Andy Burnham: I will call out Donald Trump
Andy Burnham has spoken in his first major interview since becoming Prime Minister.
Andy Burnham says he is prepared to call out Donald Trump if it is the right thing to do.
In his first major interview since becoming Prime Minister, Mr Burnham says he will defend Britain’s “national interest before anything else”, including going against the wishes of the US president.
However, he said his first exchange with Mr Trump was “really warm”, and when he was twice asked if he would trust the US president, he said: “It’s a changing world, isn’t it, and you just obviously have to call things as they develop.”
Speaking to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Burnham said: “I can’t at any point say that I won’t take a different opinion from [Trump], that I will need to voice a different idea that is right for Britain.”
He added: “My strength is remaining close to people, close to the public - that will not change as Prime Minister.”
During the interview he was asked if he would call out Mr Trump if it was the right thing to do, and he said: “Of course … you have to defend your own national interest before anything else.
“That’s what you’re required to do if you’re to do this job properly.”
Mr Burnham also said he had “concern” about the president starting the conflict in Iran, and said he “wouldn’t hold back from saying what I think is right”.
During the interview the Prime Minister was also questioned on defence spending.
The UK Government under his predecessor Sir Keir Starmer had previously committed to increasing defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP. Mr Burnham, however, has refused to set a date on when this will happen.
His new chancellor, John Healey, resigned from Sir Keir’s government over defence spending and said that unless a commitment was made to reach this target by 2030, the country would not be safe.
Mr Burnham said: “I appointed my new chancellor very aware of what he had said about the critical importance of defence spending and the position that he had taken about that.
“The first challenge facing us both is to ensure that the defence investment plan is fully funded and that’s the thing that’s right in front of us and we need to work that through as we go towards the budget later this year.”
During the interview Mr Burnham also explicitly ruled out the idea of an early general election before 2029.
There had been some speculation he might call an early election to secure his own mandate to rule as Prime Minister.
However, he said: “I’m going to rule it out. I don’t think people want it.”
He added his focus was going to be on “getting the country back where it should be”.
The full interview with Ms Kuenssberg will be broadcast on BBC Panorama on Monday evening, and be uploaded to BBC iPlayer on Monday morning.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.