At the press conference, Andy Burnham also defended the decision to impose sanctions on the West Bank settlements.

A US reporter asked Donald Trump what he thought about this. Trump claimed that he did not know about this. He asked Burnham if he knew about it.

And Burnham replied:

Yes. Obviously we took that decision, the foreign secretary [Ed Miliband] and I. And we did call you just to say why we had taken that.

I take this view on this issue. We have all spoken over the years about the importance of the two-state solution. If we face the situation where there is a tender on the West Bank that in effect make a two-state solution non-viable, what do we do? Because if we do nothing, then if further erodes people’s trust in politics, hey think you’re all talks, when it comes to it you are not prepared to follow up on that talk and do something.

Burnham said he condemned the Hamas attacks on 7 October “completely”.

But politicians had to show there was meaning behind their words, he said.

In response to a question about whether he was happier in Manchester of Manhatten at the short, 12-minute press conference, Andy Burnham talked about the great city of Manchester and referred to Donald Trump once calling it a “town”. Burnham went on, jokingly: “We don’t, I don’t hold it against you, as the former mayor.”

Burnham said he loved the US too.

And he launched into a riff about patriotism.

I was explaining to the president today, Britain has been in too much turbulence, a sense of us not know where were are going. And I think you responded when I said we’re going to lay out a plan for Britain, 10-year direction.

The country’s got so much going for it. And it’s time to turn the story about Britain to a positive story, get some hopefulness going around the country.

And I think you were saying today that very much is how you see it.

Trump said he agreed. He said there was a tremendous patriotism about Britain. And he joked about it having “got more names than any other place in the world”, because some people called it Britain, and some the United Kingdom, and some England.

He said it was just “waiting for good leadership, waiting for success”.

At the press conference the Guardian’s Pippa Crerar asked Donald Trump if he expected UK to help him if he chose to annihilate Iran. And she asked if he had any sympathy for the allies are suffering because of rising petrol prices due to the war.

Trump did not really engage with any of her points.

Instead, he gave quite a rambling answer, saying:

I think as soon as the war is over, the numbers are going to come way down, pricing generally.

Oil is the big thing when the oil goes up.

And we had to do that because we have to stop them. And I think we feel very united on that. We can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.

And people understand that in the United States, and they’re paying less than Biden, by the way, less than the Biden administration. And yet he did nothing about the threat of nuclear terror.

It’s nuclear terror. We can’t have it. So we’ve stopped them from having a nuclear weapon. We’ve literally stopped them. They’re not going to have a nuclear weapon. And we’ll see what happens.

I think that a settlement is going to be reached. They want to talk to us. They have been talking to us, even today. The relationship is developing, let’s say.

But we can’t let them … have a nuclear weapon. And there’s a price to pay for that.

This should have been done by other presidents. Or, frankly, other countries. Some country could have stepped forward. But there aren’t too many countries, frankly, that could have handled that.

So I think we’ve done a great job. They will not have a nuclear weapon.

Donald Trump described the Chagos Islands deal – a proposal by Keir Starmer’s goverment to give Mauritius sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, on condition that the US and the UK can continue to operate the Diego Garcia military base there for at least another 99 years – as “terrible”.

In the short press conference with Burnham, Trump said:

I don’t support it. I think it’s a terrible deal.

They all of a sudden say they have ownership, somebody has ownership that never showed up before after decades and centuries. I think it’s ridiculous. No, we were talking about that.

It’s strategically very important, very important. You know, we had to send our B-2 bombers when we bombed the Iran nuclear, we sent the B-2 bombers back home to Missouri. As opposed to flying for a short period of time, they had to fly for a long period of time.

It’s amazing how strategic it is, and I think the prime minister is going to be looking at it. It’s very strategic location. And it’s unique

It’s a very important piece of real estate, militarily and strategically.

Andy Burnham responded with a simple: “Mmm, yup.”

Donald Trump was being polite and respectful for most of the very short press conference he held with Andy Burnham, but towards the end he could not resist a jibe about Keir Starmer.

Asked about UK-US relations by a reporter who said they had gone up and down, Trump replied:

No I think they’re up.

Well they’re more up now than they were with your last prime minister, let me put it that way.

