Andy Burnham scrambles to calm 'genuine anger' in America ahead of crunch decision

Andy Burnham is looking to calm "genuine anger" in Washington ahead of a key decision about the future of North Sea oil and gas.

Sources in the US suggested the appointment of Ed Miliband as Foreign Secretary has caused "genuine anger" within the administration, after he clashed with Donald Trump over Net Zero and previously called the President "a racist, misogynistic, self-confessed groper".

White House insiders warned that Mr Trump has not overlooked Mr Miliband's repeated broadsides and that the new Foreign Secretary would become a "point of friction" in transatlantic relations.

The diplomatic tensions coincide with an imminent decision on whether to greenlight production at the Rosebank and Jackdaw sites off the Scottish coast.

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In 2016, following Mr Trump's first election victory, Mr Miliband, who had returned to the backbenches after Labour's 2015 General Election loss, declared: "The idea that we have shared values with a racist, misogynistic self-confessed groper beggars belief."

Two years later, he said Mr Trump had "lowered the bar for idiocy" and had a "peculiar relationship with Russia".

He also joined a national protest march in London on 13 July 2018 against Mr Trump's planned UK visit, appearing alongside Birmingham activist Salma Yaqoob beneath banners branding the President "the world's number one racist".

At the rally, Mr Miliband argued that "authoritarian politics, racist politics, has no place in our society".

Steve Bannon, the President's former chief strategist and close ally, told The Telegraph that Washington had taken "the extraordinary step" of cautioning Mr Burnham against appointing "this twit", adding that the Prime Minister "could not care less".

The US Ambassador to London and key ally of Donald Trump, Warren Stephens, played down the row during a Sky News interview, suggesting Mr Miliband's views on the President had probably shifted since 2016.

"People's view of President Trump in 2016 is probably a lot different than it is in... 2026," he said, adding: "He was wrong then."

Mr Stephens acknowledged that the pair had met only once during Mr Miliband's tenure as Net Zero Secretary, and that the encounter had been frosty. "It was as you'd expect, we disagree," he said.

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On energy policy, the ambassador was blunt: "I don't see the logic in using oil and gas that's imported versus using your own."

Nevertheless, Mr Stephens insisted the transatlantic relationship would endure despite the friction, saying: "He's in a new role and as Foreign Secretary I'm sure he'll cherish the relationship with the US."

Mr Miliband held his first discussions with his US counterpart Marco Rubio at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in the Philippines, where the two agreed he would travel to Washington in the near future.

In his opening remarks as Foreign Secretary, Mr Miliband pledged to nurture Britain's "strong, enduring and essential alliance with the United States".

Behind the scenes, efforts to smooth relations are also under way at official level.

Dame Karen Pierce, who served as Britain's ambassador in Washington from 2020 to 2025, is the frontrunner to become the Foreign Office's most senior civil servant.

She is widely admired within the Trump administration, with the President himself reportedly urging Sir Keir Starmer to keep her in post rather than replacing her with Lord Mandelson.

Chris LaCivita, Mr Trump's 2024 election co-campaign manager, previously described Dame Karen as "professional, universally respected".

The North Sea decision looms as a critical test of Mr Burnham's balancing act.

The Prime Minister is understood to be prepared to act swiftly on approving drilling at both Rosebank, the UK's largest undeveloped oil and gas field, and the Jackdaw gasfield, situated 150 miles off Aberdeen.

A source close to the projects said: "An August approval would allow production to commence by October 1. Everything is constructed, the platform is in place, it's just a piece of paper standing in the way."

Public consultations on both sites are due to conclude in mid-August, after which the final decision will fall to new Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh.

She visited Aberdeen on Thursday for talks with industry leaders, describing her approach as one of "pragmatism".

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