00:00Donald Trump has already given his first assessment of Andy Burnham, calling him extremely liberal and suggesting they may disagree
00:08over North Sea oil.
00:10That raises a wider question for Britain. Would a new prime minister have a better chance of managing a relationship
00:16that matters for trade, defence, jobs and security, but has become harder to navigate?
00:23Yes, Donald Trump. I say that was sort of a heavy heart that we're, let's face it, we're only sort
00:28of just over a year, a year and a bit, if you like, since his inauguration.
00:32So we've still got another two years, two and a half years until sort of the next presidential election in
00:392028.
00:40Now, of course, we believe he's not going to test that because, of course, that's against the Constitution.
00:45But hey, with Donald Trump, as we've discovered, maybe not to our cost, but certainly with no great surprise, the
00:52rules do not apply in the same way as other previous American presidents.
00:57And indeed, let's face it, Donald Trump still claims he was cheated out of the 2020 election, which was won
01:05by Joe Biden.
01:06Sakhir Starmer initially tried to build a pragmatic relationship with Donald Trump, securing a deal to reduce some U.S.
01:15tariffs and offering the president a second state visit.
01:19But there have also been clear tensions.
01:22Sakhir opposed Trump's tariff threats linked to Greenland, while the U.K.'s initial refusal to allow American forces to use
01:30British bases during the Iran conflict caused further strain.
01:34Andy Burnham is likely to present a different political offer at home, more public control of utilities, stronger industrial intervention
01:44and a greater role for the state.
01:46But he has also recently stressed fiscal discipline, promised to work within Labour's existing rules and step back from some
01:55earlier positions on immigration.
01:56That might help reassure Washington and investors, though Mr. Trump has already suggested the two men could differ over North
02:04Sea oil.
02:05So where does all this take us?
02:07Well, Trump is a sort of a difficult character, somebody with a sort of a long history, a colourful and
02:15checkered past, certainly as a property developer, a man that loves the sort of the media and the limelight.
02:22And dare I say, if you looked at sort of his CV, you would say this is a man less
02:29suited to be president of the United States.
02:31You could probably not think about, although, of course, there are probably plenty of others.
02:34But nonetheless, he's won the sort of the popular vote in the last presidential election.
02:41And indeed, the difficulty we've got, this is a highly capricious man and prone to sort of to petty disputes.
02:48And certainly he's a man full of vanity.
02:50And if he doesn't sort of believe that sort of people are doing what he wants and saying what he
02:56thinks they should say about him.
02:57Yeah, he can be quite vitriolic and indeed use his power, if at all possible, to sort of to castigate
03:03them and get them taken out of the job.
03:04We've seen that in American media.
03:06Where does it leave Britain?
03:07Well, we know that he's had a very difficult and testy relationship with Keir Starmer, although Keir Starmer is not
03:12the only sort of leader to have sort of felt the sort of his wrath, as it were.
03:17We saw that sort of a year or so ago when poor President Zelensky went to the White House and
03:22got positively sort of ambushed by sort of both Trump and J.D. Vance, of course, is the sort of
03:29the vice president.
03:30The man who would take over should anything happen to sort of to Trump, although the sort of the difficulty
03:36about that is that he's not seen as the sort of the heir apparent by both Trump and his MAGA
03:41supporters, the make American great crowd.
03:44So it's really difficult. And of course, we've got this chaos, which we sort of saw in sort of the
03:49Trump presidential run one.
03:51But of course, he's come into the White House with a sort of much greater sense of what he wants
03:57to do and how he wants to do it.
03:59In conclusion, Trump is just sort of someone to whom he believes the rules do not apply.
04:04We had a touch of that, dare I say, with Boris Johnson.
04:07But I think even Boris Johnson knew that there were limits to his power.
04:10Trump doesn't seem to see that.
04:12And of course, there are allegations that he has enriched himself and his family.
04:18So, yeah, dare I say, for the next two and a half years, assuming he sort of does step down.
04:23And of course, there's a big question about sort of then who is the successor.
04:27But yeah, I think we can expect far more of the sort of the chaos unless, of course, something dramatic
04:32happens.
04:32And Trump is no longer seen as being capable or fit to run the or be president of the United
04:37States.
04:38But at the moment, that doesn't sort of seem sort of anytime soon.
04:41Whatever happens in British politics, any prime minister will have to tread a careful line with Donald Trump.
04:48The United States remains Britain's closest security ally and also a vital trading partner,
04:54with decisions in Washington carrying consequences for jobs, defence and energy here at home.
05:01The challenge for Andy Burnham, if he reaches Downing Street, would be to protect that partnership while still standing firm
05:09where British interests and American policy do not align.
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