I think right now, based on my relationship with the prime minister, Andy, I think that, I think we’re doing very well.

At one point the relationship between Trump and Starmer was good. But it got worse as Starmer started to criticise Trump publicly on issues like his proposal to annex Greenland, and his claim British troops avoided frontline action in Afghanistan. And the full rupture came when Keir Starmer refused to allow the US to use British airbases for attacks against Iran at the start of the war.

At the start of the meeting with the press, this is what Donald Trump said about Andy Burnham.

I think he’s going to be a great prime minister. I think he’s got a lot of assets on his side.

We talked about everything from Rolls-Royce to energy, immigration. We covered a lot.

[The UK] is a really special country. And we are with you all the way, Mr Prime Minister.

And Burnham replied:

Thank you Mr President.

That’s wonderful. We really appreciate that.

This relationship matters so much to us. And we will build on that relationship.

You and I have established a good connection in our early discussions, and we’ve taken that further today.

We touched on Ukraine and it’s great to hear what you said today about the potential for progress there.

You know that we’re still ready to play our part in the Middle East in terms of helping you stop the conflict, open the strait [of Hormuz].

Obviously, we’re with you that Iran must never be a nuclear power.

We accepted a call from Saudi Arabia … we are prepared to play our part.

And obviously you were good enough today to let us talk about some issues on trade. The Falklands we mentioned. And you were good enough to listen to us on those issues.

So it has been great to be with you and the team today.

Burnham picks up on the topic of immigration. He says:

It was a very big issue at the Makerfield byelection and a lot of the British media will know that.

And I spoke about it then – our commitment is to get to a controlled approach. That’s what people want to see.

They’re not against migration overall. They know that people work in the NHS and in the care system. [There’s a] difference, though, when it’s managed or when it’s uncontrolled.

And the small boats is a very big issue for people. But crossings this summer were down 50% there or thereabouts on the number six years ago.

So sometimes people don’t hear that the progress is being made. But the progress is being made.

Donald Trump is talking.

He is referring to a “great election win”. It is not clear if he mean’s Labour’s in 2024, or Andy Burnham’s – in Makerfield.

Burnham thanks Trump for his remarks.

He says he thinks they have established a “good connection”.

The BBC’s Chris Mason asks Trump if Burnham is someone he can do business with.

Trump says he thinks he is.

He describes Burnham as a “natural businessperson”.

We’ve had a lot of discussions even before this meeting. We’ve spoken to each other numerous times on the phone. I think so, I think so. He gets it. He understands what he has to do.

(There are not many people who describe Burnham as a natural businessperson. He is a natural communciator, and a natural communicator and leader, but his experience of the business world is pretty limited. Maybe this was just Trump’s way of saying he liked him. Or maybe by “businessperson” he means ‘person you can do a deal with’. Still, it was positive.)

Donald Trump and Andy Burnham are meeting now.

Originally journalists were told they would talk to the press briefly at the start of the meeting.

But now reporters have been told that they will be let in as the meeting ends for some words. Whether that will just be a few platitudes as Trump and Burnham pose for pictures, or whether they will take questions, is not entirely clear.

They are not in the Oval Office in the White House (which is looking even more lavish than usual now that Trump has given it billionaire bling decor). Instead they are at the United Nations building, which is functional and a bit shabby. Here is a shot from the live feed from the room where reporters are waiting.

We were told that the meeting would last for about half an hour, which means it should have been over by now. But nothing ever runs on time at the UN …

Turning away from the UN for a moment, Reform MSPs have staged a walkout from the Holyrood chamber after the party failed to get a debate on Scottish independence cancelled, the Press Association reports.

With first minister and SNP leader John Swinney having called a debate on Scotland’s right to decide, Malcolm Offord, the leader of Reform UK north of the border, insisted the issue of the constitution is a reserved matter and should not be discussed, PA says.

When his appeals to presiding officer Kenneth Gibson failed, Offord branded the debate a “farce” and led his MSPs in a walkout. Offord said:

This debate is not just a farce, it is an insult to the Scottish electorate who expect their politicians to deal with serious issues in their communities.

