UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham meets President Trump for the first time

A man in a dark blue suit, a blue tie and glasses reach forward to shake hand of a man in a dark blue suit and a red tie. Both me are sitting on black leather seats with a small table in between. There are US and UK flags behind and a wall with United Nations General Assesmbly stamped all over it.

1 hour ago

The UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has had a meeting with the US President Donald Trump for the first time.

The two leaders met at the United Nations General Assembly, an annual gathering of world leaders.

The two held private talks then spoke to the press with Burnham saying that they had established "a good connection" and Trump commenting that UK-US relations are "more up now".

Read on to find out more.

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How did the meeting go?

The BBC's political editor Chris Mason described the meeting as "Prime Minister Andy Burnham, a mayor a matter of months ago, sat next to the most powerful man in the world."

President Donald Trump has had some explosive meetings in the past so people were eager to see how the two leaders had got on.

Chris Mason asked the first question: Was the prime minister a man you can do business with, given your political differences?

"I do, I think he's a natural business person," President Trump said.

We've had a lot of discussions even before this meeting. We've spoken to each other numerous times on the phone. Yeah, I think so, I think so. He gets it. He understands what he has to do."

Speaking to reporters, Burnham said he had "established a good connection" with Trump and they had "taken that further today".

What did the two leaders talk about?

Image caption,
An aerial view of Diego Garcia

While the main talk was private, after their meeting the two leaders spoke to members of the press and revealed some of what they had discussed.

One topic which came up was the Chagos Islands deal.

The Chagos Islands are a group of more than 60 individual tropical islands in the Indian Ocean which used to be part of Mauritius, but have belonged to the UK since 1965.

One of the islands, Diego Garcia is home to a UK-US military base.

In May former UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer signed a deal to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and lease back a key military base for £101 million a year.

The deal has been paused because President Trump does not agree with it.

Speaking on Tuesday, Trump said: "I think the prime minister is going to be looking at [the deal]."

Burnham replied: "Yep."

Andy Burnham who became prime minister in July 2026, later told broadcasters he has "inherited the situation and we need a resolution".

A picture showing a number of colourful houses in Stanley, the capital of the Falkland Islands. — Image caption,
The Falkland Islands were also discussed

Burnham also suggested that his private discussions with Trump included the Falkland Islands.

This is after Argentina's president Javier Milei made comments a few weeks ago saying they belong to Argentina.

Although the US has long been neutral regarding the territory, US President Trump suggested following these comments that he would not support the UK in a potential future conflict with Argentina over it.

Burnham told broadcasters: "We will stand firm in the face of any threats, we will defend the right of the Falkland Islanders to self-determination and to remain British.

"And I just wanted the [US] president to know directly from me, that's the clear British position, and he very much understood what I was saying."