From Manchester to Manhattan. Yesterday, the former Mayor of ‘some town’ now Prime Minister of our nation had a very big day, as the world watched his first meeting with the ever unpredictable leader of the free world.

In taking a moment to try and think about how one would handle meeting Trump (beyond talking about golf) I think we can all agree that his famously volatile nature would probably make the majority of world leaders feel slightly uneasy when going into their first sit-down opposite ‘The Donald’.

And that’s exactly what he wants.

READ MORE: Labour Party Conference 2026: Full LabourList events programme, revealed

Naturally, it is therefore a genuine relief to see our ever-personable PM seem to begin this reset of relations with the US on a positive note. Watching the pair sit down in front of the cameras yesterday, Trump seems to be much happier dealing with Burnham than he was Starmer by the end of their relationship.

Trump referred directly to Burnham’s impact on the state of UK and US relations, saying “They are more up than they were under your last prime minister.” He also referred to Burnham as a “natural business man” that he thought would be a “great prime minister” – the former compliment carrying much more weight in Trump’s assessment of a man than the latter.

But while it was all smiles yesterday, and Burnham could ever so gently tease Trump over his dismissive langugae regarding Manchester, it is not worth forgetting the first few meetings between our former PM and Trump either.

Become a friend of LabourList and join our community. Our friends support our vital non-factional work and get access to exclusive content and events. 

Starmer, to begin with, was considered a ‘Trump whisperer’. In the early days of their relationship, he was able to secure a significant trade deal with the US after delivering the ultimate flattery in the form of a handwritten letter from the King offering an historic second state visit. It was all smiles then, too.

Yet, the relationship broke down once Starmer did the very thing Trump hates most. He said ‘no’.

When Trump went after Greenland, and Starmer made it clear this was not something Britain would support, the relationship quickly soured. Then, as the Iran war began and the former PM decided not to blindly follow the Americans into it, things went from bad to worse.

Besides the likes of Badenoch or Farage who seem to think foreign policy is just a case of America saying “jump” and Britain responding “how high?”, the general consensus in the UK was that Starmer had done the right thing on these matters.

Subscribe here to our daily newsletter roundup of Labour news, analysis and comment– and follow us on TikTok, Facebook. You can also write to our editor to share your thoughts on our stories and share your own. The best letters are published every Sunday.

Burnham may be fortunate in that he is not inheriting a situation in which he has to ‘stand up’ against the President – for now. Judging from Trump’s previous behaviour and clear ‘might is right’ approach to global politics, the day we could expect Burnham will need to take a stand could also come at any time.

AI appears to be the first issue in the near future we may see a clash over. Burnham has shown an appetite to work across the G20 and G7, using Britain’s presidency role in 2027 to encourage global regulations that would guard against the unknown future the tech-billionaires are insistent on hurtling us towards.

Trump, on the other hand, has made it clear he holds no such appetite for these guardrails, as he eyes up competition with China in what appears to be our generations’ “space-race” in developing artificial super intelligence – regardless of if it kills us all in the process.

While Burnham may have started his relationship with Trump on the right footing this week, the real test is whether this can be maintained. I want to be optimistic, but with Trump, you really never know…