Albanese joins progressive world leaders for special summit
The Prime Minister is joining Jacinda Ardern and Tony Blair and some US Democrat presidential contenders at meetings that organisers say will show the power of progressive policies.
Anthony Albanese has joined leading progressive world leaders, policy experts and strategists from almost 40 countries – including Jacinda Ardern and some of the US Democrats’ top presidential contenders – for a special summit in London that organisers say will demonstrate the power of progressive thinking and policies.
After arriving in London from New York on Friday (AEST), Mr Albanese met with former British prime minister Tony Blair, who is working on a Gaza reconstruction plan that has earned the approval of US president Donald Trump.
The Prime Minister was scheduled to hold a series of meetings with current progressive world leaders, including Britain’s Keir Starmer, his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, and Danish Prime Minister MetteFrederiksen.
As Sir Keir faces rising leadership pressures ahead of the British Labour Party Conference in Liverpool – where Mr Albanese on Sunday will be a keynote speaker following an audience with King Charles – Mr Albanese and his British counterpart will meet several times during and following the Global Progress Action Summit.
After participating in a panel discussion alongside Sir Keir, Mr Carney and Iceland Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir, Mr Albanese will have a bilateral meeting with Mr Sanchez, who famously clashed with Donald Trump after refusing to meet the US President’s demand that all NATO countries should increase defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP.
JB Pritzker, the high-profile Democratic Illinois Governor, and Pete Buttigieg, a former US transport secretary under Joe Biden, are the most senior US progressive political figures attending the London summit. Both men are expected to run for president in 2028.
Former progressive leaders including Bill Clinton, Julia Gillard and Ms Ardern have previously spoken at previous summits. The former New Zealand prime minister, who pushed the concept of a “wellbeing budget”, will again speak in London.
Following a bilateral meeting with Mr Carney, Mr Albanese will head to 10 Downing Street for a bilateral meeting with Sir Keir, which is expected to focus on strengthening the UK-Australia relationship, locking-in certainty around the AUKUS nuclear submarine pact, responding to US tariffs and how the British Prime Minister has managed a strong relationship with Mr Trump.
The Australian understands the meeting has not been designed around any major new announcement.
During his one-week visit to the United Nations General Assembly this week, Mr Albanese finally received confirmation from the White House that he would meet with Mr Trump in Washington DC on October 20.
As migration and economic pressures heap pain on Sir Keir and drive an unprecedented hole in his government’s polling numbers, many British Labour MPs and supporters will be tuned into Mr Albanese’s Labour Party conference speech to see what tips the Prime Minister can provide after he won 94 seats at the May 3 election.
While the next British election is still years away, the dominance of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party and rising competition with other left-leaning parties has fuelled concern about Sir Keir’s longer-term political success.
Previous Global Progress Action Summit conferences have been held in Montreal, Blackpool and Manchester. The summit is co-hosted by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the Institute for Public Policy Research and Labour Together.
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