British Prime Minister Andy Burnham and U.S. President 
Donald Trump are set to meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The Tuesday talks will be their first meeting and follow Burnham's announcement on Monday that he would send a Royal Air Force plane to help Saudi Arabia repel attacks from Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, PBS NewsHour reported.
What will the British plane do? The U.K. says the aircraft will refuel Saudi planes during "defensive" missions. Burnham, speaking to reporters en route to New York, said he is "acting to secure the interests of Britain and the wider region" and that Britain wants to see the conflict end "as quickly as possible and we stand ready to play our part." The fighting between the Houthis and Yemen's Saudi-backed government has reignited: a Houthi strike aimed at Riyadh was intercepted on Saturday, and the group has declared a blockade on Saudi shipping in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea.
What is on Burnham's agenda? Burnham, whose only other foreign trip since taking office in July was to Kyiv, has said he will urge Trump to send interceptor missiles to bolster Ukraine's air defenses ahead of another winter of war, PBS NewsHour reported. The British government also wants to discuss restoring free movement of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, largely blocked since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began in February. Burnham said he would use his General Assembly address to set out his vision of the U.K. as an "honest broker" on the risks and opportunities of AI, which he plans to make the focus of Britain's G20 presidency in 2027.
What is the history between the two men? In 2017, as mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham said Trump would not be welcome in the city, and two years later said he would refuse to meet him if he visited. On Monday he said he would seek "common ground" with Trump, adding that the two men had "found a connection" during two phone calls since Burnham replaced Keir Starmer at the helm of the center-left governing party. Trump has called Burnham "a nice guy" but has recently needled U.K. officials by expressing support for Irish unification and musing about the future of the Falkland Islands.
Figures referenced: Donald Trump. — JudgeMarket.
