Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he is prepared to challenge US President Donald Trump if doing so is necessary to protect Britain's national interests.

First talks with Trump

In his first major interview since becoming prime minister, Burnham told the BBC that while he had enjoyed a positive initial conversation with Trump, he would not hesitate to express a different view when he believed it was in Britain's best interests.

Burnham described his first exchange with the US president as "really warm" and said the two leaders had got off to a good start.

However, when asked twice whether he trusted Trump, the prime minister avoided giving a direct answer. Instead, he said: "It's a changing world, isn't it, and you just obviously have to call things as they develop."

Video screenshot

Putting Britain's interests first

Burnham said he could never promise to agree with the US president on every issue.

"I can't at any point say that I won't take a different opinion from him, that I will need to voice a different idea that is right for Britain," he said.

Asked whether he would publicly challenge Trump if necessary, Burnham replied: "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," he added.

The prime minister also said he had been concerned about Trump's decision to begin the conflict with Iran and insisted he "wouldn't hold back from saying what I think is right".

Burnham added that remaining connected to the public would continue to shape his leadership.

"My strength is remaining close to people, close to the public. That will not change as prime minister," he said.

Defence spending and election plans

Burnham declined to commit to a timetable for raising UK defence spending to 3% of GDP.

His Chancellor, John Healey, resigned from the previous government after arguing that spending should reach that level by 2030 to ensure the country's security.

Burnham said he had appointed Healey knowing his views on defence funding and acknowledged the importance of the issue.

He said the government's immediate priority was to ensure its defence investment plan was fully funded before decisions were taken ahead of this year's Budget.

Pressed again on when defence spending would reach 3% of GDP, Burnham said: "We've got to work out the way of doing that."

The prime minister also ruled out calling an early general election before 2029.

"I'm going to rule it out... I don't think people want it," he said, adding that his priority was to focus on "getting the country back where it should be".

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26 July 2026

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7 minutes ago, webfact said:

"I'm going to rule it out... I don't think people want it," he said, adding that his priority was to focus on "getting the country back where it should be".

Spoken like a true Democrat.

"I know what you want and it's certainly not the right to vote on me".

As for standing up to Trump he hasn't got the balls. Besides Trump cares more about the UK than Burnham does.

Coup leader confirms nobody wanted a vote anyway 😀.

Reminds me of Prayut.

"Dont worry. The good people are now in power".

At least Prayut exuded confidence.

Well now's his chance......haven't we just been stiffed on tariffs again due to not being part of the EU.......Brexit, the gift that keeps giving.

So he has faced an interview that is not Gary Lineker and all the BBC care about is whether or not he will challenge the UK's biggest ally and the country that actually is most aligned with UK values and is the least of the problems the UK faces, Not what he will do to force Pakistan into taking back their child rapists? Or what he will do with net zero crippling manufacturing with the highest energy prices in the world? Or his response to Iran admitting sending terrorists amongst the small boat invaders and how he plans to protect the borders? Or what he plans to do to tackle the national debt when welfare now costs more than income tax receipts? None of that? Just Trump?

11 minutes ago, James105 said:

So he has faced an interview that is not Gary Lineker and all the BBC care about is whether or not he will challenge the UK's biggest ally and the country that actually is most aligned with UK values and is the least of the problems the UK faces, Not what he will do to force Pakistan into taking back their child rapists? Or what he will do with net zero crippling manufacturing with the highest energy prices in the world? Or his response to Iran admitting sending terrorists amongst the small boat invaders and how he plans to protect the borders? Or what he plans to do to tackle the national debt when welfare now costs more than income tax receipts? None of that? Just Trump?

What has Gary Lineker got to do with anything? Weird obsession.

The rest of your post is just ranting nonsense.

Other than answering (some) questions on Reddit (just not the most upvoted ones), Burnham, before completing his coup to become PM, faced a hard hitting interview from renowned political "journalist" Gary Lineker and faced exactly the type of questions you would expect. My point is and continues to be that he has become PM of the UK without facing any actual scrutiny.

Other than spending money on giving people an extra 75p off their energy bills and reversing Labours increase in bus fares, he has faced no questions about what he is actually going to do to tackle the massive issues the UK is facing. He is the most illegitimate Prime Minister the UK has ever had.

