Donald Trump has thrown down the gauntlet to the man poised to become Britain’s next prime minister, describing Andy Burnham as an “extremely liberal” politician who “probably won’t open up the North Sea” for drilling – and dismissing him as “the mayor of a town”.
The US president’s intervention, his first public reaction to Burnham since he became the sole candidate to replace Sir Keir Starmer as Labour leader, underscores a looming collision between Downing Street and the White House. Speaking at the White House on Wednesday, 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.” The president then repeated his criticism of Starmer, claiming he had given him “pretty good advice” on energy policy, and called the UK “dying”.
“Trump calls Burnham 'extremely liberal' and 'mayor of a town', warns he won't open North Sea.”
Burnham’s team declined to comment. But the former Greater Manchester mayor has a long record of confronting Trump. In 2017 he told the Manchester Evening News he would refuse to meet the US president as a “matter of principle”, accusing him of sharing “hateful extremist material” online. In 2021, after the Capitol riots, he posted on X: “Any UK politician who gave Trump the time of day should be ashamed right now.” And during the campaign for his new Makerfield seat, he described US politics as “polarised” and “poisonous”.
Trump has also trained his fire on London Mayor Sadiq Khan, calling him “grossly incompetent” and a “bad person”. Khan responded: “I’m not q…” – a quote cut short in sources.
At Westminster, Burnham has already shown a sharper political edge. After Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch dismissed him as “a pair of eyelashes and a black T-shirt” at PMQs, Burnham posted a five-second video on X with a coy look and the words: “It’s dark blue actually.” The self-deprecating riposte was seen as a devastating takedown.
Meanwhile, Burnham is preparing a major domestic shake-up: giving England’s regional mayors power to set and retain business rates, and possibly devolving income tax – though he has pledged not to raise the latter, in line with Labour’s manifesto. Allies say he wants “regional engines of growth” rather than reliance on Treasury grants.
The question of how to handle Trump will be one of the greatest tests of Burnham’s premiership. The UK is due to host the G20 summit next year and the G7 the year after – both of which Trump would attend. Burnham, who has generally avoided foreign policy as mayor, may find that impossible to sustain.