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Boris Johnson has sidestepped calls to comment on Donald Trump’s call to halt the counting of votes in the US elections by saying: “We as a UK government do not comment on the democratic processes of our friends and allies.”
Labor leader Keir Starmer had asked him in the Prime Minister’s questions in the Commons if he agreed that “it is not up to the candidate to say which votes do or do not count or when to stop counting” in US elections.
Earlier on Wednesday, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab had asked for patience to wait for the final result.
Trump falsely claimed victory in the presidential race in the early hours of Wednesday morning, even as the election remained too close to call with millions of votes yet to be counted.
He baselessly asserted that “a very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise” his supporters and confirmed the worst fears of activists and analysts who predicted that Trump would use false arguments to prevent legitimate votes sent by mail from being counted.
Other top UK conservatives, including former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, have said it would be a disaster for the democratic cause around the world if the elections end on allegations of fraud.
Johnson is personally close to Trump, but will want to keep the UK government out of the controversy over the conduct of the vote and while it may be in Johnson’s personal interest to see Trump, an enthusiastic Brexit supporter, re-elected overseas. The Office’s long-term alignment on issues like China, the Iran nuclear deal and the climate crisis leaves British diplomats more comfortable with a more predictable Biden presidency.
Trump does not want the EU and the UK to develop close trade or security relations after the UK’s Brexit transition period ends in December.
Close UK Trump supporter Nigel Farage backed Trump’s claims that the election was being stolen but, when pressured to present evidence, he was unable to do so, saying the evidence was “so new that it is still they have not come to light. “
Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy argued that in a “normal election” Labor would be more impartial, but the US president’s statements had put the country’s democracy “at stake.”
The Labor spokesman for foreign affairs said: “We are in completely uncharted territory, and this is not like any election in my life… The truth is that Britain is not just a disinterested observer in these elections. It all depends on the outcome of these elections and I think that statement [on stopping vote counts] has shown why. That issues of democracy, the right of the people to be heard, and free and fair elections are absolutely at stake in these elections.
“The United States, for a long time, assumed the role of leader of the free world. And what the United States does matter, sends reverberations around the world, and therefore there is a lot at stake in the outcome of these elections. “
