Trump calls Andy Burnham extremely liberal

Donald Trump has cast doubt on how he would work with Andy Burnham if the Labour MP becomes Britain’s next prime minister, describing him as “extremely liberal” and predicting he would resist further North Sea oil and gas drilling.

The US president made his first public remarks about Burnham after the former Greater Manchester mayor emerged as the frontrunner to replace Sir Keir Starmer as Labour leader and prime minister. Burnham, the new MP for Makerfield, is so far the only declared candidate in the race.

Asked on Wednesday what he knew about Burnham, Trump told reporters: “I don’t know, I think I see that he was, I guess, the mayor of a town.” He added: “I hear he’s extremely liberal, extremely, so that means he probably won’t open up the North Sea.”

Burnham’s team declined to comment on Trump’s remarks, the BBC reported.

Trump’s comments point to a likely early pressure point between Washington and a possible Burnham government: energy policy. The president has repeatedly criticised Starmer’s government for prioritising renewable energy over oil and gas exploration. He said he had urged the current prime minister to revive drilling.

“I gave Keir Starmer some pretty good advice,” Trump said. “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.”

One of the first decisions facing a new prime minister could be whether to approve the Jackdaw gas field, east of Aberdeen, and Rosebank, off the Shetland Isles. Rachel Reeves, who the BBC reported is not expected to remain chancellor under a Burnham premiership, has said she wants major new North Sea energy fields to be approved. “I think the North Sea is a crucial asset and will be for years to come and am very keen to see us use that resource,” she told the British Chambers of Commerce.

Greenpeace has argued that further drilling would not “take a penny off our energy bill” and would increase carbon emissions. The Conservatives won a by-election last week in Aberdeen South after campaigning in favour of North Sea oil and gas drilling, saying it would create jobs and strengthen energy security.

Burnham has largely avoided foreign policy during his time as mayor, after a career as a Labour minister and shadow minister focused mainly on domestic policy. But he has criticised Trump before. In 2017, he told the Manchester Evening News he would refuse to meet Trump as a “matter of principle” if the president visited Manchester during a planned state visit, accusing him of sharing “hateful extremist material” online. He also urged then-prime minister Theresa May to withdraw the invitation for a state visit.

After the 2021 riots at the US Capitol, Burnham posted on X: “Any UK politician who gave Trump the time of day should be ashamed right now.” During his campaign in Makerfield, he described US politics as “polarised” and “poisonous.”

The Guardian reported that Trump’s remarks came during a meeting with Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte in Washington, ahead of a Nato leaders’ summit in July in Ankara. Rutte was seeking to ease strains over the Iran war and Trump’s threats to reduce US troops in Europe, the newspaper reported.

According to The Guardian, Trump also said “the UK is dying” and expressed disappointment with the UK, Italy, Germany and Spain over their positions on the Middle East conflict and the Strait of Hormuz. Rutte told him that European allies had increased defence spending and supported US operations from bases in Europe. Trump praised Rutte but said allies had “let down” the United States.