Bridget Phillipson was quizzed about Andy Burnham’s meeting with Donald Trump
Bridget Phillipson on Sky News (Image: Sky News)
Cabinet Minister Bridget Phillipson was left squirming in a television interview today as she was questioned about the Prime Minister’s attacks on Donald Trump. Andy Burnham is expected to meet Mr Trump when both leaders attend a meeting of the United Nations general assembly in New York. Issues on the agenda are set to include the ongoing war in Ukraine, the war in the gulf, the future of the NATO military alliance, the Falklands and trade, including Mr Trump’s tariffs.
But the Prime Minister has previously been a staunch critic of the US President – and once said he would not be welcome in Manchester, where Mr Burnham was mayor. Sky News presenter Kamal Ahmed asked Ms Phillipson, the Minister for Women and Equalities, how the President was likely to respond to that. The Labour MP began by saying: “What the Prime Minister will do is, he’ll make sure that he always puts our national interest first. But having a good and strong and pragmatic relationship with one of our closest allies, the US, is incredibly important. And that’s what we’ll see from our Prime Minister.”
Get the latest news from around the world and more
Invalid email
You agree you are 18 or over. We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. You can unsubscribe at any time. More Info.
Mr Ahmed told her: “Now, we know that a number of your colleagues in the Labour Party, if you went through their social media feeds, there may be some rather uncomfortable comments before they got into government about the president of the United States.
“We had a look at what Andy Burnham had said previously about the president of the United States in 2021, your new prime minister said: ‘Any UK politician who gave Trump the time of day should be ashamed right now.’ In 2019, he said he wouldn’t be welcome in Manchester.
“Isn’t that going to make it a little bit awkward? And the reason I say awkward is because whatever you say now publicly, our viewers know that Labour generally is very uncomfortable with the president of the United States. But you can’t tell people the truth about how you feel”
Mrs Phillipson responded: “Look, I think what you’ve just described there is politics. The president knows that. This is not far from unique.
“And people will express views at different points on different topics. And that’s no bar to having a strong relationship.
“And the reason that matters is because the US is someone that is essential to our ability to share intelligence, to work together on defence, whether that’s Ukraine and much, much more besides.
“That will be at the forefront of Andy Burnham’s mind when he meets President Trump face to face. But of course, there are differences of opinion.
“We don’t have the same political outlook, but the relationship between the UK and the US goes beyond any one president, any one prime minister. It’s something that has stood the test of time over many centuries despite political differences. They come and go. What matters most is the British national interest.”
Mr Ahmed told her: “I was quite interested in that use of ‘well, that’s just politics’. Are you saying to the public, therefore people will just say things and if they’re not true in three months time or six months time or three years time, oh, shucks, that’s just politics.”
The Labour Minister responded: “Politics is also about being pragmatic, and it’s also about being rooted in what’s best for the country.
“And what is best for our country is having a relationship with the US where we can engage in that defence intelligence sharing, where we can have a strong relationship on lots and lots of areas, whether that’s on the economy as well. Does that mean we always agree on everything? No.
“Again, that’s what I mean about it being politics. There will be differences. We come from different political traditions. We have different approaches. But ultimately what matters most is our ability to stand together, as has been the case over a long, long period of time.”
Thousands of lethal illegal knives intercepted at UK borders in massive influx
Push for crackdown on trade in deadly knives: ‘Every one that reaches our streets puts another innocent life at risk’
There is rising concern about illegal knives getting into dangerous hands (Image: Getty)
Britain faces a “flood” of illegal knives and weapons seized at Britain’s borders – including zombie knives and machetes – may be just the tip of an iceberg. In the first half of this year, 2,729 illegal knives were seized by Border Force officers, compared to 2,912 for the whole of 2025.
