July 26 (Reuters) – New UK 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 Sunday, whether he was willing to call out U.S. President Donald Trump.
Burnham’s predecessor Keir Starmer, who announced he was stepping down last month, had a fraught relationship with Trump, who criticised him due to differences over the U.S.-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 Monday.
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% 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% of GDP commitment.
The full interview will air on the BBC’s Panorama programme on Monday.
(Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Joe Bavier)
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