Keir Starmer and Mark Carney at the 2023 Global Progress Action Summit in Montreal.Canada 2020
Keir Starmer’s landslide victory in the British general election was aided in part by Canadians working behind the scenes of his campaign, including the Liberal Party’s chief digital strategist Tom Pitfield who helped design tools Labour used to target key ridings.
Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England and the Bank of Canada who is considered a potential future successor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, also helped to give the party credibility as the party of business, traditionally the territory of the Conservatives.
Mr. Carney made a cameo video appearance at the Labour Party’s annual conference last year in which he heaped praise on Rachel Reeves, who on Friday was named Britain’s first female Chancellor of the Exchequer.
It is unusual for former governors of the Bank of England to publicly offer backing to a political figure, but in an effusive endorsement at the conference, he said: “Rachel Reeves is a serious economist. She began her career at the Bank of England, so she understands the big picture. And look, it’s beyond time we put her energy and ideas into action.”
Mr. Carney also helped advise Ms. Reeves as part of a national wealth fund task force.
U.K. elects most diverse parliament in history after Labour’s landslide win
Last year, Mr. Carney met Mr. Starmer at the Global Progress Action Summit in Montreal, a gathering of centre-left leaders that included former Labour prime minister Tony Blair, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former prime minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand.
“It was a vital opportunity for Keir to demonstrate his foreign policy priorities with other world leaders at a key juncture, and for his team to continue connecting with progressive strategists about honing their vision and tactics on the way to a truly historic majority,” said Braeden Caley, president of Canada 2020, which co-hosted the summit with the Center for American Progress.
Mr. Pitfield, a friend of Mr. Trudeau’s who ran the Liberal Party’s digital operations in several past elections, worked with Labour campaign chiefs to boost support. His company Data Sciences used to be employed by Britain’s Liberal Democrats, but he worked for Labour during this election campaign.
Labour’s digital director Tom Lillywhite and campaign director Morgan McSweeney, used Data Sciences’ digital tool, called AdMarshall, to automate ads to target voters, particularly in closely fought ridings.
“In recent years far-right movements from around the world have learned to use digital tools to negatively shape public discourse, making it all the more important that like-minded progressives share best practices, tools and ideas about how to win campaigns,” Mr. Pitfield said.
“We feel really lucky to have had the opportunity to learn from the U.K. Labour team, share our own experience, implement some cool tech and stand with our U.K. friends,” he said, adding that some Canadian-based staff started working at dawn to cope with the time difference.
Labour also adapted a tool created last year to help Liberals connect across social media, and enhance grassroots and influencer engagement online. The Libsocial tool, developed by Matteo Rossi, a digital strategist who works at Liberal headquarters, is also used by Liberal MPs to enhance their social-media profile. The blueprint was adapted to create Labour’s Labsocial tool that was used by candidates and grassroots teams during the election.
The Labour party won a landslide victory, ending 14 years of Conservative rule, and more than doubling the 202 seats the party seized at the last election in 2019.