That final comment will please Starmer, who welcomed Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Britain after Trump berated him in the Oval Office. But it also shows how far his relationship with Trump fell after his initial attempts to please the president in early 2025.
Burnham had the benefit of a fresh start, and ahead of his first meeting with Trump, British officials insisted he would take a less fawning approach than his predecessor. He could afford to do so, they said, because Trump’s presidency is almost at the midway point and there is less to lose.
Yet there were similarities to Starmer’s early days. Both leaders were on their best behavior, straining not to upset each other in public.
They each gave the other a free pass. Burnham sat expressionless as Trump talked about “fake news” media, while Trump did the same as Burnham talked about Britain’s recent sanctions on West Bank settlements.
Burnham raised the salience of immigration, an issue Trump invoked against Starmer, while Trump even praised Burnham’s “great election win.” (Burnham has not won a general election, merely a special election for the parliamentary seat of Makerfield.)
But some things were different. The splits between the two nations were closer to the surface than in Starmer’s first trip — and even in those cordial words for the cameras, the divides broke into the open.
