Trump calls Burnham 'a natural businessperson' but Chagos deal and West Bank sanctions expose raw tensions at first UN meeting

From the Newshound archive · first published 24 September 2026.

Andy Burnham's debut face-to-face with President Trump at the United Nations generated warm words on the surface but two diplomatic flashpoints that left the British delegation visibly squirming. Trump dismissed Labour's Chagos Islands deal — under which Britain would pay Mauritius billions to rent a base it already owns — as 'terrible and ridiculous', leaving Burnham frozen before the cameras. Trump then invited Burnham to defend Labour's West Bank sanctions, drawing only a halting reminder that he had telephoned the president about it previously.

Trump called Burnham 'a natural businessperson' and said the two leaders were 'doing very well', with aides inside No 10 privately relieved the meeting passed without a public dressing-down.

The Kremlin separately accused Burnham of 'stoking anti-Russian sentiment' after he unveiled plans for a new National Centre for Information Defence at the UN.