If Andy Burnham’s planned leadership bid remains unchallenged, the newly sworn-in Member of Parliament for Makerfield could be the U.K.’s new Prime Minister in a matter of weeks.
In the event Burnham does replace Keir Starmer, it would likely fall to him to help mend the splintered relationship between Washington and Westminster.
In recent months, Starmer’s alliance with U.S. President Donald Trump has become increasingly strained amid the fallout of the Iran war.
Trump’s remarks in the Oval Office after Starmer resigned Monday underscored how far relations have deteriorated.
Although he described Starmer as a “lovely man” and “sort of a friend of mine,” Trump strongly critiqued his premiership.
“I wish him well, but he's got two problems: energy and immigration, and crime, but energy and immigration, you know, he's really hurt himself very, very badly,” said Trump, who has repeatedly urged the U.K. to expand its drilling in the North Sea.
The U.S. President also repeated his “Winston Churchill” jibe against Starmer, lambasting the British Prime Minister for refusing to be actively involved in the Iran war. “This was not Winston Churchill we’re dealing with,” he said.
But the discord between the two leaders stretches far beyond disagreements over the conflict in the Middle East.
Trump threatened to impose a “big tariff” on Britain if it refused to scrap its digital services tax on U.S. tech companies in April.
The U.S. President’s verbal attacks on the NATO alliance have also caused friction. At the start of the year, Starmer condemned Trump's false claims that non-American NATO troops “stayed a little back” from the front line during the war in Afghanistan. He referred to the remarks as “insulting and, frankly, appalling.”
Will Burnham be able to heal the rift in what is often described as the “special relationship” between the U.K. and U.S.?
“Whoever occupies No. 10, and whoever is in the White House, need to be able to do business with each other, and they need to be able to get on in order to do that business,” Andrew Roe-Crines, a senior lecturer in political communication at the University of Liverpool, tells TIME.
Here's what Burnham previously said about Trump and U.S. politics:
In one of his most direct criticisms of the President, Burnham argued last year that Trump’s return to office had shaken global politics.
Burnham said several decisions made by Trump, including his approach to the Russia-Ukraine war, were “out of order” and were bringing “instability to the world.”
He also criticized the views of Nigel Farage, leader of the right-wing Reform UK party and a longtime ally of Trump.
Pushing back against Farage’s outlook on the National Health Service (NHS), Burnham insisted “we don't want a U.S.-style health system in this country.”
Burnham’s public criticism of Trump dates back to the President's first term in office.
In a 2016 interview after Trump won his first presidential election, Burnham said he found Trump’s rhetoric troubling, but he suggested politicians should shoulder the blame for Trump’s success rather than the voting public.
“We have to look closer to home, and say, well, how about the parties that have represented the areas that are feeling this? Are we doing enough in representing them, and what are we doing to respond to their concerns?” argued Burnham.
He specifically called on lawmakers on the left to engage with “working class communities that feel that politics hasn’t worked for them.”
In 2017, Burnham rejected the idea of potentially meeting Trump during a U.K. visit, describing the decision as “a matter of principle” after the President reposted videos shared by far-right figures in Britain.
Burnham branded U.S. politics “polarized” and “poisonous”
During the Makerfield by-election campaign, Burnham frequently presented himself as a candidate capable of pushing back against political division and often drew comparisons between the trajectory of British politics and that of the U.S.
"Politics is getting more polarized. And the path we're on, if we are not careful, is a path towards the politics of the United States of America," he warned on June 13. "A polarized, poisonous politics where people in communities don't work together anymore."
Burnham explicitly contrasted himself with Reform UK and its anti-immigration platform. Reform ultimately lost to Burnham in Makerfield, where he secured 55% of the vote.
The newly-elected MP returned to the topic in the first rally after his by-election victory.