6 minutes ago, James105 said:

Other than answering (some) questions on Reddit (just not the most upvoted ones), Burnham, before completing his coup to become PM, faced a hard hitting interview from renowned political "journalist" Gary Lineker and faced exactly the type of questions you would expect. My point is and continues to be that he has become PM of the UK without facing any actual scrutiny.

Internationalrelations insights

Other than spending money on giving people an extra 75p off their energy bills and reversing Labours increase in bus fares, he has faced no questions about what he is actually going to do to tackle the massive issues the UK is facing. He is the most illegitimate Prime Minister the UK has ever had.

Ridiculous hyperbole, as usual.

Was it a "coup" when Rishi Sunak became PM? Liz Truss? Teresa May?

Maybe my memory is foggy but I don't seem to remember posts from you denouncing those coups. Or giving them less than five minutes in office before whining.

1 hour ago, josephbloggs said:

Ridiculous hyperbole, as usual.

Was it a "coup" when Rishi Sunak became PM? Liz Truss? Teresa May?

Maybe my memory is foggy but I don't seem to remember posts from you denouncing those coups. Or giving them less than five minutes in office before whining.

I cannot stand the Tories for what they did to the UK, but all of them you mention:

1. Were elected in a general election based on a manifesto.

2. They faced scrutiny in the form of leadership elections before becoming PM.

3. They faced grilling from the media before becoming PM.

Burnham did none of that so is the most illegitimate PM the UK has ever had. I saw a clip recently where he was stood proudly outside of the new "Number 10 in the north" that taxpayer money has been frittered away on (without any mandate to do so) where he declared it as "the best day of his life". He actually sounds more like a "Make a wish" kid being given their dream job for a day than the leader of the UK. It's a disgusting abuse of UK democracy regardless of the loopholes found to make it happen legally.

Andy will expire when the next inevitable scandal comes along and the bounce goes' tits up' my money will be firmly on rubber boats, and defence being the cause🤔

25 minutes ago, sammieuk1 said:

Andy will expire when the next inevitable scandal comes along and the bounce goes' tits up' my money will be firmly on rubber boats, and defence being the cause🤔

Disagree,

It'll be property tax or net zero.

51 minutes ago, sammieuk1 said:

Andy will expire when the next inevitable scandal comes along and the bounce goes' tits up' my money will be firmly on rubber boats, and defence being the cause🤔

Why, when rubber boats are declining under Labour (down 40%, not weather related)? Finally we have a government that is doing something about them, even GB News begrudgingly admit it now.

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/small-boat-crossings-uk-data-2026-gb-news-407791/

11 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

Why, when rubber boats are declining under Labour (down 40%, not weather related)? Finally we have a government that is doing something about them, even GB News begrudgingly admit it now.

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/small-boat-crossings-uk-data-2026-gb-news-407791/

Tell me how long it takes to go this barking mad' here's .gov' own figures for the last 4 days "881" presumably just at Dover🤔

22 July 2026	172	3	0
23 July 2026	366	3	0
24 July 2026	103	2	0
25 July 2026	240	5	0

12 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

Why, when rubber boats are declining under Labour (down 40%, not weather related)? Finally we have a government that is doing something about them, even GB News begrudgingly admit it now.

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/small-boat-crossings-uk-data-2026-gb-news-407791/

Biggest single crossing of 165 happened a few days back ...........

They ain't called 'Liebour' for nothing!

Edited July 26Jul 26 by BritManToo

21 hours ago, webfact said:

he would not hesitate to express a different view when he believed it was in Britain's best interests.

I’ve heard these big words before, many times and let’s see how long you will last 🤔😂

22 hours ago, JonnyF said:

Coup leader confirms nobody wanted a vote anyway 😀.

Reminds me of Prayut.

"Dont worry. The good people are now in power".

At least Prayut exuded confidence.

Your promise to adhering to the facts and truth didn’t last long then.

5 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Biggest single crossing of 165 happened a few days back ...........

They ain't called 'Liebour' for nothing!

And how does that change what I said?

