Donald Trump officials warn Ed Miliband ‘would be a mistake’ as chancellor
Stay on top of the latest political news with our View from Westminster newsletterGet the latest political headlines with our free emailGet the latest political headlines with our free emailHigh-ranking members of the Trump administration have reportedly warned that it would be a “mistake” for Andy Burnham to appoint Ed Miliband as chancellor.Senior officials of the US president’s team have told their counterparts and other senior Labour figures that they are concerned about Mr Miliband’s record on the North Sea and wind turbines, according to The Times, which has caused conflict between Donald Trump and Sir Keir Starmer.While Mr Burnham has said he hasn’t made any decisions about who he would appoint as his chancellor, Mr Miliband is tipped as one of the contenders and is a long-term ally of the Makerfield MP.Mr Burnham is set to enter No 10 on 20 July and expected to make an announcement about the chancellor before then.Andy Burnham and Ed Miliband (Lucy North/PA) (PA Archive)Trump officials believe Mr Miliband’s opposition to new oil and gas drilling licences in the North Sea is “ideologically driven” and that tax revenues raised by lifting it could help to fund defence spending, The Times reported.The US president has repeatedly criticised Miliband’s energy policy, both publicly and privately, urging Britain to “get rid of the windmills and bring back the oil”.Sir Keir and Mr Trump have often disagreed on energy policy. In their first ever call, the US president claimed foxes were becoming too fat to recognise after eating dead birds killed by wind turbines.Former No 10 chief of staff Morgan McSweeney told the BBC: “The first call that Keir had with the president, he got into a conversation about windmills, and he started saying, ‘Look, Britain’s a beautiful country, but you have too many windmills’. Fine, he was making his point, he’s made that publicly enough times.Trump and Starmer have disagreed over energy policy (AFP/Getty)“Then he started to say, the windmills are killing your birds, birds are falling by the windmills, foxes are eating those birds.”The North Sea is set to remain a sticking point for Mr Trump as Mr Burnham enters No 10 later this month. The US president gave his verdict on the former mayor of Greater Manchester at the end of June, calling him “extremely liberal”.Asked at the White House what he knew about Mr Burnham, the president 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,” he said. “I gave Keir Starmer some pretty good advice. I said open up the North Sea, go to Aberdeen, which was the hottest city of the whole continent.(PA)“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.“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.”Despite this, Mr Burnham told the New Statesman last month that he was “open-minded” about reopening the North Sea to drilling.“I’ve got something of an open mind, you know. I don’t have a sort of fixed position,” he said. The Independent has contacted Ed Miliband’s team for comment.
