From the start, it was obvious that Donald Trump wanted to be complimentary about the new British prime minister. He called him a “natural businessman”, which sounded like a mangled reflection back of Andy Burnham’s spiel about working with business as mayor of Greater Manchester.
The second question from the journalists was about immigration – an invitation to the president to repeat his view that the British government is mishandling the issue. Trump used it as a springboard to boast about his success in controlling illegal immigration into the United States. Burnham sounded a slightly Trumpian echo when he said the small boats were a “very big issue” but that people did not appreciate the progress that the government was making.
