Critics are furious with PM’s speech. These UK leaders couldn’t be happier

1 week ago 5

Liverpool: His critics are adamant that Anthony Albanese has crossed a line by speaking to a Labour Party conference in the United Kingdom about how to defeat the right, but the prime minister’s friends in Britain are mightily glad he came across.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was a guest speaker at UK Labour’s annual conference held in Liverpool.

British cabinet ministers said Albanese’s address resonated with their party members because of its message about unity against conservative parties.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy called it a beautiful speech, Defence Secretary John Healey praised its powerful message and Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said it was fantastic.

“What really resonated with me was the message that parties of the left win when they pull together, when they unite and when they take the fight to our opponents,” Phillipson said.

“That’s where we are at the moment. And I know it’s something that Australian Labor have been through and come out the other side.”

Phillipson, a candidate for the Labour deputy leadership in a ballot among party members over the weeks ahead, said the message hit home when Reform UK leader Nigel Farage was attacking the government from the right.

“What we have here in the UK with Reform and Farage is a party and an individual who actually doesn’t want to make life better for people, doesn’t want to fix the problems, whose only answer is to stoke grievance and sow division.”

But Reform is surging in the polls while the prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, is deeply unpopular. The latest YouGov survey found he was disliked by 53 per cent of respondents and favoured by only 27 per cent.

Farage was disliked by 40 per cent and liked by 37 per cent, with other voters unsure. His party, however, has a big lead over Labour when respondents are asked how they would cast their votes.

The results this week found that Reform had 27 per cent of the vote, Labour was on 21 per cent, the Conservatives had 17 per cent, the Liberal Democrats 15 per cent, and the Greens 11 per cent. In the first-past-the-post system, parties cannot rely on preferences to leap ahead of rivals.

Albanese held private meetings at the Labour conference and spoke with Starmer, Lammy, Healey, Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, as well as four other British ministers.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley stepped up her attack on Albanese on Monday by declaring he should not have gone to the Labour conference to speak to a political gathering.

“He didn’t just cross a line, he flew to the other side of the world to give a partisan political speech on behalf of a political party in another country,” she said in Albury.

“That is totally unacceptable. We have no problem with the prime minister meeting the King, the prime minister of the UK and other UK leaders.

‘Giving a speech backing in a political party in another country – that really does cross the line.’

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley

“But giving a speech backing in a political party in another country – that really does cross the line.”

Scott Morrison spoke as prime minister at a gathering for US President Donald Trump at a Pratt Industries factory in Ohio in September 2019, but his brief address was not about the contest between the left and right in politics.

John Howard addressed conservatives as prime minister in 2002 when he joined then US president George W. Bush in Washington, DC, at a gathering of the International Democracy Union. He spoke about politics, but without a rallying cry against the left.

Albanese, in contrast, spoke of the shared values of Labor in Australia and Labour in the UK, and used this to exhort the British party members to stay unified. This was a show of support for Starmer when there is daily speculation about his leadership in the media.

Lammy told this masthead that the Australian prime minister’s speech “captured beautifully” the history of the labour movement across international borders.

“I thought it was one of the best articulations of the power of labour in office,” he said.

Healey, who was in Australia with Lammy to discuss the AUKUS alliance earlier this year, also praised the address.

“He was able to set out for our conference the historic commitment that our labour movements made to be not parties of protest, but parties of government,” he said. “And he spoke of the historic duty that our parties have, which is not just to protest on behalf of working people but to get into power to change things for working people.

David Lammy said Anthony Albanese’s speech was “one of the best articulations of the power of labour in office”.

“That was a very powerful message, and it is a strong theme at this conference here for us in the UK. That’s why he went down so well.”

Albanese did not name any political opponents in his address, but the Labour faithful needed no hints to know he was referring to Farage and Reform when he contrasted Labour with its opponents.

He praised Starmer, emphasised unity and highlighted the fact that Labour has more time until the next election than Labor does in Australia. The remarks appeared to be aimed at calming down MPs who seemed so rattled about their future.

“Delivering change is more difficult than demanding it,” Albanese said. “Working within the system is tougher than railing against it. And creating solutions requires more of us than shouting slogans.”

One audience member began applauding at those remarks, and her response was picked up around the conference hall.

After the speech, the audience member, Johanna Baxter, told this masthead it was a fantastic speech. Baxter is the Labour MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, a constituency west of Glasgow.

“It was about the difficult choices that labour governments face, and about the fact that we are better in government delivering for working people than we are shouting from the sidelines,” she said.

“I thought that was a fantastic point that he made.”

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.