𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Andy Burnham said he does “trust” Donald Trump ahead of their crunch first meeting. The Prime Minister will come face to face with the US President in New York on Tuesday.

It could be an awkward diplomatic moment for Mr Burnham amid rising transatlantic tensions. Thorny issues like the Middle East crisis, Israeli sanctions and Irish unification could come up in their 20-minute head-to-head in the Big Apple.

Mr Trump has previously described the Labour leader as a “nice man” while the pair have held “warm” and “constructive” talks on the phone.

But Mr Burnham has previously lashed out at the US President, when he was mayor of Greater Manchester.

Speaking to reporters en-route to New York, Mr Burnham said the UK-US special relationship is “stronger than ever”.

“I think it is as strong as it’s ever been,” he said. “You know, the level of cooperation.

“When you come into this job, you realise how deep this relationship is, and as we move into new territory, in relation to the new AI defence partnership with the US.”

He added: “We’ve also had a successful launch from an autonomous submarine, again, a UK-US initiative.

“So that’s evidence of how this relationship keeps broadening and deepening.”

Asked if he trusts the President, he said: “Yes, of course, you know, we trust, we trust our allies. Of course, we do.”

Pressed on whether he trusts Mr Trump personally, he added: “Yes”.

Mr Burnham added that he is “looking forward” to meeting the Republican strongman at the United Nations.

“I’m looking forward to it. We’ve had two warm phone calls where we found a lot of common ground and connection, so we’ll see what tomorrow brings.”

Mr Burnham has previously described Mr Trump as “poisonous”.

When the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Mr Burnham insisted that the President would not be welcome in the city and that he had a “poisonous” politics.

He has since defended the remarks as “politics”.

Earlier this year President Trump described Manchester as a “small town”.

Asked how he responded when he pointed out that Manchester wasn’t a small town and that next year’s G20 is being held there, Mr Burnham said: “You know I think it was a joke, I made a joke about it.”

Asked if he laughed he added: “Yeah he did. I think maybe Manchester in the US, maybe he was thinking that, I don’t know but yeah I made a joke and I really am pleased to welcome him to Manchester and actually it’ll be a great opportunity to point to the incredible US history that there is in Manchester.”