Next month’s budget will be made more difficult by Donald Trump’s war with Iran, one of Andy Burnham’s cabinet ministers has warned, while saying she did not expect the prime minister’s previous disparaging comments about the US president to be an issue.
Burnham is expected to meet Trump early next week at the UN general assembly summit in New York, the pair having previously spoken twice by phone since Burnham entered No 10.
As Greater Manchester mayor, Burnham said Trump would not be welcome in the city, saying also that UK politicians who indulged him “should be ashamed”.
Asked about the comments, Bridget Phillipson, the Labour chair and minister for women and equalities, told Sky News: “Look, I think what you’ve just described there is politics. The president knows that. This is far from unique.
“People will express views at different points on different topics. And that’s no bar to having a strong relationship.”
She nonetheless repeated UK condemnation of Trump’s on-and-off military campaign against Iran, which has disrupted global oil supplies, causing significant inflationary pressures, saying this would make life more difficult for John Healey, the chancellor, as he plans the budget.
The economy was, Phillipson said, “in a strong position”, especially with growth figures.
She said: “But that’s not to take away from the very real challenges that you identify, particularly where it’s come to the conflict we’ve seen in the Middle East and the impact that that’s been having on businesses and on families close to home.
“We took the decision not to involve ourselves in that conflict. That was the right call. The US will take their own foreign policy decisions, but I believe, and still believe now, it was the right decision for us as a country not to get involved in that conflict. Of course, something that, had Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage been running the country, we would have jumped headlong into a conflict with it without end.
“And yet, and we do see the consequences here at home and as we go into the budget, making sure that we are doing everything we can to give people that breathing space to tackle those challenges around the cost of living has been at the forefront of everything that Andy Burnham has done since becoming prime minister.
“I know it’s at the forefront of the chancellor’s mind as he’s planning for that budget later on next month.”
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In a later interview with the BBC, Phillipson was dismissive of comments by Jim Ratcliffe, the petrochemicals billionaire, who said this week he had lost confidence in the UK due to levels of immigration and taxation.
She said: “You’ll forgive me if I do take with a pinch of salt what someone who is a tax exile has to say about our country.” Ratcliffe is resident for tax in Monaco.
Burnham has previously defended his comments about Trump in a similar way, saying of the US president: “Well, he’s said things as well, and everyone says things as politicians. In the moment, you meet people where they’re at, and you find a connection with people, and that’s always been my style.”
With the wider UK-US relationship, there were “differences of opinion”, Phillipson said, while arguing that Burnham could see beyond those differences with Trump in maintaining invaluable ties.
She said: “We don’t have the same political outlook, but the relationship between the UK and the US goes beyond any one president, any one prime minister.
“It’s something that has stood the test of time over many centuries, despite political differences. They come and go. What matters most is the British national interest. And that’s what Andy Burnham will deliver for our country.”
