Politico London Playbook:
…”Keir Starmer is drawing up plans to visit Australia next month as part of a push to keep the AUKUS submarine pact afloat.
The prime minister is expected to speak to his counterpart Anthony Albanese in a multi-stop trip as he goes to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetingin Samoa.
It’s also a handy chance to chum up to the leader of another Labor Party … which faces a battle to keep power in next year’s Aussie election.
Top of the bill will be the U.S.-U.K. plan to help Australia get its first nuclear-powered submarine fleet, a bulwark against the rise of China.
Starmer and Biden discussed AUKUS on Friday and ex-national security adviser Stephen Lovegrove is leading a review that’s handily due to report next month.
Government officials insist they are four square behind AUKUS and minister Vernon Coaker
claims it is making “significant progress,” despite
wider complaints about U.K. defense spending under Starmer.”…..