UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said that while he found Donald Trump “really warm”, he would not hesitate to publicly criticise the U.S. president when necessary to protect Britain’s interests.

“Of course,” Mr Burnham said when asked in an interview with the BBC if he would call out Mr Trump if it were the proper thing to do.

“You have to defend your own national interest before anything else. That’s what you’re required to do if you’re to do this job properly,” he added.

The prime minister, who said he had a positive 

first interaction with Mr Trump and found him “really warm”, however, declined to say whether he trusted the U.S. leader.

“It’s a changing world, isn’t it, and you just obviously have to call things as they develop,” Mr Burnham told the BBC. “I can’t at any point say that I won’t take a different opinion from him [Mr Trump], that I will need to voice a different idea that is right for Britain.”

“My strength is remaining close to people, close to the public; that will not change as prime minister.”

Mr Burnham raised his “concern” over how Mr Trump launched a war against Iran, saying he “wouldn’t hold back from saying what I think is right.”

On defence, the prime minister declined to be specific about a date for increasing defence spending to three per cent of GDP, adding that his government must first “work out the way of doing that.”

His chancellor, John Healey, had resigned from the former administration over its failure to commit to spending three per cent of GDP to defence by 2030, arguing that the UK may not be safe without it.

“I appointed my new chancellor very aware of what he had said about the critical importance of defence spending and the position that he had taken about that.

“The first challenge facing us both is to ensure that the defence investment plan is fully funded, and that’sthe thing that’s right in front of us, and we need to work that through as we go towards the budget later this year,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Mr Burnham, who took over as the prime minister on July 20, specifically ruled out holding an early general election before 2029, noting that his priority was to restore the country.

“I’m going to rule it out… I don’t think people want it,” he said, adding that “getting the country back where it should be” was his focus.