18 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

And how does that change what I said?

It shows lefties are either manipulated fools, or liars.

Which one are you?

32 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

It shows lefties are either manipulated fools, or liars.

Which one are you?

GB News are lefty manipulators now? Wow!

I prefer to look at independent statistics.

On 7/26/2026 at 11:00 AM, James105 said:

I cannot stand the Tories for what they did to the UK, but all of them you mention:

1. Were elected in a general election based on a manifesto.

2. They faced scrutiny in the form of leadership elections before becoming PM.

3. They faced grilling from the media before becoming PM.

Burnham did none of that so is the most illegitimate PM the UK has ever had. I saw a clip recently where he was stood proudly outside of the new "Number 10 in the north" that taxpayer money has been frittered away on (without any mandate to do so) where he declared it as "the best day of his life". He actually sounds more like a "Make a wish" kid being given their dream job for a day than the leader of the UK. It's a disgusting abuse of UK democracy regardless of the loopholes found to make it happen legally.

During Liz Truss’s 49 days in office can you remind me when she managed to squeeze in a general election?

12 minutes ago, retayl said:

During Liz Truss’s 49 days in office can you remind me when she managed to squeeze in a general election?

Sigh, once again despite the fact I cannot stand the Tories for what they did to the UK I will once again point out the intense scrutiny they faced before being selected as leader. Since you mention Liz Truss, she faced the following:

1. Elected in a general election based on a manifesto

2. Faced scrutiny in the form of leadership elections before becoming PM (8 week head to head campaign against Sunak)

3. Faced grilling from the media before becoming PM (3 live televised debates, a 1-hour live audience Q&A on GB News, and 2 major national broadcast interviews).

Remind me, how much scrutiny did Burnham face in comparison to Liz Truss? None, that is how much. Nor did he stand on the Labour manifesto to get elected in a general election. What he has done to become PM is an egregious abuse of democracy and he used and abused loopholes to gain this power.

Edited July 27Jul 27 by James105

22 minutes ago, James105 said:

Sigh, once again despite the fact I cannot stand the Tories for what they did to the UK I will once again point out the intense scrutiny they faced before being selected as leader. Since you mention Liz Truss, she faced the following:

1. Elected in a general election based on a manifesto

2. Faced scrutiny in the form of leadership elections before becoming PM (8 week head to head campaign against Sunak)

3. Faced grilling from the media before becoming PM (3 live televised debates, a 1-hour live audience Q&A on GB News, and 2 major national broadcast interviews).

Remind me, how much scrutiny did Burnham face in comparison to Liz Truss? None, that is how much. Nor did he stand on the Labour manifesto to get elected in a general election. What he has done to become PM is an egregious abuse of democracy and he used and abused loopholes to gain this power.

22 minutes ago, James105 said:

Sigh, once again despite the fact I cannot stand the Tories for what they did to the UK I will once again point out the intense scrutiny they faced before being selected as leader. Since you mention Liz Truss, she faced the following:

1. Elected in a general election based on a manifesto

2. Faced scrutiny in the form of leadership elections before becoming PM (8 week head to head campaign against Sunak)

3. Faced grilling from the media before becoming PM (3 live televised debates, a 1-hour live audience Q&A on GB News, and 2 major national broadcast interviews).

Remind me, how much scrutiny did Burnham face in comparison to Liz Truss? None, that is how much. Nor did he stand on the Labour manifesto to get elected in a general election. What he has done to become PM is an egregious abuse of democracy and he used and abused loopholes to gain this power.

Sigh, whilst not a Labour supporter.

1. Burnham was elected in a Parliamentary by-election.

2. The fact that no Labour M.P. Chose to stand as a candidate despite that avenue being available, is not Burnham fault.

Labour clearly needed to replace Starmer, no other viable alternative appeared. Just to remind you. UK is not a Presidential democracy ( thank God). The PM from any party is simply the Leader of the Party in power.

Trump and Burnham are both israel firsters building out the surveillance state in the respective countries so doubt they'll have much to argue about.

Peter Hitchens explains why Britain is finished
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc2oX3qaY7I

1 hour ago, retayl said:

Sigh, whilst not a Labour supporter.

