Our Western ally, the United Kingdom, is in a bad state of affairs economically.
Remember back in June, during a White House meeting between President Trump and the NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, the topic of the UK's Labour Party choosing a new leader, Andy Burnham, came up during the media Q and A.
In response to the question, Trump taunted Keir Starmer, the outgoing prime minister, over his refusing to listen to Trump's ask to open up the North Sea for oil and gas drilling, then shared his thoughts on the new guy.
It's worth watching the nuance with which Trump worded part of his answer.
Watch:
.@POTUS on likely Keir Starmer replacement Andy Burnham: "I hear he's extremely liberal—extremely... I gave Keir Starmer some pretty good advice: I said 'open up the North Sea'...they should open up the North Sea, that's an easy one—and a lot of good things are going to happen." https://t.co/ADyFEodTtL
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 24, 2026
As I wrote:
Trump expanded on his answer to talk about Keir Starmer's exit; the president shared some advice he gave the former prime minister about oil and the North Sea. Trump said that many oil executives had begged him to broach the subject of opening up the area to oil production. He didn't make any headway with Starmer, he said.
His guess about Burnham, since he's "extremely liberal," was that he would not take Trump's advice on the North Sea, either, he said.
And in what could be a genius use of reverse psychology by the president, Burnham and his administration have announced that they have done just that.
Now the British government, in a decision Prime Minister Andy Burnham characterized as “pragmatic,” has greenlit a major offshore natural gas project in the North Sea. He also pledged billions of dollars through a new fund to bolster renewable energy development across the country.
“Even on our ambitious climate path, we’ll still require oil and gas as part of our energy needs for decades to come,” Mr. Burnham said in a statement. “That’s why we’re taking a pragmatic approach to the North Sea.”
The approval for the Jackdaw field, off the coast of Scotland, is a major victory for Britain’s oil and gas industry, unions and cities in Britain’s energy heartland, which consider the project an economic lifeline. It is also a win for President Trump, who has pressured a succession of British leaders to “open up” the North Sea to new oil and gas drilling. He praised the decision on social media on Wednesday.
Amid a sharp rise in energy prices caused by the war in Iran, British leaders cast the decision as a way to reduce the country’s reliance on imported fuels and shield households from price volatility. Jackdaw’s gas would be used in Britain and fed into the gas network.
To be fair, PM Burnham didn't really have much choice, given the drastic decline the economy is suffering, as The NY Times story above noted.
More than half a century ago, massive discoveries of oil and gas reserves in the North Sea turned Britain into an energy powerhouse and reshaped its economy.
But over the years, the politics and geology of extracting fossil fuels changed drastically. Production in the North Sea steadily dropped as the basin aged. The urgent need to tackle global warming meant drilling faced increasing political pressure, higher taxes and tougher regulations. And once-vibrant cities, particularly in northeast Scotland, faced severe decline.
My colleague Ward Clark previously wrote in a VIP post on the Labour government wrestling with this problem, in part caused by the UK's buy-in on NetZero.
...[T]he government's net-zero policies are forcing development companies to leave over a hundred North Sea fields untouched, both new projects and extensions to existing ones.
[...]
Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, is under increasing pressure to relax the Government’s stance on North Sea drilling as the Middle East crisis heightens scrutiny of energy imports.
On the news of the announcement, Trump quickly added his praise on Truth Social on Wednesday - while hitting the UK's leftist leaders for hanging on to the climate hoax stuff.
Great news for the wealth and prosperity of the United Kingdom, and the wonderful region of Aberdeen. The U.K. has started drilling in the North Sea, one of the greatest and most prosperous areas of OIL in the World. They should go FULL BLAST!!! This will make the U.K. very… pic.twitter.com/yuT31bUNxu
— Commentary Donald J. Trump Truth Social Posts On X (@TrumpTruthOnX) October 21, 2026
Great news for the wealth and prosperity of the United Kingdom, and the wonderful region of Aberdeen. The U.K. has started drilling in the North Sea, one of the greatest and most prosperous areas of OIL in the World. They should go FULL BLAST!!! This will make the U.K. very wealthy again. TAKE DOWN THE COSTLY AND RIDICULOUS WINDMILLS! President DJT
He isn't off-base here. They are getting this about half right: drilling for natural gas, while also expanding "renewable energy" projects in the billions of pounds. That positive move is probably more of the "stopped clock is right twice a day" category than anything.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are once again respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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