The UK has its first Catholic PM – but don’t expect a US-style religious culture war to follow

Trump administration has clashed with Vatican on social issues but Burnham’s faith is shaped by different principles

With the appointment of Britain’s first lifelong Roman Catholic prime minister, the faith is now in a prominent political position on both sides of the Atlantic.

But while Donald Trump’s administration, in particular the vice-president, JD Vance – a Catholic convert – has placed Catholicism at the heart of its culture wars and repeatedly clashed with the Vatican over the US’s hardline stance on social issues, Andy Burnham has been shaped by a British Catholic tradition with a different set of political priorities.