Donald Trump has praised Andy Burnham as a “natural businessperson” and said the UK was “more up” than under Keir Starmer. But he berated the UK for its decision to give up the Chagos Islands.
In their first face-to-face meeting, Trump gave a warm assessment of the relationship, saying he thought Burnham had a “lot of assets on his side” and would be a “great prime minister”, adding: “We talked about everything from Rolls-Royce to energy to immigration – we covered a lot.”
At a joint press conference after their talks at the UN general assembly in New York, Burnham said he and the president had “established a good connection in our early discussions and we’ve taken that further today”.
UK officials had been somewhat nervous about the meeting, as Trump had previously described Burnham as “extremely liberal” and called the former mayor of Greater Manchester as the “mayor of a town”.
But the meeting appeared to have gone to plan for both sides, with Trump praising the UK, saying: “I think you’re up. Well, they’re more now than they were with your last prime minister, let me put it that way.”
He added: “I think right now, based on my relationship with your prime minister, Andy, I think we’re doing very well.”
However, Trump was scathing about the UK’s deal to give away sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, while paying for a lease of the military base of Diego Garcia.
Asked about the deal, he said: “I don’t support it. I think it’s terrible. It was a terrible deal. They [Mauritius] all of a sudden say they have ownership. Somebody has ownership that never showed up before after decades and centuries. I think it’s ridiculous.
“No, we were talking about that, and [the islands are] strategically very important. Very important. You know, we had to send our B-2 bombers … back home to Missouri, as opposed to flying for a short period of time.
“It’s amazing how strategic it is, and I think the prime minister is going to be looking at it.”
Trump was also questioned over the Iran war and the cost of living, with the president claiming that “as soon as the war is over the prices are going to come way down”.
He later hit back at reporters questioning why he has banned some journalists from the White House, leading to a wider boycott by media organisations. Trump claimed he had a “right to clean out fake news”.
