Donald Trump issued a blunt verdict on Andy Burnham last night, his first public remarks on the new Makerfield MP.
Speaking to GB News at the White House, Mr Trump declared that he “doesn’t know anything” about the potential next Prime Minister.
He admitted: “I don’t know anything.
“I see that he was, I guess, the mayor of a town? I hear he’s extremely liberal.”
When asked if he wanted to be the first leader to visit Mr Burnham’s Britain, he answered: “No, but I think we’re probably of a different persuasion.”
The Commander-in-Chief then hinted at what may be an early wedge issue between himself and the man vying for No10.
Discussing the state of the oil industry in the UK, the President revealed he has had “every oil company come to see him” about having access to Britain’s oil fields, declaring that the country was “dying”.
He told The People’s Channel: “I have had every oil company come to see me. ‘Sir, could you give us access to the UK? We would do anything to drill in the North Sea’.
“The amazing thing is they buy their oil from Norway, which gets the offer of the North Sea. Think of it, and they pay a big premium.
Donald Trump said Sir Keir was a ‘lovely man’ as he responded to the news of his resignation
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“Norway’s got now $2trillion in the bank and UK is dying, so they should open up the North Sea, and it’s an easy one. And a lot of good things are going to happen.”
While the two men have never met, the former Greater Manchester Mayor has previously taken to social media to hit out at the President.
On January 6, 2021, Mr Burnham said “any UK politician who gave Trump the time of day should be ashamed right now”.
And the State Department, led by Marco Rubio, released a statement earlier this week announcing it would “look forward to continued co-operation with his successor”.
The former Mayor has, however, weighed into American politics before.
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Andy Burnham said the US had a ‘divided, dark politics’ politics in his victory speech
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In Mr Burnham’s Makerfield victory speech, he declared Britain must turn “away from the path that takes us to a divided, dark politics of the kind we see in the United States”.
He said a similar phrase on the campaign trail where he said the US had a “polarised, poisonous politics where people in communities don’t work together anymore”.
The ex-Mayor also congratulated his New York City counterpart Zohran Mamdani after his election victory, adding the pair could “collaborate on reducing the cost of living”.
Mr Mamdani and Mr Trump have a surprisingly friendly relationship – marked by a press conference where the President admitted he agreed with the socialist on a “lot more than I would have thought”.
And the President seemed to get on with Sir Keir Starmer on a personal level, describing him as a “lovely man” before criticising his energy and migration policy.
Donald Trump said he did not hope to be the first world leader to meet with Andy Burnham after his return to Westminster
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And last year, Mr Burnham told the London Economic the President was bringing instability “to the US and the world”.
When asked about Mr Burnham’s previous comments about the President, a spokeswoman for the White House pointed to the decline of European cities.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly told CBS News: “Left-wing policies of unfettered migration and destructive globalism have made once-great European cities unrecognisable – allowing criminals to run wild and antisemitism to thrive.
“President Trump saved the United States from such destruction when he was elected, and he has rightfully warned other world leaders that western civilization will continue to erode if they don’t quickly reverse course”.