Asked if he trusts Trump personally, UK PM says yes
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham told reporters flying with him to New York that he would not retract past criticisms of Donald Trump, ahead of their first meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this week.
Speaking to journalists on the government jet, Burnham said “politicians say things throughout their career, but now the important thing is to focus on the moment you are in,” according to a live blog The Guardian published from the flight. He did not apologize for or retract earlier remarks, telling reporters instead: “And so yes, the right thing to do is to have a laugh about it, isn’t it, and move beyond it.”
The Guardian contextualized Burnham’s criticism as part of a broader pattern among “almost everyone on the left of politics in the UK,” cataloguing his “longish record of saying disobliging things” about Trump. 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.” As recently as last year, Burnham accused Trump of bringing “instability to the world.”
Asked whether he could trust Trump, Burnham said: “When you come into this job, you realise how deep this relationship is. We trust our allies. Of course, we do.” Asked specifically whether he trusted Trump personally, Burnham replied: “Yes.” The Guardian’s live blog noted that the “Yes” was “best understood by applying the Mandy Rice-Davies principle, rather than taking it literally.”
Burnham noted that Trump had been dismissive of him recently, describing him as “the mayor of a town,” but said he had addressed that description directly during their first phone call. “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’,” Burnham told reporters.
The Guardian described 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. The Guardian characterized the exchange as “a more discursive affair than under Starmer,” a reference to his predecessor, Keir Starmer. The Guardian’s live blog noted that Politico had additional color on the huddle in its London Playbook newsletter.
In a lighter moment, Burnham volunteered a comment about actor Danny Dyer when no journalist asked about him. “I’m not sure I know who he is. Is he the father-in-law of a West Ham player?” Burnham said.