Burnham Holds First In-Person Talks With Trump at UN Summit

Prime Minister Andy Burnham met President Donald Trump face-to-face for the first time on Tuesday in New York, a meeting the Guardian's First Edition newsletter described as having gone "remarkably well" despite months of public sniping between the two leaders, according to the Guardian's Wednesday briefing.

What happened when Burnham met Trump in New York?

A plane carrying Burnham, a handful of UK ministers, British political journalists and Burnham's wife, Marie France, landed at a New York airport in the early hours of Tuesday ahead of the sitdown, the Guardian reported, citing political editor Pippa Crerar, who was on the flight. The afternoon meeting was described as "relaxed," with one notable moment: Trump called Burnham a "natural businessperson," a characterization the Guardian noted "will be news to Burnham." Separately, Marie France attended a "spouses lunch" with Melania Trump.

Why did the encounter matter after past public friction?

The cordial tone stood in contrast to earlier exchanges between the two men. Trump had once described Burnham as the mayor of "a town," a reference to his previous role as mayor of Greater Manchester, and Burnham had said Trump would not be welcome in Manchester. Against that backdrop, the Guardian characterized Tuesday's meeting as "one of Burnham's first major outings as prime minister" and a test of whether the pair could move past that history during the annual United Nations General Assembly gathering in New York, which the paper called "an annual festival of hobnobbing and dealmaking for global leaders."

What did Trump tell the UN General Assembly?

Trump used his own UN General Assembly address to call on nations to unite to isolate Tehran and to push down global energy prices, the Guardian reported. He also delivered what the paper described as a "bellicose defence" of his administration's foreign policy, including the decision to strike Iran.

What questions remain for Burnham and Miliband?

The Guardian's newsletter framed the warmth in Manhattan as only a partial answer to a harder question facing Burnham and Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband: how to manage the relationship with Washington at a moment when, in the paper's words, a "resurgent far right" has been "emboldened" by the Trump administration. The briefing noted that the United States has, "until recently," been the first ally Britain would call in a diplomatic crisis, leaving open how durable Tuesday's reset proves to be as both governments navigate policy disagreements abroad.

The Guardian's Hettie O'Brien wrote the briefing was intended to explore that question with Crerar, who traveled with the prime minister's delegation to New York for the encounter.