US President Donald Trump (L) and UK PM Andy Burnham (R) will meet for the first time (Image: Getty)
Andy Burnham is set to come face to face with US President Donald J. Trump for the first time.
The newly appointed UK Prime Minister is joining his American counterpart and other leaders from across the globe for a United Nations summit in the coming days.
At the UN General Assembly in New York, global leaders will discuss the ongoing conflicts in both Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as the rapid growth of AI.
Number 10 hopes that talks between the two will further build on a foundation made up of several productive phone calls between the UK and US.
How to follow Andy Burnham’s US trip
You can follow the latest on the PM’s visit to New York in our live blog here.
Trump says he won’t win lawsuit levied against him by ousted news networks banned from White House
US President Donald J. Trump is preparing to lose a lawsuit levied against him by the three media organisations whose press credentials he revoked.
In a Truth Social post, the US president seemed to suggest that the judge who will preside over the case – a judge appointed by Trump himself – will likely rule against him.
The same judge had previously ordered the White House to restore the press credentials for journalist Jim Acosta.
Trump wrote on Truth Social: “In other words, almost without question and, as usual, we’ll go for appeal.”
Zelensky and Macron embrace after Ukrainian meets lawmakers
According to DW News, Ukranian President Zelensky has just met with US lawmakers in New York to thank them for approving sanctions on Russia.
In a video shared on X, Zelensky and French counterpart Emmanuel Macron can be seen sharing a warm embrace before meeting privately.
President Zelensky tells DW he has just met with American lawmakers.
He thanked them for passing the Lindsey Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026. And says he will be discussing sanctions with President Trump tomorrow: \u201cI want the sanctions to start working.” pic.twitter.com/7XiKeBdx0N
\u2014 Misha Komadovsky (@komadovsky) September 22, 2026
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Trump heaps praise on NYC mayor and ‘communist symbol’ Zohran Mamdani
Trump said on Monday that he hoped New York’s newly elected mayor Zohran Mamdani would be a “great” fit for the city; an unusually warm assessment of the democratic socialist leader whom the US President has upheld in recent months as a symbol of the Democratic Party’s alleged embrace of “communism” in the ramp-up to the November midterms.
At a news conference following their closed-door meeting at Gracie Mansion, Trump and Mamdani appeared friendly. Mamdani said he and Trump held a “wide-ranging” discussion, which touched on affordable housing and immigration, but did not offer extensive details on the chat or regarding any disagreements between the pair.
Trump-Macron talks go off without a hitch, says French President
French President Emmanuel Macron says his Monday (September 21) night meeting with US President Donald J. Trump was a productive one.
The pair met up at Trump Tower in New York on Monday ahead of a broader conference hosted by the UN General Assembly this week.
Macron told French reporters that he and the 47th US President of the United States had discussed the ongoing conflicts in both Ukraine and in the Middle East.
“The other issue we talked about was the situation in the Red Sea . . . It’s important for global prices. Then we had a long discussion about Ukraine and Russia,”
Macron said, following their meeting on Monday night. “We had a very good discussion. It was very constructive.”
On Ukraine, Macron said he has pressed Trump on the issue of supplying defensive weapons systems to Ukraine.
They discussed “the need to help our Ukrainian friends faster and more strongly in terms of [missile] interceptors, because that is . . . a defensive measure,” the French leader said.
Macron added that Trump was “very amenable and we were able to go into detail on these two conflicts, which are obviously important for peace in the world and for our security.”
Trump triggers mass media furore with CNN ban, launches own news network
A number of major TV news networks will boycott coverage of Donald Trump’s White House after the current administration banned certain media outlets from the grounds of the Oval Office, including CNN.
The sudden blacklisting left CNN unable to fulfil its duties as Monday’s White House designated pool broadcaster. So, as a result, four major US news networks will now refuse to cover any presidential events in solidarity with CNN going forward.
The media pool coalition of CNN, ABC, CBS, Fox News, and NBC means that each network takes a turn providing shared footage and coverage with the rest of the group to lessen the load for all. So, when the designated pool network was locked out of the Oval Office, all five networks were caught out.
On the same day as the unprecedented White House media ban, the Oval Office also launched its own “Trump TV” – which describes itself as “24/7 [coverage] updated in real time, with top past moments, announcements, and the latest and greatest from the administration all in one place.”
“Not every big moment has made it on your TV; now it can.”
‘Unique opportunity’ for UK to become broker for AI development, UK PM says
Burnham will use his first UN General Assembly speech to focus on the pros and cons of AI, and will make the case for international co-operation to “harness the technology for good”, saying it has the potential to drive down the cost of living.
He is seeking to position the UK as a leader in bringing countries together, comparing his role to that played by Gordon Brown after the 2008 financial crisis.
As he admitted that his speech at the UN will be a “big moment for me”, Burnham added that he was “really excited about it, because I’m going to be talking about British leadership in a new era, pointing to the 10 years we’ve lived through with Brexit and turbulence, and say we’re moving beyond that”.
