𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Andy Burnham was asked about his previous criticism of Donald Trump as he travelled to the US.

The PM told journalists on the plane: “Politicians say things throughout their career, but now the important thing is to focus on the moment you are in, and I did say to the president in our first phone call, I said Mr President, Manchester isn’t ‘some town’. I said ‘this is Manchester’.

“And so yes, the right thing to do is to have a laugh about it, isn’t it, and move beyond it.”

The former Greater Manchester mayor said that “any UK politician who gave Trump the time of day should be ashamed right now” as rioters stormed the US Capitol in 2021.

Before their first conversation, Mr Trump had suggested he knew little about Mr Burnham beyond that he was “very liberal” and the mayor of a “town”.