Burnham is heading to New York for the United Nations general assembly
Speaking to journalists on his flight to New York, Andy Burnham played down suggestions that previous critical things he has said about Donald Trump could cause a problem when they meet later.
As with almost everyone on the left of politics in the UK, Burnham has a longish record of saying disobliging things about the US president. In 2017, as mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham said that as a “matter of principle” he would not meet Trump because of the “hateful, extremist material” he posted online. After Trump backed his supporters who stormed the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 to try to overturn the presidential election result, Burnham said: “Any UK politician who gave Trump the time of day should be ashamed right now.” Only last year he accused Trump of bringing “instability to the world”.
Politicians say things throughout their career, but now the important thing is to focus on the moment you are in, and I did say to the president in our first phone call, I said Mr President, Manchester isn’t ‘some town’. I said ‘this is Manchester’.
And so yes, the right thing to do is to have a laugh about it, isn’t it, and move beyond it.
When you come into this job, you realise how deep this relationship is. We trust our allies. Of course, we do.
Burnham’s first huddle with the Lobby pack on the government jet, where he sat chatting for 38 minutes in jeans, a suit jacket and his blue Joseph’s Goal wristband. It was a more discursive affair than under Starmer. The newbie PM was so disappointed that no hacks asked him to diss Danny Dyer — see here for the very sweary context— that he volunteered the line anyway. “I’m not sure I know who he is,” said Burnham. “Is he the father-in-law of a West Ham player?”
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