Trump dismisses Andy Burnham as Labour leadership race heats up
Trump called Andy Burnham “the mayor of a town” and “extremely liberal” as Labour’s leadership race tightened after Keir Starmer resigned.
Donald Trump brushed aside Andy Burnham’s rise with a remark that cut straight to the kind of British leadership Washington seems to favor. At the White House on June 24, after meeting NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Trump said he did not know much about Burnham, called him “the mayor of a town,” and described him as “extremely liberal.”
Trump’s comments landed as Burnham’s political standing surged after his decisive Makerfield by-election win on June 18. That victory sent him back to Westminster and deepened speculation that he could replace Keir Starmer as Labour leader and prime minister. Burnham won 54.8% of the vote with a majority of 9,241, a strong hold over Reform UK that underlined how quickly the race to succeed Starmer has shifted.
Starmer resigned on June 22 after mounting pressure inside Labour, setting up an orderly transfer of power that could leave Britain with its seventh prime minister in 10 years. Burnham is the front-runner, and Trump’s intervention puts him in Washington’s sights through the lens of energy policy, ideology and personal alignment.
Trump has repeatedly attacked Britain’s North Sea energy policy, and he said Burnham would probably not “open up the North Sea” for oil exploration. He has also sharpened his criticism of Starmer over energy, immigration, crime, the Iran conflict and what he has called weak leadership. Burnham has previously warned against Trump-style politics and said Trump brought “instability” to the U.S. and the world.
He can stand as an MP while serving as mayor of Greater Manchester, but if he is elected to Parliament he would immediately lose the mayoralty.
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