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And so, a new special relationship begins. Donald Trump has been in office and dealt with four UK Prime Ministers so far, and starting Monday, he’ll be moving on to his fifth. Andy Burnham will complete his ascent to the top of the Labour Party tomorrow – and the US president already seems happy.
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It first seemed like the pair would get off to a rocky start. When informed of Burnham’s path to becoming PM, Trump mocked him as the mayor of ‘some town’, and already had him pegged as ‘an extremely liberal guy’. His mood has certainly changed this weekend.
As reported by the BBC, Mr. Burnham is expected to announce plans for new drilling and exploration in the North Sea, going further than previous Labour manifesto commitments which vowed to honour existing contracts. Gas fields at Jackdaw and Rosebank off the Scottish coast are considered prime sites.
The former Manchester mayor is set to use his first official speech in Downing Street to unveil a number of new measures which will have ‘tangible benefits’ for people across the UK, with the cost of living remaining at the top of his agenda. In particular, Andy Burnham is also looking to lower energy bills.
Whether extracting more oil from the North Sea will resolve this issue remains up for debate – but it’s one that Donald Trump has been banging on about for a long time. Over the last 18 months, he had implored Keir Starmer to ‘open up the fields’, and often derided him for not doing so.
There will be plenty in Burnham’s in-tray on Monday. But the task of placating Donald Trump already seems to have been ticked off. Speaking on his Truth Social platform on Sunday afternoon, the Republican figurehead claimed the people of Aberdeen are ‘dancing in the streets’ over this news.
We’ll take a pinch of salt with those claims, please…
“The People of Aberdeen, in Scotland, 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! It will make the United Kingdom… one of the Richest Countries anywhere in the World!”
“Britain pays Norway Billions of Dollars a year to buy its Oil, which they get from a less valuable part of the North Sea — How ridiculous is that! That will be a big day for the Country, and will be very much appreciated by everybody. Such great potential in the UK, but it all starts with OPENING NORTH SEA OIL.” | Donald Trump
