UK's new PM Andy Burnham says he's willing to confront Trump if country's interests demand it

New UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he is prepared to publicly disagree with US President Donald Trump if doing so is in Britain's national interest, while stopping short of saying whether he trusts the American leader.

In his first major interview since becoming prime minister, Burnham told the BBC he had a "really warm" first exchange with Trump. However, when asked twice whether he trusted the US president, he declined to give a direct answer.

"It's a changing world isn't it, and you just obviously have to call things as they develop," Burnham said.


The prime minister said maintaining an independent position on international issues would be part of his approach in office.

"I can't at any point say that I won't take a different opinion from him [Trump], that I will need to voice a different idea that is right for Britain," he said.

Asked whether he would publicly challenge Trump if necessary, Burnham replied: "Of course."

"You have to defend your own national interest before anything else. That's what you're required to do if you're to do this job properly," he added.

Burnham also said he had been concerned about Trump's decision to begin the conflict with Iran and said he "wouldn't hold back from saying what I think is right."

Defence spending pledge

On defence, Burnham declined to set a timeline for raising military spending to 3% of GDP.

The issue has been politically sensitive after Chancellor John Healey resigned from the previous government, arguing that the UK needed to commit to reaching that level by 2030 to ensure national security.

Burnham said he appointed Healey with full knowledge of his views on defence spending.

"I appointed my new chancellor very aware of what he had said about the critical importance of defence spending and the position that he had taken about that," Burnham said.

He added that the government's immediate priority was ensuring its defence investment plan was fully funded ahead of this year's budget.

"The first challenge facing us both is to ensure that the defence investment plan is fully funded and that's the thing that's right in front of us and we need to work that through as we go towards the budget later this year," he said.

Pressed again on the 3% target, Burnham said: "We've got to work out the way of doing that."

No early election

Burnham also ruled out calling an early general election before 2029.

"I'm going to rule it out... I don't think people want it," he told the BBC, adding that his priority was "getting the country back where it should be."