One of the first things Andy Burnham did on July 20, 2026, after assuming the role of Britain’s prime minister was make a long-distance call to Donald Trump.

The U.S. president later revealed some of the details of his conversation with “the new gentleman,” noting that they discussed “opening up North Sea oil” – a topic seemingly close to Trump’s heart.

But there have as yet been few clues on how Burnham intends to manage the “special relationship” between the U.S. and U.K. Certainly, that task will not have been made easier by the Labour Party leader’s past comments about Trump or those of his foreign secretary, Ed Miliband – a “racist, misogynistic self-confessed groper,” was Britain’s now top diplomat’s assessment of the U.S. leader back in 2016.

As an expert in U.K. politics and trans-Atlantic relations, I know that dealing with Trump will be a foreign policy priority for Burnham.

However, the challenges for the special relationship go beyond navigating personalities. Indeed, the enduring political instability in the U.K. since 2016 and the Brexit referendum that saw the U.K. exit the European Union is spilling over into foreign policy. Leadership turnover is hindering important reforms at home, but it is also preventing the U.K. from developing a clear strategy on the international stage.

Instability here to stay?

The U.K. has experienced a striking leadership carousel in the past decade.

Burnham is the sixth prime minister since David Cameron resigned in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum in June 2016. And the turnover has also applied to other senior government positions. Miliband has become the the ninth foreign secretary over that period.

This pattern of instability is highly unusual from a historical standpoint. Not since the 1820s has there been as many different prime ministers within the span of 10 years. And this past decade also marks a significant deviation from the rest of the post-World War........

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