US Democrats Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are at the heart of a new transatlantic left

In May 2017, a few weeks before the general election, Jeremy Corbyn’s poll numbers were in the basement and morale among his supporters in Momentum was dipping.

At that moment, a group of American activists arrived in Britain to help galvanise the campaign. Fresh from the excitement of Bernie Sanders’s 2016 presidential insurgency, which nearly won him the Democratic nomination, the Bernie activists shared their techniques for whipping up fervent volunteer support.

“The fact these people came over from America and gave us their time and their ideas really inspired people,” recalled Adam Klug, a co-founder of Momentum.

Special relationship: Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour would love some of Ocasio-Cortez’s charisma YUI MOK

This is the new special relationship, a commonality of causes and exchange of ideas that is helping drive a resurgent Anglo-American left. Each is drawing succour from