Andy Burnham will today hold his first face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump in New York in a high-stakes head-to-head. The Prime Minister is set to sit down with the embattled US President, who in recent weeks has made awkward interventions over the future of the Falklands and the unification of Ireland. His disastrous war in Iran is driving up prices across the world as Mr Burnham wrestles with a cost-of-living crisis.
Prime Minister distances himself from past comments
The Prime Minister last night distanced himself from his past comments about Trump, which saw him brand the President “poisonous” and said he wouldn’t be welcome in Manchester. Pressed about his old comments, Mr Burnham said: “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.”
Formidable adversary and tense meeting anticipated
Andy Burnham is facing his biggest test on the world stage yet - a high-stakes first meeting with Donald Trump. World leaders brace themselves to go toe to toe with the mercurial US President, with the spectre of his Oval Office meltdown at President Zelensky looming in the background. Nerves were high in No10 when Keir Starmer first made the trip last year, but his secret weapon - an offer of a second state visit - smoothed over tensions.
Things are a little different this time. Trump is mired in his disastrous war with Iran, which is driving up prices in the US and damaging his popularity ahead of a tough set of midterms in November. But despite the problems piling up for the US President, he remains a formidable adversary.
Burnham hits back at Jim Ratcliffe attack on UK
Andy Burnham has hit back at billionaire Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe for talking Britain down with doom-laden warnings about the rich quitting the UK. The Prime Minister rubbished Sir Jim's claim that "Britain is on the slide" and said people could be hopeful that better times lie ahead. Sir Jim, who left the UK in 2018 to be a tax exile in Monaco, said at the weekend that the UK was in decline as he complained the UK's attitude to wealth was driving the mega-rich to leave the country.
Mr Burnham hit back, telling reporters travelling to New York: "I hear people saying the country is on the slide. We’re the fastest growing [economy] in the G7. There’s lots to be proud of, there’s a lot right with the country and I’m going to give a really upbeat message when I speak [today]. We can be hopeful about where we’re going, we can draw a line under the last decade and say this next one’s going to be different, and it is going to be different."
