Burnham’s Premiership Faces First Major Test in Navigating Trump Relationship Over North Sea Drilling

Andy Burnham, poised to become Britain’s prime minister on Monday, has downplayed the difficulty of managing the relationship with President Trump.

“It’s about being yourself, isn’t it?” he told Gary Lineker, the former England footballer turned podcast host, in a video interview last week. “It’s about respecting the office, the relationship, the U.K.-U.S. relationship. Where you disagree, do it. But do it in a way that is kind of meeting him where he’s at.”

History suggests that approach is easier said than done.

Keir Starmer, Burnham’s predecessor, notably courted the American president in early 2025, hoping to insulate Britain from Trump’s frequent outbursts against allies. The image of Starmer retrieving papers Trump had dropped at a G7 summit became a lasting symbol of that dynamic.

Deference proved insufficient. Trump eventually imposed tariffs on Britain regardless. When Starmer later refused a U.S. request to use British bases for strikes at the outset of the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, the president lashed out repeatedly, branding Starmer weak and a coward.

Burnham, widely regarded as an effective communicator, expressed confidence in his ability to withstand Trump’s dominating persona.

“I like to think I’ve got some personality myself,” he said. “And I’ll just, you know, I’ll deal with him very upfront in the same way.”

British foreign policy officials anticipate no radical shift in the fundamental U.K.-U.S. alliance, which remains the cornerstone of British national security and its largest trading relationship. They do not expect Burnham to provoke Trump unnecessarily.

However, Trump’s unpopularity with the British public affords Burnham political cover to confront the American leader if necessary. When Starmer denied the base access request, Trump fumed, yet Starmer’s domestic approval ratings rose.

For his part, Trump initially claimed limited familiarity with Burnham.

“I see that he was, I guess, the mayor of a town,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office recently. “I hear he’s extremely liberal, extremely. So that means he probably won’t open up the North Sea” to expanded oil and gas drilling, he speculated.

In fact, Burnham’s aides have signaled he may announce a decision on North Sea drilling on his first day in office—a move designed to signal pragmatism to both Washington and a British electorate grappling with high energy costs. Lucy Powell, Labour’s deputy leader and a close Burnham ally, told the BBC on Sunday that the incoming premier would adopt a “more pragmatic approach” to North Sea oil and gas than Starmer, though she characterized it as a shift in emphasis rather than a reversal of policy.

Trump appeared to welcome—and perhaps exaggerate—the anticipated shift. In a Truth Social post on Sunday, he claimed residents of the Scottish port city of Aberdeen “are dancing in the streets because the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, has stated that he will be opening up, all the way, the invaluable North Sea Oil!”

Burnham has not yet spoken directly with Trump; a phone call is expected shortly after he assumes office. British officials are already looking ahead to a potential first face-to-face meeting, possibly on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in September.

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