Offord argued that Scots want to see MSPs dealing with “shocking” homelessness figures released earlier on Tuesday, the nation’s public finances or drug deaths – with a further rise in these expected to be announced on Wednesday. He went on:

These are the serious matters of government.

In contrast this debate is ill-judged, self-serving and wholly inappropriate.

Reform won’t engage further in these pointless proceedings. We didn’t come into the parliament to waste our time on vanity projects, and therefore I withdraw my amendment and we will exit from the chamber.

MSPs were debating a motion from Swinney which declared: “Scotland is a nation that has a right to decide its own future.” It is set to be passed later.

Back to Ed Davey, and the Conservatives and Reform UK are both saying that Ed Davey’s proposed £17bn tax cut is not properly funded.

This is from Alex Burghart, the deputy Tory leader.

The Liberal Democrats are suffering from a bout of collective amnesia. Over the past two years they have aided and abetted Labour’s destruction of our economy. Now they are trying to shift the blame on to a vote that happened a decade ago.

Ed Davey has forgotten that you have to pay for access to the single market and customs union, giving up control both of your borders and your trade policy as well as your cash.

He wants to turn back the clock, taking us back to 2016. The Conservatives, in contrast, are focused on taking our country forward, and on getting Britain working again, including by setting out tax cuts that are actually costed.

And this is from Robert Jenrick, the Reform UK Treasury spokesperson.

Sir Ed is welcome to steal our policies, but his plan to pay for it is almost as silly as his photo stunts. At this rate, the Lib Dems’ fantasy economics would make Liz Truss blush.

The socks-and-sandals brigade would have to make the same choices we will: Cut the benefits bill, end net zero handouts, and slash foreign aid. But they refuse because they are incapable of putting the British people first.

In a briefing note about the plan to raise tax thresholds announced by Davey, the Liberal Democrats say:

The House of Commons Library estimates that this plan would cost £17bn in year five. This would be paid for by the dividends from the party’s plan for a new Growth and Defence Plan with Europe, which is estimated to be £27bn a year by the end of the next parliament.

Nature abhors a vacuum, a sage once said. (Which sage is a matter of dispute, but Rabelais, summing up Aristotle, is a common answer.) If it is true of nature, it is even more true of politics. The biggest gap in British politics at the moment is the one created by Kemi Badenoch when she became Tory leader and swerved her party to the right, leaving anyone with an allegiance to one nation, or pro-European, or moderate Conservatism essentially homeless.

Not anymore. With his speech today, Ed Davey did not just appeal to these voters (something he has been doing for a while). He came close to plonking his party on this territory.

There was little or nothing in the speech that someone like David Cameron or John Major would fundamentally disagree with. And while Davey used the word liberalism a lot (making a coherent argument linking Lib Dem community campaigning to respect for the “value of every human being”, and positing this as an antidote to far-right populism), he largely avoided the sort of internationalism or moral idealism you would have heard from predecessors like Paddy Ashdown, Charles Kennedy or Menzies Campbell. There was not much there about equality. And electoral reform – seen by many as the holy grail for liberal democracy – was more or less absent, apart from a cryptic reference to changing the nature of politics.

For the first time in postwar politics, Britain has a prime minister with a firm and apparently sincere commitment to PR. But, on the basis of this speech, you would assume that Davey was not particularly interested.

Instead, Davey’s big announcement was a tax cut – which is what you would expect from moderate Conservatism.

That does not mean it was a bad speech. It was clear, coherent, and well-argued; it was refreshingly free of naff jokes; and the references to his family were interesting and moving. The passage about how the politics of “hatred and intolerance” have always been defeated in the past was also inspiring.

For anyone who may have voted Conservative in 2024, but who finds Kemi Badenoch a bit extreme and who is horrified by the idea of Nigel Farage becoming PM – ie, key target voters for the Liberal Democrats – it would be very appealing.

But will Lib Dem activists like it? My colleague Peter Walker, who has been with them in Brighton this week, isn’t sure. He says:

Offering £17bn in tax cuts - even some time in the future - is certainly bold, but not sure it will ease the worries among Lib Dem MPs about the lack of a coherent vision for the party.

Davey said politics is broken.

But Conference, there is a bigger, more fundamental change we need to talk about.

A change to the nature of politics itself.

