Andy Burnham yesterday cleared his first major diplomatic hurdle as his meeting with Donald Trump in Manhattan passed without serious incident. During a 30-minute encounter on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the US President bestowed on Burnham two of his highest compliments, calling him a ‘natural businessman’ and a ‘great prime minister’.

Trump dialled up the niceties further by describing UK-US relations as ‘more up now than they were with your last prime minister’. Indicating that Burnham had impressed him personally behind closed doors, the President explained that ‘based on my relationship with your prime minister Andy, I think that we’re doing very well’.

At least until a new administration enters the White House, the Chagos deal appears dead.

Such warm words – and a mini press conference devoid of bust-ups or faux pas – amounted to a win for the Foreign Office. For all Labour’s talk of Burnham standing up to the Donald where his predecessor pandered, the Prime Minister once again opted for ‘continuity Keir’. He kept his mouth shut on contentious US domestic matters, such as the exclusion of members of the media from White House briefings and press conferences. Nor did Burnham make a major show of his own domestically focused posturing over West Bank sanctions. In a considerable win for Labour, if not necessarily for Britain, Trump let the matter pass as Burnham calmly explained his reasoning for the policy. The northern charm offensive had worked.

But that is about where the celebrations end for Burnham abroad. On one of the most crucial foreign policy issues of the day – the Chagos surrender plan – Trump would not give an inch. To the relief of those at home, if not the Foreign Office officials intent on ceding the overseas territory in the name of bogus so-called international law, the President blasted: ‘I don’t support it. I think it’s terrible. It was a terrible deal. They [Mauritius] all of a sudden say they have ownership. Somebody has ownership that never showed up before after decades and centuries. I think it’s ridiculous.’

Trump had drawn a firm line in the sand. While he was willing to give a little on West Bank sanctions, he made clear that Britain would have to fall into line over the Chagos Islands. Behind the scenes, Nigel Farage is understood to have spent considerable time lobbying the White House to maintain its tough stance. Given that Burnham spent much of the build-up to the assembly vowing to do ‘everything possible’ to get the surrender deal done, this was a Labour failure of epic proportions. At least until a new administration enters the White House, the Chagos deal appears dead.

After the meeting, it now seems Labour is somewhat backing down on Chagos, with Burnham and Wes Streeting markedly softening their tone on the deal Sir Keir and his side-kick Lord Hermer were so wedded to. Suggesting the human rights duo are to blame for the entanglement, Streeting told Sky News this morning: ‘I stand by the decision that was taken, I’m not going to try to absolve myself of it now. But at the same time, the principle we followed all the way through is that it needs to have the support of the Americans. So objectively, in the absence of support from the Americans, is this deal good enough? No. It needs to have the support of the Americans.’ This is a completely different tone from that taken by defence minister Luke Pollard just 24 hour earlier, who was sent out on the airwaves to defend the status quo in no uncertain terms.

The meeting also seemed to go well on Ukraine, and Trump offered his alleged ‘understanding’ that the Falklands are British. But relations will only become more difficult from here. Having felt burnt by Sir Keir over the Iran war, and with the Middle East still a tinderbox, Trump will expect his new friend to act when called upon. The two leaders are also worlds apart on AI: the President is staunchly opposed to regulation, while Burnham has called for ‘global principles’ to govern the rapidly developing technology.

There was much for British diplomats to celebrate in New York. But Trump has a habit of turning on those he initially flatters when they fail to play ball. It is surely only a matter of time before the two men’s fundamentally opposing views on the great global issues of the day begin to sour their relationship.