Under the proposal being pushed by the White House, as reported by Israeli media outlets, Blair would lead a body called the Gaza International Transitional Authority that would have a mandate to be Gaza’s “supreme political and legal authority” for as long as five years.
The authority would initially be based in Egypt before assuming control of the territory with the backing of a United Nations-endorsed multinational peacekeeping force largely led by Arab countries.
Albanese has expressed openness to Australia participating in such a force, though any role would likely be small.
Since 2016, Blair has led the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, a non-profit which has sought to promote peace in the Middle East and a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Albanese will travel to Balmoral, Scotland, to meet King Charles III on Saturday local time before he addresses a crowd at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool on his final day in the UK.
The prime minister appeared in the evening at a dinner reception at Downing Street carrying a four-pack of Albo Pale Ale, a beer named after him made by Sydney brewery Willie the Boatman.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Jodie Haydon arrives for a dinner reception at 10 Downing Street.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
As well as Starmer, Albanese met with British Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch but said he had no plans to meet Reform leader Nigel Farage, who spearheaded the Brexit campaign, while in London.
“I don’t want to see the rise of populist organisations such as that,” Albanese said when asked about Reform’s surging popularity in the UK.
“I met with the mainstream opposition party here… Parties of governance have to come up with solutions, not to seek to divide people.”
YouGov polling on Friday showed that Reform would be close to having enough support to form a majority government if an election were held today, and would increase its parliamentary representation from five seats to 311.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney at the Global Progress Action Summit held at Central Hall in London.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
The poll found Labor would be left with 144 seats and the Tories with just 45 seats.
Earlier in the day Albanese appeared alongside Starmer, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Icelandic Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdóttir at a conference where they discussed how centre-left parties could combat the rise of the far-right.
Albanese said the Coalition had resoundingly lost the May election in part because it practised “grievance politics” that sought to prey on people’s fears of change rather than offer solutions to complex problems.
Loading
“It’s always easy just to try to tear things down. What’s hard is building things up,” Albanese said.
Asked about the future of the AUKUS pact, which is under review by the Pentagon, Albanese said: “There is no indication that I’ve seen of anything other than support for AUKUS going forward.
“It is in the interests of all three nations. It’s in the interests of Australia, in the interests of the United States and in the interests of the United Kingdom.”
The future of AUKUS will be high on the agenda when Albanese travels to Washington DC on October 20 to meet Trump for their first bilateral meeting.
The Washington Post recently reported that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had assured Defence Minister Richard Marles during a recent trip to Washington that the Trump administration would not ditch AUKUS.
“I have always been confident about AUKUS going ahead and every meeting I’ve had, and discussions I’ve had with people in the US administration have always been positive about AUKUS and the role that it plays,” Albanese said.
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.
