Trump calls UK 'bankrupt' and praises Burnham after phone call on North Sea drilling

Donald Trump has described Britain as 'bankrupt' while praising Andy Burnham following a phone call between the two, according to GB News. Trump told the outlet he was 'very impressed' with the Prime Minister and said Burnham was 'surrounded terrific', though the precise meaning of the phrase remains unclear. The Mirror reports Trump as saying Burnham is 'surrounded terrific'.

The call, according to The Independent, saw Trump call for Burnham to resume drilling in the North Sea. Trump's intervention comes as the new government faces pressure over energy policy and industrial strategy. GB News separately reports that Defence Secretary John Healey has been given a 'stark warning' over Labour's promise to re-industrialise Britain.

The vocabulary is doing work. 'Bankrupt' is a legal term - it means unable to pay debts as they fall due - and Britain, whatever its fiscal position, services its obligations and borrows at will in its own currency. Trump's use of it is rhetorical, not technical, but the word carries weight in trade negotiations: a country described as bankrupt by a US president arrives at the table on the back foot, whether the description is accurate or not. The call itself is unusual this early in a premiership - American presidents do not typically telephone British prime ministers to discuss domestic energy policy within weeks of their taking office.

What to watch: whether Burnham responds publicly to the 'bankrupt' characterisation, and whether the North Sea drilling question resurfaces in the government's upcoming energy white paper.