The British left sees this as further proof of the Johnson government’s populist drift. Despite the controversy, the latter confirmed, Friday, September 4, the appointment of the former Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, as the United Kingdom’s emissary for trade.
Mr Abbott, 62, will become a member of a ‘British trade council’ made up of a dozen people who are supposed to use their influence to promote the ‘post-Brexit’ UK and facilitate the signing of treaties of free trade with the rest of the world.
Mr Abbott, former leader of the Australian Liberal Party, briefly led the mainland country between 2013 and 2015 and has become the target of climate and LGBT rights groups, who accuse him of being climate skeptic, misogynist and homophobic. In question, his opposition to marriage between people of the same sex and his repeated comments, questioning the reality of global warming. In October 2017, for example, invited by a notoriously climate-skeptic British think tank (the Global Warming Policy Foundation), Mr. Abbott declared that climate change “Is rather a good thing, or at least, creates more good than bad”.
Renegotiation of treaties with around 40 partners
Much mobilized in recent days, a collective of activists and artists, including actor Sir Ian McKellen and TV producer Russell T Davies, demanded that Boris Johnson “Reconsider his decision “.
“Here is a man who describes abortion as an easy solution and suggests that men may be better suited by character and physiology to the exercise of authority”, they denounce in a letter to Downing Street. Keir Starmer, the leader of the British Labor Party, for his part expressed his “Serious concerns” : if he was prime minister, he “Wouldn’t have named [M. Abbott] to this post ”.
Visiting the Birmingham area on Friday, Boris Johnson swept aside criticism, assuring that even though he was “Not agree with [M. Abbott] on certain subjects ”, this last “Was elected by the people of the great liberal nation of Australia”. Outraged voices were nevertheless raised, including in the conservative camp. This appointment is “Terrible”, declared at the microphone of the BBC the elected conservative Caroline Nokes, president of the parliamentary commission in favor of the women and the equality.
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