“There was a risk that we would carry on seeing Britain and the politics of our country go down a path towards greater darkness and division and ending up somewhere like the United States of America, where people don't talk to each other in the street if they vote different ways or in their workplace. We will not let that happen here,” he said.
“In the U.K., we have traditionally had a political culture where it is possible for ideological enemies to get on as friends,” Roe-Crines explains. “That's the kind of thing that Burnham says that we need to retain, whereas in the U.S., I would say that ship has arguably sailed.”
Burnham previously defended the approach Starmer took in dealing with Trump, arguing that it was necessary in order to maintain a strong relationship with Washington.
When Trump returned to the White House, Starmer sought to cultivate ties, notably presenting him with a letter from King Charles III inviting him for a second state visit to the U.K.
In an interview, Burnham endorsed that strategy, signaling continuity in Britain’s diplomatic approach while also suggesting there should be limits to accommodating Washington.
“Normally you would want a good relationship with the U.S., but if you can’t agree with them, then say that as well. That’s the only way I think to deal with him,” he said.
“Obviously, the relationship is important to the U.K., but not to the point where we just go along with anything they say. We’ve got in trouble in the past when that happens, so no, I think the approach that Keir has taken is the right one.”
Roe-Crines argues that Burnham may even have a “softening of the language about Trump.”
“Burnham will want to mend relations between the Prime Minister’s office and Washington, so in order to do that, he'll probably either say nothing or say nicer things about Trump, commenting on the areas of mutual interest in order to help solidify the relationship,” he predicts.
Burnham has criticized the U.S. approach to the Iran war
While still mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham was openly critical of the early stages of the joint U.S.-Israeli offensive that killed Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“The idea that you take out a leader and then the whole of the population there just unites behind that change it's simplistic,” he argued in March.
Burnham said he had spoken with an Iranian national who told him that “Iranian public opinion is not as straightforward as people think.”
He also said the conflict in Iran "parallels" the Iraq war and highlighted the danger of entering a conflict without a plan for what comes next.
“If there's no plan for the aftermath, well, where does it then go?” he said, adding that “care is needed to think through and not get swept up into the moment.”
The active conflict has since been paused by a cease-fire agreement between the U.S. and Iran under a 14-point memorandum of understanding signed by Trump and Iranian officials.
The agreement remains fragile, however, with fighting between Israel and Hezbollah threatening to undermine one of its key provisions—a cessation of hostilities in Lebanon.
U.S. President Donald Trump and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer hold a press conference at the conclusion of a state visit in Aylesbury, England, on Sept. 18, 2025. —Leon Neal––Getty ImagesBurnham may be open to hearing one of Trump’s key arguments regarding the U.K. and energy
In Manchester, Burnham laid out a target for the northern city to become carbon neutral by 2038, taking measures such as investing in electric buses to keep the city on track with its goal.
But he has yet to fully detail his plans for climate action on the national level.
Trump has repeatedly lambasted Labour’s approach to North Sea oil and gas production, arguing that Britain is unnecessarily restricting domestic energy supplies.
“The U.K. has a much better portion of the North Sea. They don't want to do it for environmental purposes,” he said.
The U.K.’s environmental policies have become a frequent target for Trump, whose Administration has moved to roll back climate measures.
Starmer’s Labour government came into power aiming to phase out fossil fuels from the U.K.’s electricity generation by 2030.
Last year, it announced its intent to ban new North Sea oil and gas licenses.
Burnham has signaled he isn’t against reconsidering British access to North Sea oil and gas. “I’ve got something of an open mind, you know. I don’t have a sort of fixed position,” he said in early June.
But the approach is unlikely to change if Ed Miliband is announced as part of Burnham’s cabinet. The current Energy Secretary, who has reportedly been eyeing a job with Burnham, has staunchly defended the decision to stop new drilling in the North Sea.
Elsewhere, Burnham has repeatedly argued for bringing energy and water "back under stronger public control.”
TIME has reached out to Andy Burnham’s office for comment.
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