Andy Burnham is heading to New York for talks with Donald Trump as the Prime Minister attends his first major gathering of world leaders.
The Prime Minister boarded his plane at Stansted to travel to the United Nations General Assembly.
At the UN on Tuesday he will hold his first face-to-face talks with the US president and deliver a keynote speech.
The visit comes with world leaders grappling with the economic impacts of Mr Trump’s war against Iran, the Israel-Palestine conflict, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the implications of the rapid development of artificial intelligence.
It will be Mr Burnham’s first meeting with the US president although the pair have spoken by telephone since the Prime Minister took office in July.
Mr Trump’s unpredictability, his recent comments about Irish unification and his hostility to UK immigration and clean energy policies make it a potentially awkward challenge for the Prime Minister.
Mr Burnham has been critical of the US president in the past including saying – as rioters stormed the US Capitol in 2021 – that “any UK politician who gave Trump the time of day should be ashamed right now”.
