Anthony Albanese dodges Nigel Farage as Keir Starmer blasts ‘grievance’ politics’
Anthony Albanese will not meet with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, declaring he will not buy-in to the right-wing party streaking ahead of Labour and the Tories in the polls.
Anthony Albanese will not meet with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage despite the right-wing party dominating Labour and the Conservatives in British polls, as Keir Starmer attacked populist movements he says are driven by “grievance” and fuel “lies”.
After meeting with Sir Keir and Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch overnight, the Prime Minister said he was interested in dealing with “parties of governance” and would not buy-in to Reform UK streaking ahead of Labour and the Tories in the polls.
Following a full-schedule of meetings on Friday local time, Mr Albanese brought a four-pack of Willie the Boatman ‘Albo’ beers with him to a 10 Downing Street drinks reception hosted by Sir Keir on Friday night local time. Attendees included Mr Albanese’s fiancée Jodie Haydon, Lady Victoria Starmer, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Diana Fox Carney, and Iceland Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir.
Amid rising expectations that Donald Trump will honour the Biden-era $368bn AUKUS nuclear submarine deal, the Labor leader said “there is no indication that I’ve seen of anything other than support for AUKUS going forward ... it’s in the interests of all three nations”. Mr Albanese, who spoke with Sir Keir about the nuclear submarine program and Palestinian recognition, on Saturday is due to have a Balmoral audience with King Charles, who earlier this month told the US President at a state banquet that the AUKUS pact is “vital”.
As Sir Keir faces growing leadership rumblings ahead of a critical appearance next week at the British Labour Conference, which Mr Albanese will address, the British Prime Minister overnight delivered a major speech announcing his plan to introduce Digital IDs for all workers in response to voter concerns about illegal migration. The plan was immediately rejected by Mr Farage and Jeremy Corbyn.
Speaking at the Global Progress Action Summit in London, where he later joined Mr Albanese, Mr Carney and Ms Frostadottir on a Q&A panel discussing the future of progressive politics, Sir Keir invoked “grievance” politics and unfair representation of law and order in Britain.
“I do accept that it is now time for social democrats to confront directly some of the challenges and some of the lies, frankly, that have taken root in our societies,” Sir Keir said.
The embattled British Prime Minister warned of a miserable and joyless future if politics is driven by an “industrialised infrastructure of grievance” and declared that the “Conservative Party is dead” and the new battle “for the soul of the country” would be with Reform UK.
Asked by The Australian about the rise of the Reform UK party, the dismissal of new right-wing parties as being fuelled by “grievance” and whether he was concerned about the impact of new political movements on Labor and the Coalition in Australia, Mr Albanese said modern political parties would face major challenges ahead dealing with the acceleration in artificial intelligence and wider-impacts across society.
“I think one of the reasons why the last election campaign saw one side of politics speak about grievance without putting up any solutions over that period. I felt that there wasn’t the alternative policy work or constructive discussion. And I think they paid a price for that on the 3rd of May, frankly.
“It’s always easy to just try and tear things down. What’s hard is building things up. Serious people in politics want to build things up. And they want to leave or make a difference, not just occupy the space, not just identify all there’s this problem.”
Asked whether that was his advice for Sir Keir, Mr Albanese said “the job ahead for people in politics, in my view, is always to come up with solutions and to come up with programs that take countries forward, not just to identify where issues are”.
“I don’t want to see the rise of populist organisations, such as that (Reform UK). I’ve met with the mainstream opposition party here and I’m involved in parties of governance. (They) have to come up with solutions, not seek to divide people.”
Ahead of travelling to Balmoral for an audience with King Charles, Mr Albanese was asked whether he thought Australia would become a Republic in his lifetime. Before the failure of his Indigenous voice referendum in October 2023, Mr Albanese was open to holding a referendum on a Republic.
Speaking on Saturday at Stoke Lodge in London, the residence of Australia’s High Commissioner to Britain, Mr Albanese said a Republic referendum was a “matter for the Australian people but I respect His Majesty”.
“I’ve said very clearly, I have no plans to have a referendum during this term.”
Asked whether he had sought Sir Keir’s advice on how to best interact with Mr Trump as a progressive leader ahead of his October 20 meeting at the White House, Mr Albanese said his approach would focus on dealing with “issues in a straightforward manner”.
“I’ve had constructive discussions with President Trump on the phone and then in person this week in New York. I look forward to the discussion with President Trump on October 20th.”
Following meetings with Sir Keir at 10 Downing Street and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Mr Albanese said he had discussed how to unlock Australia’s vast critical minerals deposits that would be vital in defence and other manufacturing.
Mr Albanese overnight also met with former British Labour prime minister Tony Blair and Spanish left-wing Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who recently clashed with Mr Trump after refusing to accept the US President’s demand that all NATO countries commit to defence spending of 5 per cent of GDP.
Other speakers at the Global Progress Action Summit included former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, Democratic Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and former Biden administration cabinet member Pete Buttigieg.
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