Because the things that have gone wrong in our country, the crises we face – the maternity crisis, the housing shortage, the sewage scandal, the cost of living, the sense that nothing quite works the way it should –

These are not the failings of the British people. Not for one second.

These are the failings of governments. Labour governments. Conservative governments. SNP governments in Holyrood.

Davey turns to tax.

Look what’s happened over the last few years – because of the lack of growth.

Desperate for another source of money, governments – both Conservative and Labour – have taken it out of people’s pockets.

How? By freezing the tax-free personal allowance.

Raising income tax by stealth.

Taking hundreds of pounds more out of the payslips of ordinary people, every year.

A stealth tax to pay the cost of the economic vandalism of Johnson and Farage.

When we were in government, our party did the opposite.

We raised the personal allowance by £4,000.

Taking more than 3 million people out of paying income tax altogether.

It was a profoundly liberal thing to do.

Rewarding hard work and aspiration. Helping the lowest paid the most.

Trusting people to spend their own money, not telling them the state knows best.

And here comes the big policy announcement.

So I’m announcing our plan to raise the tax-free personal allowance to £15,000.

Taking 2 million more people out of paying tax altogether, and giving most taxpayers a £680 tax cut.

Real money, back in people’s pockets.

Now – you might have heard Robert Jenrick say something similar at Reform’s conference. In between trying to defend Farage’s latest funding scandal.

But here’s the big difference.

Jenrick didn’t say this, but Reform’s figures show they’d pay for it by ripping £22 billion of crucial support away from disabled people.

Think about that. Reform say you can have a tax cut, but only if they get to punish disabled people at the same time.

We say no. We can cut taxes and support the most vulnerable people in our country.

Because we will pay for our tax cut fairly and honestly.

Not with more borrowing. Not with fantasy spending cuts that never materialise. Not by hiking your taxes by stealth elsewhere.

We will pay for it from the dividends of growth. The growth that comes from our bold new partnership with Europe.

Here is Peter Walker and Alexandra Topping’s story on this.

And here is an extract from the story, with some of the detail not set out in the speech.

Addressing the party’s annual conference in Brighton, the Lib Dem leader said the proposal, which would eventually increase the threshold for paying income tax to £15,000 and raise the level at which people pay the 40p higher rate by about £6,000, would be paid for entirely by increased growth.

This growth, the Lib Dems argue, would be created through rejoining the EU’s single market and customs union.

As making a deal with the EU would take time, the actual tax cuts would only happen in the final year of a parliament, potentially as late as 2034, costing £17bn. In the interim years, thresholds would be raised by inflation, thus keeping levels effectively stable.

There would also be a smaller increase to the 45p additional rate of tax, currently payable above £125,000.

Davey says people are struggling with the cost of living.

He goes on:

And we know what has brought us to this point, don’t we Conference?

The terrible economic damage of the Conservatives’ Brexit deal – backed, let’s never forget, by Nigel Farage.

A deal that put up barriers to trade, that tied up British businesses in costs and red tape, that pushed up prices on our supermarket shelves.

A deal that took opportunities away from our young people.

The botched Brexit deal. All the Conservative chaos that followed.

And then Labour – instead of fixing it – have only added to the pain with damaging tax hikes and their own chaos and their own infighting.

And even now, Andy Burnham refuses to open the door to the European single market.

We are the only ones with the courage to say it, aren’t we Conference?

Fixing our relationship with Europe is the only way to get our economy back on track.

And we are fighting to do just that.

To put Britain back where it belongs. Back at the heart of Europe.

This, too, is the fight of our lives.

Davey says the Lib Dems want, not just a customs union with the EU, but to rejoin the EU single market.

Last year, I set out our plan for a new customs union, to slash the Brexit red tape.

Now I’m going further, because this moment demands it.

Not just a customs union, but joining the single market too.

Bringing down those barriers to trade. Breathing new life into our economy. And bolstering our collective security too.

Not just a growth plan. A defence plan.

Davey says the same should apply to women giving birth. But maternity services are a scandal, he says.

Inquiry after inquiry has found the same horrifying pattern.

Mothers and babies left with life-changing injuries – or worse – because of a maternity system stretched far beyond its limits.

Midwives doing their best, but exhausted, and in buildings that aren’t fit for purpose.

