BERLIN, Aug 30: UK leader Keir Starmer has said that US Vice President Kamala Harris replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic Party's presidential nominee has shaken up the White House race.
Since Biden, 81, dropped out five weeks ago due to concerns about his age, 59-year-old Harris has reinvigorated her party, edging ahead of Republican candidate Donald Trump in opinion polls.
Delegates rode a wave of optimism as she was officially crowned last week at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, a gathering attended by senior figures from Starmer's Labour Party.
The British Prime Minister touched on the US election during a huddle with UK political reporters Wednesday during a trip to Berlin, where Starmer met German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
"There's obviously been a profound change in the last few weeks," said Starmer, when asked by AFP if he had been impressed by the energy that Harris has injected into the campaign.
"I think everyone can see that. You saw the convention just in recent days," he added.
Centre-left Labour, back in power in Britain after 14 years in opposition, has long had close links with the Democratic Party, seeing it as a sort of unofficial sister party.
In an interview with the New Statesman magazine published earlier this month, London's Labour mayor Sadiq Khan said it was "obvious" his support lay with the Democrats. —AFP
