Good morning. Andy Burnham is at the United Nations general assembly today and in a speech to the world (or, technically, to people in the hall and anyone watching on TV at around 2am UK time), he will say that Britain is not “on the slide”.
Speaking to reporters on the plane to New York, Burnham said:
The plan for Britain is about ‘what is our direction over the next 10 years and how do we make life more affordable for people’. That is my main priority, that’s what people are looking for.
I hear people saying the country is on the slide – we’re the fastest growing in the G7, there’s lots to be proud of, there’s a lot right with the country and I’m going to give a really upbeat message when I speak.
But the story of the day will instead focus on Burnham’s meeting with someone who does think the UK is “on the slide”, or at least claims to think that. “Your country’s in trouble. You’re on the edge of disaster,” Donald Trump told a GB News reporter recently.
In her overnight story ahead of the meeting, Pippa Crerar, who is on the trip with Burnham, says Burnham is going to adopt a middle-of-the-road approach to the US president when they meet. She says:
Government sources told the Guardian that Burnham would try to pursue a “third way” in his relationship with the US president, neither as adversarial as the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, nor as publicly fawning as [Keir] Starmer’s early approach, and relying on the strength of his personality.
This is a reference to Starmer offering Trump an unprecedented second state visit when they first met at the White House. Theresa May also found herself pimping the monarch at her first meeting with Trump. There were good reasons for both offers at the time, and they bought both newbie PMs some goodwill from the White House monster, but it did not last and both those encounters are now recalled as moments of national embarrassment. As long as today’s meeting is cordial, Burnham will probably be happy with something more low-key.
It is hard to know what can be achieved in any meeting with Trump because he is so unpredicable. Later Burnham has another meeting with a president which will get far less coverage, but may turn out to be more consequential. The PM is meeting Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, for the first time and, with the prospects of the EU-UK reset in jeopardy, there is a lot to discuss.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9am: The final day of the Lib Dem conference in Brighton starts. The debates this morning will include one on the Lib Dems’ water policy.
2.30pm: Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, gives his keynote speech at the conference.
Around 4.45pm (UK time): Andy Burnham is due to meet Donald Trump at the UN in New York.
Late afternoon/early evening (UK time): Burnham has bilateral meetings with Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, and others.
Late evening (UK time): Burnham co-chairs a meeting on the Middle East with other leaders including Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and Mark Carney, the Canadian PM.
Around 1.50am (UK time): Burnham gives his speech to the UN before flying back to the UK.
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