That shames our country. And we won’t accept it.

We will give mothers the one-to-one care they need, make every maternity unit safe, and end this scandal once and for all.

Davey says liberalism is about giving people more power.

We must also pay attention to the other half of our liberal equation.

Giving people more power.

Not just doing things for them, because “the state knows best”, as I fear Andy Burnham may be inclined to do.

Or leaving them to sink or swim – as Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage are already promising to do.

But empowering people by helping everyone to be the best they can be – for themselves.

That is the liberal mission.

And this is how the Lib Dems campaign, Davey says.

Conference, if this all sounds eerily familiar – it should!

Because this is exactly what our party has always been about.

The community politics we practise day-in, day-out. Real community politics. That’s the answer.

He gives an example – the work done by his wife, Emily, as the councillor in charge of housing on Kingston council.

When Emily took over, there was already a plan to regenerate the borough’s biggest council estate.

But it was a plan drawn up by the old Conservative council – who’d given no say at all to the people who actually live there.

It was something being done to them, not with them.

So Emily said no. It’s their home. They should have a say.

And she insisted on an estate-wide ballot.

That decision was transformative.

It forced council officers and the developer to visit the estate. It forced them to actually talk to the tenants – and listen to them.

And guess what? It resulted in better homes, better designed.

And the residents voted for them in big numbers. But just as important – they felt good about it.

They could hardly believe someone had asked their opinion. Gave them a say. Took power and put it in their hands.

Families have started moving into the first new homes, and Emily’s been to see some of them.

One told her something that still chokes both of us up.

They said about their new flat, “We don’t deserve this.”

“We don’t deserve this.”

That’s how hopeless the old system had made them feel.

But now they’re hopeful again.

That, my friends, is real community politics. Real Liberalism.

Davey says it is important to understand why people are attracted by far-right politics.

People are fed up.

They see a politics that promises change and fails to deliver.

Their bills keep rising. Their kids still can’t afford a home of their own. Their loved ones still wait too long for a GP appointment.

When people stop believing politics can change their lives, they get cynical. Angry. And they’re not wrong.

When our young people can’t see a future for themselves in our communities, they stop looking. And they turn to their screens instead.

Screens that offer the illusion of excitement. The illusion of connection. The illusion of belonging.

But screens that only deepen the sense of emptiness and loneliness that no amount of scrolling can ever fill.

Is it any wonder the populists have found something to exploit?

Their whole agenda is to tear everything down. And when people are desperate for change, “tear it all down” starts to sound like the only honest thing left.

Davey critcises Kemi Badenoch for excluding from the Conservative party anyone “who cares about human rights or climate action”.

And he says liberalism can take on populism because it means appreciating the worth of every individual.

Real Liberalism is rooted in seeing the value of every human being – not just the ones who share our appearance or our beliefs.

A free society is messy. It’s full of disagreement.

And as Liberals, we don’t erase our differences. We confront them.

The way people across our country overcome their differences every day.

Not by shouting past each other, but by building real human connections.

Person to person. Neighbour to neighbour. Street by street.

Because when that person you disagree with stops being just another little box on your social media feed, and becomes a human being with a face, a home and a life –

That’s when we make progress.

Davey says Nigel Farage must be stopped from making Britain like Donald Trump’s America.

This is a far-right movement that is given oxygen, and heat, and fuel by politicians and parties who claim to be serious contenders to lead our country.

Cynical politicians like Nigel Farage.

Not just willing, but eager to fan the flames of hatred and intolerance to make himself richer. To get himself into power.

Trying to create a nation of division and fear – because that’s what keeps him going.

Well Conference, that is not our country. That is not who we are.

It is the worst of Trump’s America.

We must not let it become Farage’s Britain.

Davey starts by warning “something big and dangerous is happening in our country”.

He explains:

Hundreds of thugs, in black shirts and balaclavas, are marching on our streets.

First Dover. Then Portsmouth.

Their aim? To intimidate. To spread fear. To stoke racism.

They may call themselves patriots, but they would tear our country apart.

We must not let them.

He says there are precedents for what is happening now.

There has always been a small minority hellbent on destroying them.

