the Tories are shipping in Republicans to salvage their campaign - a party whose entire political agenda is focused on stopping any form of public healthcare."

Fiona Dent, the Labour candidate in Windsor, said: "It feels very much like a subversion of democracy when people who don't even live in the country are brought in to campaign."

But Christina Goodlander, the organiser of the trip, told the Financial Times: "There is nothing unusual about political parties visiting each other during election campaigns - and similar study visits are hosted by Socialist International and Liberal International.

She added: "The Young Republican National Federation has a longstanding relationship with Conservative Future through our membership in the International Young Democrat Union (IYDU), of which both of our organisations are founding members.

"Members of IYDU-affiliated organisations sometimes visit each other during election campaigns to learn about the electoral processes of each others' countries."

© The Financial Times Limited 2015. All rights reserved.
FT and Financial Times are trademarks of the Financial Times Ltd.
Not to be redistributed, copied or modified in any way.
Euro2day.gr is solely responsible for providing this translation and the Financial Times Limited does not accept any liability for the accuracy or quality of the translation