Common challenges
The collaboration is just one strand in a growing transatlantic network of center-left think tanks and political operatives shaping policy and political messaging in Washington and London.
Common challenges on both sides of the Atlantic include immigration, housing and pressure from the left on issues such as the Gaza crisis.
Matthew McGregor, the former Labour digital director who also worked as a campaign strategist for former U.S. President Barack Obama, told POLITICO last month that collaboration between Labour and the Democrats had traditionally been “one-way traffic” — but that this is now changing.
For the first time in almost 25 years, McGregor said, the Democrats believe they have something to learn from Labour, after Starmer’s party returned to winning ways not seen since the era when U.K. PM Tony Blair and U.S. President Bill Clinton talked up a progressive center-left “third way.”
In particular there is interest Stateside in Labour’s journey since crashing to a heavy defeat in 2019 under previous leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is far left of center.
“Labour is one of the only Western parties that have recently won, or look likely to win, from the center left,” McGregor said.