Mosley’s fascists in the thirties. The National Front in the seventies. Nick Griffin and the BNP just two decades ago.

Each time, they tried to turn neighbour against neighbour, tried to pit community against community, tried to turn our streets into battlegrounds.

But we didn’t let them. The British people said no.

The East End stood firm on Cable Street. Lewisham and Wood Green turned them back. Voters shut the BNP out.

Every generation, we have these men, who pretend to be patriots. Who claim to speak for “real Britain”.

And every generation, the real Britain refuses to accept it.

But this time there is a difference, he says.

Because the blackshirts marching today aren’t doing it in isolation.

They are just the most visible part of a far-right threat that is extremely well-funded.

That extends well beyond the shores of our United Kingdom.

That is promoted by the world’s richest man – Elon Musk – with all the might of his social media platform.

In May Reform UK took control of Sunderland city council. The authority has now decided to withdraw its support for Show Racism the Red Card, the charity that fights racism in football. Chris Eynon, the council leader, said the council would not support “politically charged organisations with an agenda”.

In an interview with LBC this morning, Robert Jenrick, the party’s Treasury spokesperon, was repeatedly asked to defend the decision. He repeatedly said that he did not know the reasons behind the decision, but eventually he said it was “perfectly reasonable for a local council to decide that they don’t want to give taxpayers money to an organisation”.

In a statement, the charity said:

In our experience, the people of Sunderland have traditionally demonstrated a welcoming, inclusive and anti-racist attitude, and believe it is important that voters see this decision as further evidence that the council are unsupportive of equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Jenrick was giving an interview to promote an announcement about how, if his party wins the election, it will abolish the Labour legislation letting mayors impose an overnight visitor levy (aka the tourism tax).

It is still quite early in New York, but Andy Burnham is already up and about.

He has met the Spanish PM, Pedro Sánchez, in Central Park.

Burnham also met the Manchester-born social entrepreneur Josh Turner, who runs Stand 4 Socks. The company donates one pair of socks to the homeless for every pair bought by a customer.

Turner presented Burnham with a pair of socks decorated with a cartoon of his face. And Burnham praised Turner’s work, saying: “You get on and you give back.”

Reform UK has announced that Laura Anne Jones has been elected as its deputy leader in Wales. Yesterday the party’s Senedd members elected Helen Jenner as the new leader.

Jones is one of the most experienced of the Reform UK MSs (members of the Senedd), having first been elected to the Welsh assembly as a Conservative in 2003. She served in various spokesperson roles for the Tories and only defected to Reform UK last summer. At the time she was the party’s only Senedd member.

In November last year she was suspended from the Senedd for 14 days for using a racial slur against Chinese people in a WhatsApp group.

At the end of last week Andy Burnham was criticised by Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage for allegedly not responding to the threat posed by Russia with enough urgency. They spoke out after Emmanuel Macron, the French president, summoned all the country’s main political leaders for a briefing on how Russia is now ramping up its aggression towards Nato countries.

Asked about this on his huddle with journalists on his flight to New York, Burnham did not accept that he was being complacent. But he said he did not want to escalate the problem.

He explained:

We are firm, unflinching, in our support for Ukraine. You’ll all remember that my first overseas trip was on the occasion of Ukraine’s 35th anniversary of independence.

We made a very clear demonstration of the UK’s position, one that hasn’t changed through PMs of recent times and won’t change under me.

What we don’t though do is get involved in the escalation, which some might say suits Russia, so we don’t do that. I think that’s the right position to take.

According to the overnight briefing from No 10 ahead of his speech to the UN, Andy Burnham will make AI (artificial intelligence) one of the main themes of his visit to New York. Downing Street says:

Major global challenges such as AI, the conflict in Ukraine and security in the Middle East are expected to dominate the agenda of the prime minister’s meetings in New York over the next 24 hours, as world leaders converge on the city.

The prime minister is expected to use the visit to drive forward global work on AI, both to ensure it is being used as a force for good and to maximise opportunities to use the technology to deliver safety and security for people at home.

His speech to the UN general assembly on Tuesday evening is expected to focus on AI, making the case for the international community to harness the technology for good to drive down the cost of living and support a more stable and secure world.

