On the plane to New York on Monday night, Andy Burnham told reporters that he was looking forward to his first face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump.
The prime minister even said that he hoped to find “common ground” with the unpredictable US president.
But when the two men faced reporters after a 30-minute discussion, Mr Burnham did not look like a man who was enjoying the experience. In fact, for probably the first time since he became PM this summer, he looked nervous.
Sitting awkwardly back in a chair as Mr Trump, by contrast, looked relaxed, the Labour leader at times even appeared to be tightly gripping his hands together.
At other points, as Mr Trump began his answers to press questions, Mr Burnham’s bushy eyebrows appeared to be climbing ever further towards the ceiling.
But, overall, he will be pleased with what turned into, in the end, an impromptu press conference at the culmination of the first meeting between the two men.
Mr Trump said the PM was a man he could do business with. He said Britain was a country that was “waiting for success… (and) good leadership”. And asked about the special relationship, he said it was better than “with your last prime minister”.
And he said it was “an honour” to be with Mr Burnham, adding: “I think he’s going to be a great prime minister… we’re with you all the way.”
Yes, there were sticky moments.
Mr Trump said the UK’s agreement with Mauritius to hand over the Chagos Islands was a “terrible deal” and “ridiculous”.
When Mr Trump said he thought the PM was “going to be looking at” the controversial deal, Mr Burnham appeared to agree.
But there will always be sticky moments with the US president.
And, in truth, it could have gone much worse.
There was no mention of Mr Burnham’s 2021 assertion that “any politician who gave Trump the time of day should be ashamed right now,” which one of his ministers dismissed this weekend as “politics”.
And there were only jokes about Mr Trump’s previous comments being dismissive of Manchester, where the PM was mayor until earlier this year.
Mr Trump even suggested he was not across the Burnham government’s recent West Bank sanctions. That was despite the fact that the policy so infuriated the US and it was openly attacked and condemned by Trump’s own ambassador to Israel.
In the end, Mr Burnham seems to have passed his first major diplomatic test, under difficult circumstances.
But was it perhaps because Mr Trump, who is struggling to find friends in Europe, was keen to make the event a success?
