The US President has called Andy Burnham 'extremely liberal' - while admitting that he does not know much about him. In his first public comments about Mr Burnham, who is the clear favourite to succeed the outgoing Prime Minister as the Labour premier, Donald Trump described him as 'the mayor of a town', adding that he 'probably won’t open up the North Sea'.The President had repeatedly lambasted Sir Keir Starmer during his two-year tenure over his energy policy and for not allowing further oil drilling in the North Sea, while permitting wind turbines.Asked at the White House what he knew about the new Makerfield MP - who has alluded to the US leader's politics as 'poisonous' - Mr Trump said: 'I don't know, I think I see that he was, I guess, the mayor of a town.'I hear he's extremely liberal, extremely, so that means he probably won't open up the North Sea.' When Trump first heard of Starmer's resignation, he wrote in a damning post on Truth Social that the PM had 'failed badly on two very important subjects- IMMIGRATION AND ENERGY (OPEN NORTH SEA OIL!)'. Trump reiterated his criticisms of Starmer's handling of energy at the White House today, claiming he 'gave Keir Starmer some pretty good advice'. He added: 'I said, open up the North Sea, go to Aberdeen, which was the hottest city of the whole continent. It was the oil city of Europe, and they closed everything. It was terrible. I couldn't believe it.'The North Sea is loaded. I have had every oil company come to see me "Sir. could you give us access to the UK? We would do anything to drill in the North Sea".'The amazing thing is, they buy their oil from Norway, which gets the oil from the North Sea. Think of it, and they pay a big premium. Andy Burnham is 'extremely liberal' and so 'probably won't open up the North Sea' for oil exploration, Donald Trump has said In his first public comments about Mr Burnham, the US President described him as 'the mayor of a town' and that he 'probably won’t open up the North Sea''Norway's got now two trillion dollars in the bank, and the UK is dying, so they should open up the North Sea, and it's an easy one, and a lot of good things are going to happen. It's among the greatest deals in the world.'Earlier this month, Mr Burnham lashed out at the 'poisonous' politics of the US - writing in the Sunday Mirror that the 'country is on quite a worrying path', pointing to the 'polarised' politics in America, embodied by Mr Trump. There is no clarity about what Mr Burnham's policy platform would be - with many fearing a lurch to the Left - although he has hinted at wealth taxes, revaluing council tax and called for nationalisations.While their politics might differ, one of their strategies appears to be quite similar: it was reported yesterday that Mr Burnham was hoping to move part of his Downing Street operation to Manchester, much like Trump's fondness for splitting his time between his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, as well as the White House in Washington DC.When he quit Westminster in 2016 to campaign to become Greater Manchester mayor, Mr Burnham claimed 'voters have a problem with an out-of-touch elite who don't seem to care'.Moving part of his Downing Street operation away from Westminster would be a similar move to Tory former chancellor Rishi Sunak's decision to create a new Treasury hub in Darlington.Starmer held back tears as he announced his resignation on Monday following a mutiny inside his own party over Mr Burnham by-election success.Soon after, Trump scathingly said 'this is not Winston Churchill, that I can tell you,' while discussing the outgoing PM at an executive order signing session in the Oval Office.Trump first said Starmer was a 'lovely man' and 'sort of a friend of mine' but added that he told him, 'you're really messing up energy'.'You have windmills all over the place,' the President explained. 'In the meantime, you have the North Sea oil and they won't let anybody drill.'Trump then complained how Starmer was 'not good to us with Nato,' suggesting that it hurt the prime minister politically.The pair met just last week at a gathering of G7 leaders in France, following a period of tense relations after Starmer refused to let the US use British military bases to carry out strikes on Iran, alongside his decision not to send aircraft carriers to the Middle East.Yesterday, it was reported that Starmer and Mr Burnham were clashing over defence as the outgoing PM desperately tries to finalise spending plans before a Nato summit.However, at today's PMQs, Starmer insisted he is 'very pleased' that Mr Burnham is back in the Commons after a nine-year spell as Greater Manchester mayor.Having dodged making a statement to the Commons on the G7 summit, Sir Keir was then grilled on his demise for the first time.Kemi Badenoch mocked the premier for being surrounded by 'traitors and deserters'.When Sir Keir - flanked by a grim-faced Rachel Reeves - tried to talk up his achievements, the Tory leader shot back: 'If it's all so fantastic why is he resigning?'Turning her fire on the Chancellor, Mrs Badenoch said: 'She didn't even bother to come out into Downing Street to watch the PM deliver his resignation speech.'Then she turned up to get a selfie with Andy Burnham.'The Conservative leader also took aim at Ed Miliband - now tipped by many to become Mr Burnham's Chancellor.'He was a failed Labour leader, rejected by the electorate, brought back from the wilderness... and when the going got tough, he jumped into bed with the Mayor of Manchester,' she said.In a brutal snipe at Mr Miliband running for the leadership against his own brother in 2010, Mrs Badenoch added: 'It's not the first time he's betrayed someone close to him, is it?'Mr Burnham was not in the chamber for the exchanges although he is expected to take over within weeks.