Donald Trump has described Andy Burnham as “extremely liberal” and predicted he “probably won’t open up the North Sea” for oil exploration, in his first public comments about the would-be British prime minister.
The US president also referred to Burnham, the newly elected MP and former Greater Manchester mayor, as “the mayor of a town”. Burnham is currently the only contender to succeed Sir Keir Starmer, who remains prime minister until a successor is chosen.
Trump’s Criticism of Starmer’s Energy Policy
Trump had repeatedly lambasted Starmer over his energy stance, particularly the refusal to allow further oil drilling in the North Sea in favour of wind power. The president argued this had hurt Starmer “very, very badly”.
Speaking at the White House, Trump said: “I don’t know, I think I see that he was, I guess, the mayor of a town. I hear he’s extremely liberal, extremely, so that means he probably won’t open up the North Sea.”
He added: “I gave Keir Starmer some pretty good advice. I said open up the North Sea, go to Aberdeen, which was the hottest city of the whole continent. It was the oil city of Europe, and they closed everything. It was terrible. I couldn’t believe it.”
North Sea Oil and Norway Comparison
Trump claimed that “every oil company” had approached him seeking access to the UK for drilling. “The North Sea is loaded,” he said. “The amazing thing is they buy their oil from Norway, which gets the oil from the North Sea. Think of it, and they pay a big premium. Norway’s got now two trillion dollars in the bank, and the UK is dying, so they should open up the North Sea, and it’s an easy one, and a lot of good things are going to happen. It’s among the greatest deals in the world.”
Disappointment Over Iran Conflict Response
Trump also expressed disappointment with the UK’s response to the Iran conflict. Starmer initially denied the US use of British military bases for bombing campaigns against Iran, though limited permission was later granted for defensive strikes. The president said: “I was disappointed with the UK. He [Starmer] has now gone, and you know, he had a lot of problems, but we were disappointed with the UK, we were disappointed with Germany and France. We were disappointed with most of them.”
He singled out Spain as “a horror show” and “terrible”, accusing it of wanting a “free ride” on defence spending.
Nato Chief’s Efforts to Smooth Relations
Trump made his comments during a meeting with Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte ahead of a crucial summit in Turkey. Rutte sought to ease tensions over Iran and US threats to reduce troop numbers in Europe. Using bar chart displays favoured by Trump, Rutte highlighted increased defence spending by Nato members and thanked the president for bringing it about.
Rutte said: “I know there have been isolated cases about which you are really disappointed, but generally speaking your European allies have been there with you.” He noted that up to 5,000 US planes took off from bases in Europe before the Tehran-Washington ceasefire, adding: “It would have been very difficult to do Iran without having Europe as a power projection platform for the United States.”
The row over UK military spending had led to the resignation of Defence Secretary John Healey.