He added that Britain had a “unique opportunity” to be an “honest broker” on AI development, a landscape currently dominated by the US and China.
In the wake of recent warnings from AI experts and industry leaders regarding the risks of the ever-expanding new tech, the UK PM said the risk AI could pose to humanity “made me pause” but “I had already decided, though, to make a step change on AI when I came into the role”.
“I will be focusing on AI as a force for good, because it can be and it’s really important to keep that,” he said.
Andy Burnham walks back on his own words like an old pro
Newly minted UK PM Andy Burnham has had a few choice words for Trump in the past. As rioters stormed the US Capitol in 2021, Burnham famously said that “any UK politician who gave Trump the time of day should be ashamed right now”.
In 2017, during his time as Manchester Mayor, Burnham stated that Trump was unwelcome in Greater Manchester, and dubbed his political views “poisonous”.
Additionally, before his first-ever conversation as UK PM with the US President, Trump publicly stated he knew nothing about Burnham beyond that he was “very liberal” and the mayor of a “town”.
Speaking to the UK press travelling with him to the UN summit in New York, the PM deftly managed to walk back on his own words. He told journalists: “As I have said, politicians say things throughout their career, but now the important thing is to focus on the moment you are in, and I did say to the president in our first phone call, I said, ‘Mr President, Manchester isn’t some town’, I said, ‘This is Manchester’.
“And so yes, the right thing to do is to have a laugh about it, isn’t it, and move beyond it.”
Trump, Macron meet face to face ahead of UN conference
A formidable security presence has gathered at the front of Trump Tower in New York. Inside, US President Donald J. Trump is meeting French leader Emmanuel Macron for a face-to-face catch-up ahead of tomorrow’s UN General Assembly.
As per the French press, Trump and Macron will focus their talks on Tuesday evening on the conflict in Ukraine and the energy crisis, with both topics tabled for discussion starting tomorrow at the General Assembly summit of world leaders.
Migrants just received £11.9bn of Universal Credit – that’s not even most shocking thing
Migrant households have been handed more than £10bn in Universal Credit, Aaron Newbury reveals how Andy Burnham could turn that to his advantage.
Andy Burnham (Image: Getty)
How long can a state last when the number of those financially dependent on it exceeds the number contributing to its coffers? Such a question surely must not be far from the minds of our political leaders. After all, the data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) reports make it seem as if the cliff’s edge is fast approaching.
Earlier this year, the scale of the benefits crisis was laid bare when statistics revealed that about 53.3% of the population take away more than they pay in. Yet as ever, it appears misery begets misery, and for the boffins of Whitehall, the latest development in that miserable state of affairs only deepens the challenges they must overcome.
Now, Daily Express readers are faced with the stark reality that the amount of British taxpayers’ cash handed out to foreign nationals in Universal Credit has broken £10billion. That means around one in every six households that received the handout are foreign nationals, which has predictably sparked fury from the Conservative benches, and sent Reform UK’s contingent into a tizzy.
If those on the Labour side cannot fathom why this might be, they might want to head to their constituencies and ask their voters what they make of it. Those Britons might make note of the fact that the bill has soared by some £4.4bn in just two years – something which leaves many questions yet to be answered. It’s shocking.
Even as rumours swirl in Westminster that the Treasury is greedily eyeing further ways to improve its finances at the expense of our own, we are being told that billions are being spent on those born on other shores.
Few in the UK believe a safety net for the unfortunate should be removed. But many will baulk at the idea that those born overseas should benefit from the work and taxation of working Britons.
We are hardly a country that can boast of a vastly productive economy, coffers overflowing with rivulets of wealth, and all the domestic ills put soundly to bed. Speak to anyone, and they can tell you of lacklustre transport, underfunded local services and an NHS ever hungry for further investment. That’s not to mention the black hole in the national defence budget, which has led to alarm bells from former defence chiefs warning that the country is defenceless.
Before contemplating which other taxes to increase, Andy Burnham and his newly minted Chancellor, John Healey, would do well to take even a cursory look at the excessive abuse of the benefits system. While that goes against the natural instinct of the socialist, who are ever loath to suggest that the instruments of government may well be out of tune with the rest of us, it would serve them well.
Yes, a broader sweep through the ruinously expensive welfare state, the seeds of which were planted and watered by successive Labour governments, is needed. But I fear it would be foolish to think Eyelashes Andy is the man to do it.
His own particular brand of popularity, which, like most socialist operators, consists of taking from the productive to fund ever-growing handouts, prohibits a more constructive look at the system. He still has an easy win before him.
At the stroke of a pen, Mr Burnham could command that foreign nationals cannot receive Universal Credit. Undoubtedly, this would agitate the London lawyers, who would swiftly tut and huff dissapointedly, but it would be well received by the millions of hard-working Britons who struggle with the question: Why should my taxes be handed to foreign recipients?