Body language expert explains Andy Burnham's 'disrespect' to Trump with subtle gesture

Andy Burnham's body language indicated a 'disrespect' towards Donald Trump during the two leaders' meeting.

Burnham, who has been UK prime minister since July, met with US president Donald Trump at the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly.

The meeting was the first time that the two leaders had met face to face since Burnham became prime minister, taking over from Keir Starmer.

Burnham and Trump spoke in private, as well as answering questions from the press, with Burnham telling reporters that he had 'established a good connection' with the US president, adding that the pair had 'taken that further today.'

While words appeared to strike an amicable tone, an expert in body language spoke to Sky News, sharing his analysis of what Burnham's body language might tell us about how the prime minister was feeling about the meeting, as well as his feelings towards Trump.

Peter Collett is a psychologist who studies body language and who takes a particular interest in the body language of politicians.

Trump and Burnham during the meeting (Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images)

This included looking at everything from how the two politicians were sitting, their handshake, and how they were interacting with each other.

And one element in which Collett said that Burnham had not indicated 'respect' came in how he was responding when Trump was speaking, with Collett analysing whether the two politicians would choose to 'gaze' at each other while they were speaking.

"Certainly in the first half of the meeting Burnham hardly gives Trump any attention at all," said Collett. "All his attention is on the press, he's looking straight forward, and not at Trump while he's speaking."

He added: "In other words, he's not giving him signs of respect, he's not being attentive, he's not being subordinate."

Collett used Trump as another example, showing that he appeared to be behaving differently when Burnham was speaking.

"By contrast Trump, while Burnham is speaking, is craning his head round, really interesting, and on one or two occasions even nods his head," he said, also noting that Trump had also extended his hand out, a gesture he read as a 'friendly almost bantering kind of exchange'.

The leaders met face to face for the first time (SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images)

The handshake was of course an important moment.

"The handshake between them is extremely revealing," he said. "Notice Trump is on the right hand side of the screen, which places him at a slight disadvantage, he initiates the handshake by extending his hand palm up, thereby giving Burnham the opportunity to assume the upper handshake, in other words, to dominate the handshake.

He added: "This is one of Trump's little ruses and it's something he does standardly with other heads of state."

Collett explained that this was because Trump may flex his arm, meaning he could 'dominate' the handshake, but seemed to not do so here.

He also made some more general observations about how Burnham may have been feeling, noting it was a high pressure scenario.

"Burnham has every reason to be anxious and concerned about this unpredictable scenario," he said, "and that's revealed in the fact that he's very stiff, he's polite."