Boris Johnson holding out ‘not great’ for Britain, says Anthony Albanese

Anthony Albanese says it would be bad for Britain if Boris Johnson remained as prime minister with no authority for the next couple of months.

Boris Johnson and Anthony Albanese at the NATO summit in Madrid in June. Picture: Getty Images

Anthony Albanese says it would be bad for Britain if Boris Johnson remained as prime minister with no authority for the next couple of months, outlining his preference for a quick succession to a new leader for Australia’s key ally.

With Mr Johnson vowing to stay on as Britain’s leader until the ruling Conservative Party chooses a new leader, a process that typically takes three months, the Prime Minister said he hoped the transition would be a “quick process”.

“I think the idea that you have a couple of months where there’s no one in charge, no prime minister with authority, is not a great thing for the UK,” Mr Albanese told Nine Network’s Today.

“But we’ll allow them to have their own political processes.”

There is concern within Britain’s Conservative Party that Mr Johnson could remain in the role until October, with a contested leadership contest to go to a vote of all party members.

The timeline for the leadership contest will be unveiled next week, with contenders including Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, ­Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, former chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak and former health secretary Sajid Javid.

Mr Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May, stayed as British prime minister for two months after announcing her resignation in May 2019.

ALP president Wayne Swan said Mr Johnson should have immediately stepped aside.

“He’s like the black knight defending the bridge, lost all his arms and legs, claiming he only has flesh wounds,” the former federal treasurer said.

“He’s going to be hanging around No.10 at least another month while they elect a Tory leader. He could have resigned as prime minister and had the deputy act as prime minister. He didn’t do that.

“That’s just a recipe for more chaos.”

Mr Albanese said he did not expect the relationship between Britain and Australia to change with a new leader.

“We will work with whoever the UK Conservative Party elect as the new Tory leader and therefore the new prime minister,” Mr Albanese said.

“Our relations are not relations between individuals, they’re relations between peoples and our countries.

“This is a difficult process for Boris personally, but I’m sure that the Australia/UK relationship will continue to thrive in the future.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles said Britain’s leadership change would not have any impact on the AUKUS deal or the Australia-UK free trade agreement.

“It won’t change our relationship with Britain,” Mr Marles told the ABC.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said Mr Johnson was a good friend of Australia’s.

“Boris Johnson will be remembered in part for his eccentricities,” Senator Birmingham told Today.

“But also from an Australian perspective, we should remember him for the fact that he was the UK leader who sealed the Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement, who brought us the AUKUS security pact providing access to much deeper defence co-operation and technologies in the future, and who helped Australia out with Pfizer vaccines in the middle of the pandemic when we needed them.

“But no doubt the next UK prime minister will also be a great friend, as we’ve seen throughout the years.”