Andy Burnham to indicate ‘best of Manchester’ to Donald Trump regardless of ‘city’ jibe
Andy Burnham has spoken to Donald Trump in one of his first phone calls since becoming Prime Minister, with the US President reportedly accepting an invite to visit Manchester
Andy Burnham has made Trump an offer(Image: AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Donald Trump has chatted with new Prime Minister Andy Burnham in one of his first phone calls since moving into Number 10, according to White House insiders.
This comes on the same afternoon that Mr Burnham paid a visit to Buckingham Palace to meet the King and officially take up the mantle of Prime Minister. Upon his return to Downing Street, the fresh-faced PM pledged to win over voters who are “fed up with politics” and demonstrate to the world that the UK can once again be a beacon of stability.
In his inaugural speech as Prime Minister at Downing Street, he vowed to decentralise power from Westminster and give the public more control over “life’s essentials”.
Trump has reportedly been invited to visit Manchester after Burnham became prime minister(Image: CameraSport via Getty Images)
Speaking without the lectern used by his predecessors, Mr Burnham stated he would unveil a ten-year plan later this year, and, starting on Tuesday, introduce measures to tackle the cost-of-living crisis and provide people with some much-needed “breathing space now”, reports the Manchester Evening News.
In his first pledge as Prime Minister, he declared he would “end rough sleeping in our country”. Just hours prior to his maiden speech, he paid a visit to The Passage, a homelessness charity based in London’s Victoria.
Greeted by cheers from supporters in Downing Street, Mr Burnham said: “I am acutely conscious that I am the sixth person in the last 10 years to walk up this street, the seventh prime minister since 2016, making this a moment for reflection and new resolution.
“It requires my generation of politicians to raise our game and rise to the new challenge. Britain needs to show the world that we can regain our stability once again.”
The Labour leader vowed to “make this moment a circuit breaker for Britain” – the most significant transformation in the past 40 years, featuring “a new political model and a new economic model”.
He said: “We will change politics, to make it more collaborative, more about problem solving than point-scoring, and will take power out of here and carry it into every postcode in the land, so that they can do more, and in doing more, build a new economy where we put life’s essentials back under stronger public control to make them affordable to you again, reindustrialising Britain using public procurement to back British industry.”
Andy Burnham entered Downing Street with his wife on Monday afternoon(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)
He said: “That is the fair and sustainable way to bring the welfare bill down, to meet our fiscal rules, and to honour our commitments on defence to our international partners.”
Mr Burnham wrapped up his address by calling on people to “pull with me” to “build a new national sense of unity, of common purpose and positivity”.
“Let us make this the moment when Britain starts to believe again, the moment we bring back hope,” he said.
Following his arrival at Downing Street, Mr Burnham allegedly used his initial conversation with Donald Trump to extend an invitation to the US president to visit Manchester, with Trump reportedly accepting the proposal, according to POLITICO. The alleged invitation followed Trump’s characterisation of Burnham as an “extremely liberal” politician, whom he understood to be the “mayor of a town”.
Mr Burnham ascended to the role of Prime Minister after “kissing hands” with the King – the private ceremony in which he accepted the invitation to form a government. The meticulously planned transfer of power occurred after Sir Keir Starmer had his own meeting with Charles to formally step down.
In his final appearance on Downing Street, Sir Keir declared “my work is done”, asserting that he was leaving the country “stronger and fairer” than when he assumed office just two years prior.
The speeches by the incoming and outgoing prime ministers were less noisy than Sir Keir’s announcement of his resignation last month, due to a Metropolitan Police ban preventing protesters, including anti-Brexit campaigner Steve Bray, from playing loud music outside Downing Street to drown out his words.
Among his initial duties is the appointment of his new Cabinet. All eyes are on who he will select as his chancellor, with Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood widely tipped as the favourite.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch penned a letter welcoming the Prime Minister and urging him to commit to spending cuts and rule out tax increases. She also encouraged him to grant licences for the North Sea’s Rosebank and Jackdaw and reverse the ban on new oil and gas licences.
Green Party leader Zack Polanski urged Mr Burnham to bring in rent controls, bring the water industry back under public ownership and bring in wealth taxes.
