Messina trounces Axelrod in British elections Many were skeptical that American-style political consulting could translate to Britain’s rough-and-tumble parliamentary system.

At 9:21 a.m. Eastern Time on Friday in America, former top Obama aide David Axelrod conceded the UK election.

“Congratulations to my friend @Messina2012 on his role in the resounding Conservative victory in Britain,” Axelrod wrote on Twitter.


The surprisingly decisive victory for Prime Minister David Cameron and his Tories also delivered a big win to Jim Messina, President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign manager, who advised the Conservative Party and triumphed over his fellow Obama aide, Axelrod, who advised the Labour Party.

Both were gracious, downplaying any talk of rivalry.

There was “no bet, but he’s my brother,” Messina said of Axelrod during an interview Friday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

Messina and Axelrod weren’t the only operatives abroad. Reggie Love, Obama’s former body man, helped the Conservatives with their field and social media efforts. Two partners in Axelrod’s old firm, AKPD, Larry Grisolano and Mike Donilon, were also advising the Labour Party and its then-leader Ed Miliband. (Miliband resigned early this morning following the election defeat.) And Blue State Digital’s political director, Matthew McGregor, worked on Labour’s digital and rapid response efforts.

Despite the drastic differences between British and American elections — U.K. elections have no television advertising, the dominant medium in U.S. campaigns, along with an openly partisan press and far less fundraising — Americans have long worked on both sides of the British aisle. A slew of advisers to President Bill Clinton worked for Prime Minister Tony Blair, often considered Clinton’s partner in liberal centrism. Pollster Stanley Greenberg, for one, has long advised the Labour Party.

Messina said on Friday that the British Conservative Party’s electoral victory “stunned the world.”

“All elections are always about the future, especially an economic future,” Messina said on MSNBC, arguing the results “stunned the world.” “It looks like he’s going to have an absolute majority which I don’t think many people thought we’d have.”

He also slammed the way-off-the-mark predictions going into the election.

“I think most public polling is garbage, and is wrong,” Messina said from London.

Celebrating on Twitter, Messina cited a YouGov UK poll that reinforced his point.

Campaigns are about future & Cameron was viewed as having the more optimistic vision for future by 10+ pts https://t.co/0JZXV1JGWy — Jim Messina (@Messina2012) May 8, 2015

The latest results showed Tories claiming 331 seats compared to Labour’s 226, good enough for a slim majority in the 650-seat House of Commons. It’s a sharp contrast from earlier polling suggesting that the country might have been headed for another hung parliament and coalition government, as in 2010.

In the lead-up to the election, Messina and Axelrod and their potential rivalry were often the focus of the British press. Conservative-leaning papers went out of their way to point out Axelrod’s relatively low visibility and repeatedly mentioned his reported £300,000 salary. Miliband described the Chicago-based operative, who has largely retired from consulting and now works at the University of Chicago, as “a huge asset to our campaign as we work to show the British people how we can change our country for the better.”

But in an interview with POLITICO Europe in the days before the election, Axelrod made clear he played a smaller role.

“Consulting on the phone, mainly consulting on message. I’ve been here half a dozen times,” he said.

Messina, whose role in the Conservatives’ re-election strategy was downplayed from when he was first hired, didn’t receive as much harsh treatment but his actions were still closely tracked by the British media.

At least one semi-major political figure has blamed the increased presence of Americans for coarsening British political debate.

“What I’m seeing in this election is the influence of these big American advisers and it’s becoming the most negative, personal and nasty campaign I’ve ever seen,” Nigel Farage, the leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party, told a radio station in the months leading up to the election. Farage lost his seat in Thursday’s election.

Follow @politico