Burnham's Trump Debut: Warm Praise, Chagos Ambush, and a Fiscal Crisis He Can't Escape

Andy Burnham's first sit-down with Donald Trump at the UN General Assembly produced the PM's desired warmth — Trump called him "a natural businessperson" and said relations were "more up" than under Keir Starmer. But the diplomatic niceties masked a fractious reality: Trump publicly trashed the £9 billion Chagos Islands deal as "terrible" and "ridiculous," while behind closed doors the two men clashed over Iran, AI regulation, and the UK's push for global safety standards.

##...