As part of using AI responsibly to support people at home, the prime minister will announce the launch of work between the UK and US on a new AI and Autonomy partnership. This collaboration will help the UK protect critical national infrastructure, from sea lanes to airspace – enabling us to detect threats and deter our adversaries using the latest AI technology developed on both sides of the Atlantic.

The press release implies that Burnham, at least on this trip, will be more interested in how AI can used to threaten Russia than in how steps can be taken to stop AI wiping out humanity. The press notice also says “the UK’s Ministry of Defence Rapid AI Delivery Taskforce and the US’s Department of War Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office work together on artificial intelligence and autonomy”.

Sam Coates from Sky News points out that many leading countries, as well as the European Union, yesterday backed a call from the Finnish government for compulsory safety testing of all the most advanced, frontier AI models before they are released. But the UK did not sign up, he says. He reports:

This Finnish initiative – pushing compulsory testing of Frontier AI models before release – has the backing of the leaders of Australia, Canada, Germany, the EU, Bahrain and Singapore. https://presidentti.fi/en/a-call-for-control-of-frontier-ai-models/ It’s dated yesterday 21/9. The UK will have been asked.

But Andy Burnham has not signed – and appears at the UN general assembly today to be taking a different - arguably weaker - path. Burnham is going to the UN arguing almost exactly the opposite impression: that Britain is uniquely placed to lead international AI governance, mediate between the US and China and make AI a centrepiece of its 2027 G20 presidency.

And there’s no mention of Britain backing compulsory pre-release testing of AI, unlike the other countries. The language in the press release is much more watery: he wants to ensure AI is used “for good” but avoids specifics.

Darren Jones, chief secretary to the PM when Keir Starmer was in Downing Street, has said the government should not be shunning this initiative. He says:

It’s great to see @alexstubb providing this leadership and bringing other countries together to call for pre-deployment testing.

The list of signatories to the ‘Call for Control of Frontier AI Models’ are the United Kingdom’s natural allies.

The UK has special access to American AI models through the AI Security Institute, which is partly why the UK Government will want to remain in lock step with the United States.

But I don’t see any reason why the UK can’t sign up to the Finnish proposal. I encourage our government to do so and to offer to broker agreement on its application with the United States.

The comment from Andy Burnham criticising Donald Trump from 2017 quoted earlier (see 9.58am) referred to the prospect of Trump visiting Manchester during his state visit. In fact, he never went near the city. But next year he may be there, because No 10 has announced that it will host the G20 summit.

In its report on the story, the Manchester Evening News says:

The move to host the G20 in Manchester was reportedly set up months ago after Andy Burnham became prime minister, using his first phone call with Mr Trump to invite him to the city, and which is said to have been accepted by the American President.

It is understood that planning has already started for the enormous gathering, which will require the biggest security operation the city has ever seen …

Work on hosting the summit in Manchester had begun before Mr Burnham took office but the prime minister has been an enthusiastic cheerleader for the city since entering Downing Street, including establishing the No 10 North operation in the city centre.

In his huddle on the plane to the US, Andy Burnham also confirmed that the UK has agreed to provide defensive air support to Saudi Arabia to help counter Houthi fighters. He said:

We have received a request from Saudi Arabia for military support and … I agreed to that request for defensive air-to-air refuelling.

Presumably that means Burnham won’t be agreeing with the recent report from the Campaign Against Arms Trade and the Transition Security Project saying “Britain should pay reparations to the people of Yemen for its role in crimes committed against them by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and their coalition allies during the Yemeni civil war.” It says:

By our calculations, a windfall tax on profits made by two leading British arms companies from weapons used by the Saudis during the war could raise up to £3.9bn. With the British state matching this sum, a reparations payment of £7.8bn would help address the urgent humanitarian needs in Yemen – which British policy has helped to create – and provide a foundation for Yemen’s economic recovery.

Speaking to journalists on his flight to New York, Andy Burnham played down suggestions that previous critical things he has said about Donald Trump could cause a problem when they meet later.

As with almost everyone on the left of politics in the UK, Burnham has a longish record of saying disobliging things about the US president. In 2017, as mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham said that as a “matter of principle” he would not meet Trump because of the “hateful, extremist material” he posted online. After Trump backed his supporters who stormed the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 to try to overturn the presidential election result, Burnham said: “Any UK politician who gave Trump the time of day should be ashamed right now.” Only last year he accused Trump of bringing “instability to the world”.

