British diplomats are once again smoothing the way for bilateral talks between Washington and London, as yet another Prime Minister with a history of decrying President Donald Trump has to eat his words and make nice.
U.S. President Donald Trump will meet UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York today, his schedule shows. The meeting, which could last up to 45 minutes, will be the first time the two leaders have met in person since former Labour Mayor-turned-PM — by way of a palace coup against erstwhile leader Sir Keir Starmer — took the top job in British politics in July.
So far, little distinguishes Burnham from his predecessor in office on policy, and the same may be said for his government’s private attitude towards the American President, with national interest and simple realpolitik demanding a best-foot-forward approach. Like Starmer, Burnham’s cabinet has a history of intemperate remarks about President Trump, but the new Prime Minister seems to have gone even further personally in the recent past. As earlier reported:
In 2017, speaking as the Mayor of Manchester, Burnham said that because President Trump was involved with “hateful, extremist” politics, he would refuse to meet with him at all on principle.
At the time, Burnham called for the government to block Trump from travelling to the United Kingdom, saying the American leader’s “extreme views” go against “the values that people here stand for”. In 2021, Burnham again spoke out against Trump, opining that “any UK politician who gave Trump the time of day should be ashamed right now.”
Britain’s state broadcaster, the BBC, reports that as recently as this summer, while Burnham was running in the Parliamentary election to make him eligible to be Prime Minister, the now-leader expressed his distaste for America, calling American politics “poisonous”.
Starting his term as Prime Minister with an immediate ‘U-turn’, Burnham went back on wanting to block Trump from Manchester when he was mayor, to now immediately inviting him to the city next year in his first call with the President on Monday, suggesting the damage control is already underway.
Despite the hard work of British diplomats to keep UK-U.S. relations alive regardless of the antipathy towards President Trump among the Westminster political class, it seems doubtful the U.S. President and Prime Minister Burnham will find much common ground. When speaking about Britain, President Trump has long stuck to a handful of policy areas that he argues, if tackled, could generate enormous quality-of-life improvements for Britons with little effort. Among them are tackling mass migration and using the country’s vast natural energy wealth to cut the cost of living.
As reported in April of President Trump’s position:
President Trump told the British government: “Europe is desperate for Energy, and yet the United Kingdom refuses to open North Sea Oil, one of the greatest fields in the World. Tragic”.
President Trump reflected that Aberdeen, the port in Scotland closest to the North Sea gas and oil field and which in the past has been one of the wealthiest cities in the world, “should be booming” from the oil trade. He continued: “Norway sells its North Sea Oil to the U.K. at double the price. They are making a fortune. U.K., which is better situated on the North Sea for purposes of energy than Norway, should, DRILL, BABY, DRILL!!!”.
It’s “absolutely crazy” that the United Kingdom insists on importing energy, at some of the highest prices in the world, President Trump said.
Former Prime Minister Starmer’s attitude towards these suggestions — to which he was massively ideologically opposed — can at best be described as awkward embarrassment and polite disregard. How Burnham will take it, if publicly confronted with such advice, is unclear, but there is precious little evidence his views are different from Starmer’s in any substantial manner. At the very start of his leadership there was some belief he might relax net-zero rules to allow new drilling in the North Sea to ease Britain ‘s crippling dependence on expensive imports, but this has since gone quiet.
Nevertheless, anyone hoping for a great clash of personalities may come away from today’s meeting disappointed: despite former Prime Minister Starmer’s evident dislike for President Trump during his time in office, the U.S. leader always went out of his way to note that, no matter how different politically the men were, he found Starmer to be a “lovely man” with a “beautiful wife”.