Diplomats worry Trump may drift too far during first Burnham meeting

Diplomats across the Atlantic are facing a tricky puzzle this weekend: exactly how long should the upcoming meeting between Andy Burnham and Donald Trump last? There is also the looming worry of keeping the US President from drifting into dangerous diplomatic territory. Ahead of their first face-to-face encounter at the United Nations, one White House source told The Mail on Sunday they are trying to limit the time Mr Trump spends with Burnham because the UK leader simply will not kiss the ring in the way Donald likes.

The two men have spoken twice by phone since Burnham took office, and those calls were described as cordial. On paper, Tuesday's session should stick to safe ground like artificial intelligence, Iran, and Ukraine. Yet the President has already stepped outside decades of careful Anglo-British diplomacy. He called for a united Ireland and questioned whether Britain actually owns the Falklands. Differences over North Sea drilling, UK defence spending in Nato, and Ed Miliband's sanctions on Israeli settlers are also stark.

Trump has specifically criticized the deal to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius. He labelled the move an act of great stupidity. His opposition means that agreement remains unratified. The Chagos archipelago is home to the joint UK-US military base at Diego Garcia. British officials are working hard to avoid a repeat of the humiliation Gordon Brown felt at the UN in 2009, when Number Ten asked for private talks with Barack Obama that turned into a fifteen-minute chat in a kitchen.

A British official noted it will be more formal than the Obama meeting but timings remain unclear because anything can happen at the UN. The Prime Minister plans to show less fawning respect than Sir Keir Starmer did, promising to say what he feels on disputed points. When Trump hinted he might not help defend the Falklands against Argentina, Burnham replied that Britain would be relentless in protecting the islanders' right to remain British.

During his time as mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham once suggested Mr Trump would not be welcome in the city due to poisonous politics. But after succeeding Keir Starmer this summer, the new leader said he tries to find common ground with other politicians. He added that people say things they do not mean and you must meet them where they are at to find a connection. That has always been his style.

Trump made his comments supporting a united Ireland while meeting Irish premier Micheal Martin in Dublin last weekend. I don't want to cause any problems, but I'd love to see it unified, he said. It's going to happen eventually. It may as well happen now. I think it would be a fantastic thing. Those words came just days after Burnham declared that a referendum on Northern Ireland leaving the UK was off the table.