No return to Blair-Clinton style UK-US alignment if Harris wins, Labour MP says

A Kamala Harris presidency would not lead to a UK-US alignment similar to what was seen in the days of Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, a Labour MP has said.

Josh Simons MP said it would be unlikely that such a partnership would emerge regardless of the US election result, citing the “completely different international relations context.”

Simons was speaking at a LabourList Labour conference event in partnership with US think tank Third Way, and UK think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research.

The former Labour Together director also noted the differences in systems between the UK’s first-past-the-post electoral model and the American electoral college system.

Simons said: “One thing we can be proud of in this country is we just have an election in which the median voter, transform the composition of our legislature.

“What we have shown is that when there is a major shift in public opinion, our legislature completely changes hands.”

Josh Freed, senior vice president for climate energy at Third Way, warned it was “difficult to make any predictions’ about the election, however. But he said Harris was “connecting with not just Democrats but a broader set of Americans”, he says.

Meanwhile speaking about the prospect of a second Trump presidency, Laura Chappell, associate director at the IPPR, said there would likely be fewer “adults in the room” this time.

She suggested his top team would likely be staffed by “true believers” in his project.

“We known Trump is not a multilateralist, he’s been very clear about that,” she added.

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