1. Burnham was elected in a Parliamentary by-election.

2. The fact that no Labour M.P. Chose to stand as a candidate despite that avenue being available, is not Burnham fault.

Labour clearly needed to replace Starmer, no other viable alternative appeared. Just to remind you. UK is not a Presidential democracy ( thank God). The PM from any party is simply the Leader of the Party in power.

Labour have 400+ MPs. I would suggest if they could not find an MP from that talent puddle to surpass the incredibly low bar set by Starmer then they should have considered withdrawing from running the country and politics in general... forever. Winning a by-election in a safe labour seat they have held for 120 years is not an achievement that should guarantee the position of PM. Tommy Robinson would have won that seat if he wore a Labour rosette and promised the people of Makerfield they would solve their local pothole or bin collection issues.

Burham has twice stood to become leader of the Labour party and he has lost twice. Not to candidates of stature, but to comedy candidates such as Corbyn and Milliband. So from a Labour party perspective he is less viable as PM than Corybn or Milliband. If he had faced scrutiny or a challenge then I have little doubt he would have lost again when his lack of plan, vision or leadership ability became glaringly obvious.

On 7/26/2026 at 5:00 PM, James105 said:

I cannot stand the Tories for what they did to the UK, but all of them you mention:

1. Were elected in a general election based on a manifesto.

2. They faced scrutiny in the form of leadership elections before becoming PM.

3. They faced grilling from the media before becoming PM.

Burnham did none of that so is the most illegitimate PM the UK has ever had. I saw a clip recently where he was stood proudly outside of the new "Number 10 in the north" that taxpayer money has been frittered away on (without any mandate to do so) where he declared it as "the best day of his life". He actually sounds more like a "Make a wish" kid being given their dream job for a day than the leader of the UK. It's a disgusting abuse of UK democracy regardless of the loopholes found to make it happen legally.

What is this "No10 of the North" bit? It is 163 miles from London to Manchester, and 346 miles from London to Berwick-on-Tweed, the true North. London to Plymouth, by road, is 313 miles, one of the least-invested parts of the country.

It is his hometown not going to let anyone forget it. Like the rest he will fall on his sword, just got 3 years to do it.

On 7/26/2026 at 1:59 PM, MIke B Bad said:

Well now's his chance......haven't we just been stiffed on tariffs again due to not being part of the EU.......Brexit, the gift that keeps giving.

They're considering stiffing us due to our fascistic clampdowns on freedom of speech and Trump's justified hatred of Labour.

It will get worse under Andrew Burnham.

23 hours ago, JonnyF said:

They're considering stiffing us due to our fascistic clampdowns on freedom of speech and Trump's justified hatred of Labour.

It will get worse under Andrew Burnham.

So the T shirt is okay.....off with his head?.......you must pulling your hair out with the fascistic reaction from Reform.

2 minutes ago, MIke B Bad said:

So the T shirt is okay.....off with his head?.......you must pulling your hair out with the fascistic reaction from Reform.

Of course it's OK. Didn't you get the memo?

Farage is fair game. He's right wing. Calling for the execution and/or acid attack on a right wing figure is totally fine. Bit of bants, that's all. Lefties don't really mean anything by it. They're just kidding.

The fascistic response is reserved for right wingers. It's not funny then. You think hurty words have no consequences, do you? Oh no no no, that's incitement to violence. Off to jail with you.

Everyone knows that. 😄

#2tierBritain

23 hours ago, JonnyF said:

They're considering stiffing us due to our fascistic clampdowns on freedom of speech and Trump's justified hatred of Labour.

It will get worse under Andrew Burnham.

OMG....Brexit is going to get worse????

3 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

Of course it's OK. Didn't you get the memo?

Farage is fair game. He's right wing. Calling for the execution and/or acid attack on a right wing figure is totally fine. Bit of bants, that's all. Lefties don't really mean anything by it. They're just kidding.

The fascistic response is reserved for right wingers. It's not funny then. You think hurty words have no consequences, do you? Oh no no no, that's incitement to violence. Off to jail with you.

Everyone knows that. 😄

#2tierBritain

Oh how we larfed