British PM Burnham would call out Trump if in Britain’s interest, he tells BBC

LONDON - New British Prime Minister Andy Burnham “will always put Britain's interests first”, he told the BBC when asked in an interview, parts of which were released on July 26, whether he was willing to call out US President Donald Trump.

Burnham’s predecessor Keir Starmer, who announced he was stepping down in June, had a fraught relationship with Trump, who criticised him due to differences over the US-Israeli war on Iran, immigration, energy and tech regulation.

While Trump initially described Starmer's successor as “extremely liberal”, he said this week he had a “very good conversation” with Burnham, who became Britain's seventh prime minister in a decade on July 20.

In his first major interview since taking office, BBC journalist Laura Kuenssberg asked Burnham if he was willing to call out Trump if he thought it was the right thing to do.

“All leaders have to do that. 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 said.

The prime minister also said he would not call a general election before 2029.

“I'm going to rule it out. Yeah, there’s no early general election. I don’t think people want it,” he said.

On Britain’s national defence, Burnham said he was “absolutely committed” to what was promised to NATO partners.

“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,” he said.

Burnham’s newly appointed Chancellor John Healey resigned as defence minister in the previous government after saying that, unless a commitment was made to spend 3 per cent of GDP on defence by 2030, Britain would not be safe.

“We've got to work out the way of doing that,” Burnham said when pressed on the 3 per cent of GDP commitment.

The full interview will air on the BBC’s Panorama programme on July 27. REUTERS