London: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday congratulated Anthony Albanese on his election as Australia’;s new leader, vowing to work together on trade, military ties and climate change.
“Our countries have a long history and a bright future together,” Johnson said in a message to the Labour party leader, according to Downing Street.
Johnson shares a centre-right ideology with Australia’;s defeated Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and their conservative parties have looked to the same electoral strategists for advice.
But the pair differed on climate change, a defining issue of the Australian election.
“As thriving likeminded democracies we work every day to make the world a better, safer, greener and more prosperous place,” Johnson told the incoming Australian prime minister Albanese.
The UK leader hailed a new post-Brexit free-trade agreement between their countries, and a defence partnership also involving the United States that will see Australia deploy nuclear-powered submarines for the first time.
Pledging to collaborate with Albanese on “shared challenges”, Johnson said the “only distance between us is geographical”.
In a nod to China’;s growing assertiveness, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss tweeted that Britain would also work with Albanese’;s new government “for a free and open Indo-Pacific”.
The British Labour party also enjoys close links to its Australian counterpart, working together at elections with both parties enduring a decade in the political wilderness.
Labour leader Keir Starmer hailed Albanese for bringing “stale” conservative rule to an end in his country, … adding: “You showed that Australia deserves better.”