Burnham did not apologise for any of these comments, or retract them, but he told reporters it was time to move on. He also pointed out that Trump had been dismissive of him recently, describing him as “the mayor of a town”.

Burnham said:

Politicians say things throughout their career, but now the important thing is to focus on the moment you are in, and I did say to the president in our first phone call, I said Mr President, Manchester isn’t ‘some town’. I said ‘this is Manchester’.

And so yes, the right thing to do is to have a laugh about it, isn’t it, and move beyond it.

Asked if he could trust Trump, Burnham said:

When you come into this job, you realise how deep this relationship is. We trust our allies. Of course, we do.

Asked if he trusted Trump personally, Burnham replied: “Yes.”

(This is one of those comments best understood by applying the Mandy Rice-Davies principle, rather than taking it literally.)

Politico has a bit more colour on the huddle in today’s London Playbook.

Burnham’s first huddle with the Lobby pack on the government jet, where he sat chatting for 38 minutes in jeans, a suit jacket and his blue Joseph’s Goal wristband. It was a more discursive affair than under Starmer. The newbie PM was so disappointed that no hacks asked him to diss Danny Dyer — see here for the very sweary context— that he volunteered the line anyway. “I’m not sure I know who he is,” said Burnham. “Is he the father-in-law of a West Ham player?”

Andy Burnham has opened the door to fighting the next election on the UK rejoining the EU, but said his immediate priority was continuing to rebuild bridges with European allies. Pippa Crerar has the story, which is based on what Burnham told journalists as he spoke to them in what reporters call a “huddle” on his flight to New York.

Good morning. Andy Burnham is at the United Nations general assembly today and in a speech to the world (or, technically, to people in the hall and anyone watching on TV at around 2am UK time), he will say that Britain is not “on the slide”.

Speaking to reporters on the plane to New York, Burnham said:

The plan for Britain is about ‘what is our direction over the next 10 years and how do we make life more affordable for people’. That is my main priority, that’s what people are looking for.

I hear people saying the country is on the slide – we’re the fastest growing in the G7, there’s lots to be proud of, there’s a lot right with the country and I’m going to give a really upbeat message when I speak.

But the story of the day will instead focus on Burnham’s meeting with someone who does think the UK is “on the slide”, or at least claims to think that. “Your country’s in trouble. You’re on the edge of disaster,” Donald Trump told a GB News reporter recently.

In her overnight story ahead of the meeting, Pippa Crerar, who is on the trip with Burnham, says Burnham is going to adopt a middle-of-the-road approach to the US president when they meet. She says:

Government sources told the Guardian that Burnham would try to pursue a “third way” in his relationship with the US president, neither as adversarial as the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, nor as publicly fawning as [Keir] Starmer’s early approach, and relying on the strength of his personality.

This is a reference to Starmer offering Trump an unprecedented second state visit when they first met at the White House. Theresa May also found herself pimping the monarch at her first meeting with Trump. There were good reasons for both offers at the time, and they bought both newbie PMs some goodwill from the White House monster, but it did not last and both those encounters are now recalled as moments of national embarrassment. As long as today’s meeting is cordial, Burnham will probably be happy with something more low-key.

It is hard to know what can be achieved in any meeting with Trump because he is so unpredicable. Later Burnham has another meeting with a president which will get far less coverage, but may turn out to be more consequential. The PM is meeting Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, for the first time and, with the prospects of the EU-UK reset in jeopardy, there is a lot to discuss.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9am: The final day of the Lib Dem conference in Brighton starts. The debates this morning will include one on the Lib Dems’ water policy.

2.30pm: Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, gives his keynote speech at the conference.

Around 4.45pm (UK time): Andy Burnham is due to meet Donald Trump at the UN in New York.

Late afternoon/early evening (UK time): Burnham has bilateral meetings with Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, and others.

Late evening (UK time): Burnham co-chairs a meeting on the Middle East with other leaders including Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and Mark Carney, the Canadian PM.

Around 1.50am (UK time): Burnham gives his speech to the UN before flying back to the UK.

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