UK denies Kenya vote lobbying

Britain was tonight forced to deny a “suspicious and rather animated involvement” in an emerging row over Kenya’s election results.

The accusations of interference in Monday’s election, where votes are still being counted, came from the Jubilee coalition of electoral frontrunner Uhuru Kenyatta, who called on Britain to explain “an upsurge” of its troops in the country.

The Foreign Office described the accusations as “false and misleading”, and said that British troops who arrived last week for training had been scheduled for the trip nine months ago. Mr Kenyatta’s alliance also accused British high commissioner Christian Turner of behind-the-scenes lobbying.

Mr Kenyatta was leading by 53 per cent to his rival, Raila Odinga’s 42 per cent, according to the latest provisional count. That count does not include rejected votes – which could amount to 6 per cent of all ballots cast. His alliance accuse Mr Turner of canvassing for the rejected votes to count.