British PM Andy Burnham asks Trump to raise Jimmy Lai detention with Xi Jinping

Sep 22, 2026

During their first face-to-face meeting at the UN General Assembly on September 22, 2026, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham urged U.S. President Donald Trump to lobby Chinese President Xi Jinping for the release of imprisoned Hong Kong democracy activist Jimmy Lai. Trump agreed that the 78-year-old British citizen should be freed. While Trump praised Burnham as a "natural businessperson," tensions surfaced over the UK's Chagos Islands deal, which Trump labeled "terrible," and differing approaches to global AI regulation.

Burnham-Trump UN meeting

▪The bilateral meeting between British Prime Minister Andy Burnham and U.S. President Donald Trump on September 22, 2026 lasted approximately 40 minutes
▪British Prime Minister Andy Burnham met with U.S. President Donald Trump for their first face-to-face bilateral talks on September 22, 2026, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Jimmy Lai detention advocacy

▪Jimmy Lai, the 78-year-old founder of the defunct Apple Daily newspaper, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2026 under Beijing's national security law and has been detained in Hong Kong since 2020.
▪British Prime Minister Andy Burnham previously raised Jimmy Lai's case directly during a telephone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on September 8, 2026.
▪British Prime Minister Andy Burnham asked U.S. President Donald Trump to raise the detention of Hong Kong media tycoon and British citizen Jimmy Lai during Trump's scheduled meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on September 24, 2026.
▪U.S. President Donald Trump agreed during a meeting with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham that Jimmy Lai should be released from prison and allowed to spend the rest of Lai's days in the United Kingdom

UK-US relations under Burnham

▪British Prime Minister Andy Burnham expressed a desire to establish a single set of global principles and standards for artificial intelligence, which contrasts with U.S. President Donald Trump's rejection of globalist schemes to control the technology.
▪British Prime Minister Andy Burnham stated that the United Kingdom will stand firm and defend the right of Falkland Islanders to self-determination, following U.S. President Donald Trump's review of the United States' neutral stance on the archipelago.
▪U.S. President Donald Trump praised British Prime Minister Andy Burnham as a "natural businessperson" and stated that United States-United Kingdom relations are "more up now" than under former Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Chagos Islands sovereignty dispute

▪U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the United Kingdom's deal to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius as a "terrible deal" and suggested that British Prime Minister Andy Burnham would reconsider the Chagos Islands deal
▪British Prime Minister Andy Burnham stated that he inherited the Chagos Islands deal situation and is working to find a resolution with Mauritius and United States partners to safeguard the future of the Diego Garcia military base

Debatable claims

▪Governments should establish a single set of global standards to regulate artificial intelligence
▪The UK should scrap its deal to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius
▪China should immediately release imprisoned Hong Kong activist Jimmy Lai