Burnham seeks common ground with Trump at first face-to-face meeting

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham is due to meet US President Donald Trump in New York as world leaders gather for the United Nations General Assembly, with Burnham saying he expects the pair to find “common ground”.

The leaders have spoken twice by phone since Burnham became prime minister in July. Downing Street has described those calls as establishing a “productive relationship”, while Burnham said he believed UK–US relations were “as strong as it’s ever been”.

Burnham is expected to use his UN speech to call for closer international cooperation on artificial intelligence, a just and lasting peace in Ukraine and renewed efforts to end the conflict in the Middle East.

The UK and US are also due to begin work on an AI and Autonomy partnership focused on using artificial intelligence to protect critical national infrastructure. The plan has drawn criticism from Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, who is expected to argue that it does not match the scale of the threat.

Ahead of the meeting, the UK said an American heavyweight torpedo had been launched from a British uncrewed underwater vessel during a military exercise. Officials presented the test as a step towards protecting infrastructure such as deep-sea data cables.

The meeting also comes amid uncertainty over the proposed transfer of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and the leaseback of the joint US–UK military base on Diego Garcia. The deal was paused indefinitely after Trump withdrew his support, while Burnham said he remained committed to securing the base’s long-term operation.