Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he will call out Donald Trump to defend Britain's 'national interest before anything else'. The Prime Minister told BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that he had a 'warm' conversation with the US President shortly after becoming Britain's new leader.
Phone call with Trump
The pair spoke over the phone on Monday, within an hour of Mr Burnham arriving in Downing Street. “I can’t at any point say that I won’t take a different opinion from him [Donald Trump], that I will need to voice a different idea that is right for Britain,” said Mr Burnham. The PM said he would publicly disagree with Mr Trump if necessary, adding: “You have to defend your own national interest before anything else. That’s what you’re required to do if you’re to do this job properly.”
Asked twice if he would trust Mr Trump, Mr Burnham only replied: "It's a changing world isn't it, and you just obviously have to call things as they develop." After their phone call, Mr Trump stated in a post on Truth Social that Mr Burnham 'has got a big job ahead of him, but he will be able to do it' and pledged that the US 'will be there to help'. Downing Street described the 20-minute conversation as “extremely warm”. It comes after relations between Washington and Sir Keir Starmer’s government became increasingly fractious over the Iran conflict.
No early general election
The Prime Minister also repeated his previous comments about ruling out an early general election, saying Britain had 'voted for a manifesto' in 2024. On Friday, when asked by the Manchester Evening News if he was going to call a general election, Mr Burnham said: “No I’m not. I don’t think that is right." “We live in a parliamentary democracy. There was a manifesto in 2024. I’m sticking to that manifesto. I’m bringing forward my version but it is still within that manifesto. I just think that we need to focus on making the country work.
“That is the biggest priority right now. A general election would postpone that essential work. I’m also trying to do politics differently, as I did when I was mayor of Greater Manchester.” On Sunday, he repeated those sentiments to the BBC. “There’s no early general election. I don’t think people want it,” he said. He added: “I just think what I most need to do is get Britain focused on getting the country back where it should be.”
Defence spending
Defence policy was also raised during the BBC interview, with the PM also refusing to be drawn on a timetable for increasing spending to three percent of GDP. Mr Burnham said he was 'very aware' of Chancellor John Healey’s position and resignation as Sir Keir’s defence secretary following disagreements over the issue. He said: “The first challenge facing us both is to ensure that the defence investment plan is fully funded and that’s the thing that’s right in front of us and we need to work that through as we go towards the budget later this year.”
Mr Healey accused the former chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and Sir Keir, of putting the country’s security at risk with a disagreement over the long-awaited defence investment plan. The former PM had said he would increase defence spending by £15 billion. This would put the UK on a trajectory for defence spending to hit three percent of GDP in the next parliament, according to Sir Keir, but this would still be below the Nato target of 3.5 percent by 2035. It had been speculated that Mr Burnham could increase defence spending to meet Nato’s target. He told reporters on Wednesday that he and Mr Healey wanted to 'honour' the UK’s Nato commitments.
The full interview will be available on BBC iPlayer on Monday from 6am and on Panorama on BBC One on Monday at 8pm.
