LONDON — Britain’s untested new prime minister, Andy Burnham, said he would stand up to President Trump “if it is right for Britain” in his first major interview since taking power.
Mr. Burnham, who has little foreign-policy experience, now faces the need to repair relations with Washington while managing a series of security tests.
He enters office with Russian naval provocations near British waters as well as renewed terrorism concerns and questions over Britain’s defense commitments around the globe.
In the same full interview the BBC aired Monday, Mr. Burnham, 56, refused to commit to spending 3% of gross domestic product on defense by 2030, but he said he was “absolutely committed” to Britain’s NATO promises. Mr Trump has asked NATO allies to up defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2035 — a slowdown in defense spending by London could delay joint projects with the United States, including AUKUS, the trilateral U.S., British and Australian submarine partnership.
Britain is the only American ally simultaneously central to NATO, Five Eyes and AUKUS, while British-controlled bases support U.S. operations from Europe to Kenya to the Indian Ocean. Any weakening of British military power inevitably transfers more of the burden to the United States.
For Washington, the AUKUS agreement places Britain at the center of American strategy in the Indo-Pacific. British shipyards will build the new SSN-AUKUS submarine while supplying technology and expertise to Australia.
Mr. Burnham has inherited plans for as many as 12 submarines — and the responsibility for ensuring Britain can afford them.
“Mr. Burnham has come into office with a general election looming in three years,” said Lynette Nusbacher, a former intelligence adviser to the British government. “The British voter is never a fan of defense spending. He’ll talk a good game on building ships in British yards, but he’s not going to raise taxes or cut social care to buy fighter planes.”
Washington is watching those issues carefully as the former mayor of northern England’s Greater Manchester seeks to promote “Manchesterism” — a British-first approach to governance.
Mr. Burnham arrives at 10 Downing Street promising to give the British people some “breathing space” from the cost-of-living crisis.
Mr. Burnham became prime minister on July 20. That same day, a Russian warship conducted an unusual live-fire exercise approximately 40 nautical miles — or 46 miles — south of Plymouth, England. The timing ensured that the former mayor, popularly known as the “King of the North,” received an immediate reminder that domestic renewal cannot be separated from national security.
In addition to serving as mayor of one of the United Kingdom’s second-largest urban regions, Mr. Burnham has held several senior domestic Cabinet positions. By his own admission, his most significant foreign-policy experience as mayor involved working with Ukrainian mayors. He has nevertheless signaled that Britain’s support for Ukraine will continue unchanged in early calls to both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Mr. Trump.
“All exercises and actions of our warships are carried out in strict accordance with international maritime law,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a Moscow press conference regarding the presence of the Russian frigate Neustrashimy in the English Channel. “Therefore, there is no need to see any hints here. But, in turn, of course, the arrival of the new UK prime minister, probably one of his first actions was the remark of unconditional support for Ukraine, therefore, about Britain’s intention to keep doing everything for the war to continue. This is a fact, which we, of course, are noting.”
The English Channel has become a proxy front in the war over Ukraine in recent months. Russian submarine and warship movements in the channel have prompted sustained Royal Navy monitoring operations.
Royal Marine commandos carried out an unprecedented seizure of the sanctioned Russian shadow-fleet tanker Smyrtos in the channel in the early hours of June 14. Two days later, the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich fired warning shots near a British civilian yacht after concluding that it had made a “dangerous approach” toward the warship. The retired couple operating the yacht dispute the claim.
Russian brinkmanship is just one challenge Britain’s new prime minister faces on the national security front.
Mr. Burnham has continued to allow the United States to launch limited defensive strikes against Iran from British bases — a policy often challenged by the Labor Party’s left wing, which disapproves of any British involvement in the ongoing conflict.
Britain’s heightened state of alert became apparent on July 24, when two RAF Typhoons scrambled to intercept a Qatar Airways flight bound for Manchester after authorities received a reported threat. The plane landed safely and authorities later determined that the warning was a hoax linked to a 14-year-old boy. Although the incident had no established connection to Iran, it demonstrated the new British government believes new terror threats are very real.
Tehran has warned Mr. Burnham’s government that it must “bear responsibility” for supporting America’s war. An Iranian-backed proxy targeted Britain’s Jewish community in March with an arson attack on four charity ambulances outside a north London synagogue. Then-Security Minister Angela Eagle said members of Iran’s Quds Force “almost certainly directed” the proxy’s attacks across Europe.
Britain’s contribution to U.S.-led security efforts extends far beyond the British Isles. Yet some long-standing military partnerships are showing signs of strain. Kenya forced the cancellation of a major British Army deployment by withholding licenses required for a September exercise.
British personnel in Kenya help prepare Kenyan forces for operations against al-Shabaab, the Somali terrorist organization targeted by an enduring U.S. counterterrorism campaign in Somalia.
“The disagreement with the United Kingdom comes down to a failure to build a sustainable partnership,” said Christine Odera, a Kenyan civil society leader. “The United Kingdom and United States have been important partners in supporting Kenya against the threat of terrorism. It’s a concern the three countries share, and any disruption only benefits al-Shabaab.”
The Britain-Kenya dispute comes at a difficult moment for the Pentagon.
Under the Biden administration, Kenya became the first sub-Saharan African country designated a major non-NATO ally, a policy the Trump administration has continued. In March, Kenya hosted the U.S. Africa Command’s largest annual exercise in East Africa. The Justified Accord 2026 exercise involved approximately 1,500 personnel from the United States, Kenya and other partner nations. The United Kingdom and the United States also worked closely together to develop and maintain Kenya’s first marine commando unit, which entered service in 2023.
Mr. Burnham’s declaration that he will stand up to President Trump “if it is right for Britain” will attract domestic headlines. Washington officials will be watching more practical measures: whether Britain protects access to its overseas facilities and delivers the submarines, aircraft and military capabilities promised to its allies.
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