NEW YORK (AP) – British Prime Minister Andy Burnham faces a double test on the world stage Tuesday when he meets U.S. President Donald Trump for the first time and addresses the United Nations General Assembly.
It’s a baptism of fire for the neophyte leader, who has gone from mayor of the northwest England city of Manchester to leader of a G7 country in a matter of weeks.
He will urge Trump to step up U.S. support for Ukraine and hopes to avoid U.S. criticism of the U.K.’s decision to ban trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
He also will try to send a message that Britain can play a key role in solving the world’s biggest challenges, from conflict in the Middle East to the dizzying evolution of artificial intelligence. And he will attempt to turn the page on a decade of Brexit-driven discord with the U.K.’s European neighbors.
As he flew to New York for the annual gathering of world leaders, Burnham announced he had authorized limited military support for Saudi Arabia to repel attacks from Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. A Royal Air Force plane will refuel Saudi jets engaged in “defensive” action to shoot down Houthi missiles, he said.
Burnham said he would raise with Trump ways to end the on-off war between the U.S. and Iran, which has choked off oil tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz and sent global fuel prices soaring. Houthi attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure are making the problem worse while rendering Burnham’s pledge to ease cost of living pressure for British voters even harder.
“We want to see an end to the conflict as quickly as possible and we stand ready to play our part,” Burnham said.
He also will urge the U.S. president to provide air-defense missiles to Ukraine ahead of another winter of Russian attacks.
Burnham told reporters he would try to find “common ground” with Trump, who has called the center-left U.K. leader “a nice guy” but “unfortunately” a liberal.
The prime minister said he and Trump had “found a connection” in two phone calls since Burnham took office in July.
Burnham plans to strike a note of “hope” in his speech to the General Assembly on Tuesday evening, despite warning the world faces “dark clouds of instability.”
Burnham said he would focus on AI, arguing it’s possible to be “clear-eyed” about both the benefits and risks of the technology. He will argue the U.K. is well placed to be an “honest broker” in seeking global agreement to guide its development, because London has good relations with both the U.S. and Europe and “a strong dialogue” with China.
He also will say Britain is moving on from the tumultuous decade since the U.K.’s 2016 decision to leave the European Union. He suggested Brexit was a point at which the country took a wrong turn, fueled by misinformation.
The policy of Burnham’s Labour Party government is to seek closer relations with the EU without reversing the decision to leave the now 27-nation bloc. Burnham hinted that he could go further at the next national election, which is due by 2029.
He told reporters that in the past decade, Britain had experienced “the turbulence that comes when outside actors seek to manipulate, distort facts, influence the British democratic process.”
“Going into the next decade we need to be clear-eyed about that and stronger and more on the front foot about challenging that,” he said.
“We can be hopeful about where we’re going,” Burnham added. “We can draw a line under the last decade and say, ‘This next one’s going to be different."”
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