UK PM On Trump, Iran And Defense Spending. Music And Discord In Burnham’s Message
UK’s new prime minister, Andy Burnham, who had a warm conversation with US President, has said he wouldn’t mind to “call out” Trump. The newly-sworn in UK premier has thus set the tone for a vital relationship.
Burnham told BBC in an interview on Sunday that the telephonic conversation happened on Monday, when he took over as the prime minister replacing Keir Starmer.
Burnham is the UK’s 7th prime minister in a decade. “Of course. 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 when asked if he would be willing to call out Trump.
“I can’t at any point say that I won’t take a different opinion from him, that I will need to voice a different idea that is right for Britain,” Burnham said.
Burnham did not hesitate to convey that he had had “concern” about the US president starting the conflict with Iran, and he “wouldn’t hold back from saying what I think is right”.
The comments assume significance as the US and the UK are set to convene a high-level meeting next week to discuss a potential international coalition to guarantee safe passage through the Hormuz Strait as Iran seeks to exert control of the key waterway.
Trump has repeatedly slammed the UK and other European and NATO allies, for not pulling their weight in the US-led war on Iran.
Burnham’s remark on calling out Trump if necessary was welcomed by Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “Clearly, the US is a long standing ally. We need to have good relations with them but if they do something we disagree with, we should honestly say so.”
The British prime minister also indirectly touched upon another key demand the Trump administration has been championing, though he dodged a query on when the UK would spend 3% of GDP on defense. The move to appoint John Healey, who resigned from the previous government saying that unless a commitment was made to spend that amount by 2030, the country would not be safe, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, thus comes into focus.
The UK PM said he was fully aware of what Healey had said about the critical importance of defense spending and the position that he had taken about that.
“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.
“We will continue to build the relationship as we go forward,” Burnham added.
But Trump, who had criticized Keir Starmer’s energy policy, has welcomed Burnham’s plan to fast-track oil and gas exploration in already-licensed fields in the North Sea.
In June, the Starmer administration had announced an extra £15 billion ($19.9 billion) in defense spending over the next four years.
That would boost UK’s annual defense spending to £79.1 billion by 2029, or 2.7% of GDP, still short of the targeted push by the US.
High levels of public debt and the highest borrowing costs among its G7 peers could constrain the UK’s ability to increase spending, analysts have warned.