These include butterfly knives, disguised knives, and stealth knives. A further 1,342 other offensive weapons were also seized, compared to 1,574 for the whole of 2025. The Ben Kinsella Trust, one of the country’s leading knife crime prevention charities, warned the figures showed not just that there was demand but also how easy they can be bought.
The Conservatives have urged Labour to “get serious” about the online sale of knives and vowed to “triple stop and search” if they are returned to power.
Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf warned that lives are at risk because criminals are not afraid of the consequences of selling these weapons.
He said: “Britain has a knife crime epidemic, yet there is far too little fear of consequences for those who import, sell and carry these weapons.
“Criminals have been allowed to operate with the confidence that the law will do little to stop them. Zombie knives and machetes are designed to cause serious injury and death, and every one that reaches our streets puts another innocent life at risk.
“Reform will put the safety of law-abiding people first. We need to shut down the online marketplaces fuelling this trade, crack down on those importing and selling these weapons, and restore serious consequences for those who carry them.”
Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf is Nigel Farage’s pick for home secretary should Reform win power (Image: Getty)
Patrick Green, chief executive of the Ben Kinsella Trust, said the charity is “extremely concerned by the increasing number of illegal knives being seized at the UK’s borders”.
He said: “While we welcome proactive enforcement by Border Force, these figures highlight the continued demand for dangerous weapons and the ease with which they can often be purchased online.
“The number of seizures raises important questions about how many illegal knives may still be entering the country undetected. Many of these weapons, including zombie knives and other prohibited blades, originate from overseas manufacturers and are sold through online marketplaces and third-party sellers.
“The key factors driving demand are the ease of finding these weapons online, the simplicity of obtaining them, their relatively low cost, and the way they are aggressively marketed to young people.
“Far too many retailers and online sellers promote knives through images, branding and content that are clearly designed to appeal to younger audiences, presenting them as fashionable, intimidating or aspirational items rather than dangerous weapons.
“Social media is compounding the problem by glamorising and normalising knife carrying, where weapons are too often portrayed as symbols of status, power or protection. They are none of these things. Zombie knives and other dangerous weapons destroy lives and leave hundreds of families grieving each year.”
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp warned: “Britain is being flooded with illegal knives. Thousands are being seized at the border, but there is an obvious question of how many more are getting through.
“Labour promised to halve knife crime and has done nothing of the sort. The Government needs to get serious about the online sale of illegal knives and make sure those who sell them face the consequences. The Conservatives would triple stop and search and roll out hotspot policing in the areas worst hit by knife crime.”
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp wants more use of stop and search (Image: Jordan Pettitt/PA)
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We have brought in tough new laws to shut down illegal online knife sales, while imposing new legal duties on retailers and online platforms, as we deliver our plan to halve knife crime in the next decade.
“This work is seeing results. Since the General Election, Border Force colleagues alone have seized more than 7,300 dangerous knives at UK ports. Additionally, 63,000 knives have been removed from our streets, knife crime has fallen by 11%, and knife homicides are down by 26%, helping drive overall homicides to their lowest level in nearly 50 years.”
Anyone caught selling or possessing zombie knives or similar illegal weapons face up to two years in jail under the Crime and Policing Act 2026. The act will also provide the police with the power to issue content removal notices to require social media companies, online marketplaces, and search services to remove unlawful knife and offensive weapons content.
Failure to remove this content could result in both the company and a designated senior executive facing significant penalties – a government manifesto commitment to hold the senior executives of online companies accountable for flouting the rules around online knife sales. The Government is also providing £2million funding this year and next to the National Knife Crime Centre to tackle the illegal online sale of knives.
It co-ordinates policing activities and investigations into unlawful online knife and offensive weapons sales. It also acts as a co-ordination point for industry, including retailers, online companies, Ofcom and Trading Standards.
The centre will also provide the coordinating function for policing for the provisions in the Crime and Policing Act 2026 for the reporting of bulk online sales of knives and the issuing of content removal notices to online companies and platforms to remove unlawful knife and weapons sales content.