Ex-Australian PM Tony Abbott to be unveiled as Britain’s new trade deal supremo as Brexit deadline looms
EX-AUSTRALIAN Prime Minister Tony Abbott is to be unveiled as Britain’s new trade deal supremo, The Sun can reveal. The forthright Aussie has been appointed joint President of Britain’s relaunched Board of Trade, tasked with drumming up deals for Britain around the world. It’s role is to “champion exports and inward and outward investment to […]
EX-AUSTRALIAN Prime Minister Tony Abbott is to be unveiled as Britain’s new trade deal supremo, The Sun can reveal.
The forthright Aussie has been appointed joint President of Britain’s relaunched Board of Trade, tasked with drumming up deals for Britain around the world.
It’s role is to “champion exports and inward and outward investment to deliver economic growth and prosperity” and has traditionally been made up of British political and business figures.
But The Sun understands Boris Johnson has asked Mr Abbott to join as part of a drive to get a number of global “friends” to bang the drum from Brexit Britain.
Mr Abbott led Australia from 2013 to 2015 and was a close ally to the UK during his premiership.
He was also a vocal supporter of Brexit both before the referendum and ever since.
Last year he made a plea to Brits not to worry about a No Deal exit from the EU, saying that Australia trades with the bloc on exactly those terms.
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He wrote: “Let me reassure anyone in Britain, anxious about the prospect of no deal, that Australia does one hundred billion dollars’ worth of trade with the EU every single year, on this very basis.”
Since then Mr Johnson and his ministers have attempted to rebrand a No Deal scenario as a “Australian-style deal”.
Last night a Whitehall source said: “We are delighted to have him on board.”
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