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Andy Burnham has given precious little away on his approach to foreign and defence policy since taking office last week. Today, however, we got a small glimpse of one aspect of what that might look like. This afternoon Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, became the first foreign leader to be hosted by the new prime minister in Britain.
The pair met at Portsmouth naval base to inspect the 200-odd Ukrainian soldiers currently completing maritime exercises there. Burnham afterwards confirmed that the pair had also discussed the question of supplying anti-ballistic missiles to Ukraine ahead of the winter to allow it to better protect its critical infrastructure. Earlier this morning, Downing Street announced that it would also be sharing electronic jamming technology known as ‘Stone Cloak’, which will allow Ukrainian drones to slip through Russian air defences.
Burnham and Zelensky’s first in-person meeting was – by all accounts – a success. The Prime Minister described it as ‘very warm’, adding with a grin that ‘I thought that I would get on well with him, and I did. We got on very well indeed.’ This was, he said, going to be a ‘close partnership’. Zelensky, for his part, will no doubt be enjoying the fact that he is finally working with a counterpart who has also decided to eschew the suit and tie most statesmen wear.
