AFTER Donald Trump was floored by a “blue tsunami” of Democrat victories in the US midterms, Andy Burnham will brace for the ripple effects hitting British shores.
What happens in American politics matters for the rest of the world. Decisions made in Washington can affect life in Wolverhampton.
This has been acutely felt by UK families clobbered by higher prices unleashed by the President’s war with .
It has pushed up the cost of food and as supply lines remain throttled in the Strait of Hormuz.
The PM has tried to cushion the blow with bitesize offers of support – including a one-off £100 payment at last week’s Budget – but they have been wiped out by soaring prices.
For a man who has put the at the heart of his agenda, Burnham will hope that a weakened White House will bring this conflict to a close.
But will a bruised Trump really turn down the temperature – or lash out more violently like a wounded animal?
While surrendering control of Congress will constrain his domestic agenda, the President still wields significant over foreign policy.
Trump did concede that his Iran war led to the overnight hammering his Republican candidates suffered in the House and the Senate.
But he also doubled down on his conviction that blitzing the nuclear-minded Ayatollahs was the right thing to do.
And if Democrats gum him up at home, Trump could use his last two years in office to cement his legacy abroad.
That would be a disaster for Burnham who has largely staked his premiership on giving British families “breathing space”.
A veteran strategist once described petrol stations as 15-foot opinion polls – if the price at the pump is up, you can bet that voters are minded to punish the government.
So watch out for whether Burnham now changes how he handles the President.
In their one meeting in New York this year, the PM largely followed his predecessor by showing deference to Trump despite their political differences.
Now that he is diminished, perhaps Burnham will be more muscular in his criticism of the President and try to shift blame for high prices from Westminster to Washington.
He will need no encouragement from many Labour MPs who loathe Trump and have always hated their leaders dancing diplomatically with him.
Burnham is quickly discovering that even as PM he is not a master of his own destiny and is largely a hostage to headwinds from overseas.
Those headwinds could finally start to ease – or gather into an even greater storm.
