The man who came in from the cold

The alternative Prime Minister has appeared on the cover of a magazine looking like an international man of mystery.  

The alternative Prime Minister has appeared on the cover of a magazine looking like an international man of mystery.  

We're getting hardcore spy vibes from the latest photo shoot served up by he-who-would-be-Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Mostly off the election campaign (save for a few cameos here and there) while he isolates for Covid, he's back with a shoot that's left us shaken and stirred.

Albanese graces the celebrity magazine InStyle which relaunched last month as a digital only publication (hi!) 

Collar turned to the cold, shot in silhouette, barely lit, he's noir Bond. And tweeting with delight about the results of his foray into high fashion from his quarantine of solace in Marrickville.

Anthony Albanese graces InStyle.

Albanese has been hard at work, working on his image for months. Losing weight after a car crash last year made him start prioritising his health.

Before his high fashion spread he appeared in the Australian Woman's Weekly looking like this:

It's been a big rebrand for the veteran politician who has been rising through the ranks of the left faction of the Labor party - historically the party of the working class - since the 1990s.

Politicians as models

Albanese posing up for a magazine is part of a rich tradition of Politician yassification.  Especially politicians trying to build their profile and win elections (of course they're always trying to do that).

Paul Keating graced the cover of Rolling Stone, Malcolm Turnbull almost broke the internet (and his party) when he - a junior minister at the time signalled his intentions to everyone on the planet when he appeared on the cover of GQ under the headline "Primed Minister". 

We've compiled some of our favourites. Swipe through below...

Q&A

The Q&A interview that accompanies the shoot was conducted by Grace Tame. The former Australian of the Year has been outspoken in her criticism of Scott Morrison and has made no secret of her fondness for the Labor Leader.

Now we learn the pair have indeed become firm friends and text each other. 

"She apologised for texting him a joke about the upcoming election without realising that it was his birthday until she saw it later on Twitter," InStyle editor-in-chief Justine Cullen writes in the introduction to interview.

Was a pleasure to chat with the inspirational @TamePunk for @InStyleAus about the election and how we can have a better future for everyone.

Read the interview here:https://t.co/3Tpe8AFZiu pic.twitter.com/yy779Zg1BQ

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) April 28, 2022

The biggest moment in the interview: Tame was moved to tears as Albanese spoke about growing up in a single-mother household in a housing commission in Sydney.

It goes like this:

Albanese notices that Tame has started crying.

Albanese: Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you there…

Albanese: [smiling] So when, like, the marriage equality debate was on, for example, and one of the things that some of the opponents said was, you know, you need a mum, a dad and two kids — that’s a family, I hear that message and go, well, hang on, you know, families are diverse and made up of all sorts of different groups. People are different. Relationships are complex. The one thing that really, really matters — the essential ingredient — is love.

Tame: Yeah.