Boris Johnson has defended proposals to appoint Tony Abbott as a UK trade envoy despite claims that his misogynistic and homophobic comments, as well as his denial of the climate crisis, make him unfit to represent the UK on the world stage. The prime minister addressed the issue on Friday after days of mounting pressure to drop the planned appointment. He dismissed the concerns of a wide range of campaigners who have insisted there are better candidates than the former Australian prime minister for the Board of Trade role. “I don’t, obviously, don’t agree with those sentiments at all. But then I don’t agree with everyone who serves the government in an unpaid capacity on hundreds of boards across the country – and I can’t be expected to do so,” said the prime minister during a visit to Solihull. “What I would say about Tony Abbott is this is a guy who was elected by the people of the great liberal democratic nation of Australia. It’s an amazing country, it’s a freedom-loving country, it’s a liberal country. There you go, I think that speaks for itself.”
Campaigners have suggested Abbott’s appointment would send out a damaging message to the world about the UK’s position on various issues. They have also claimed his views meant that in any trade deals he struck, Abbot would be unlikely to secure safeguards to protect the people he has disparaged. An open letter, signed by the actor Sir Ian McKellen, the Doctor Who screenwriter Russell T Davies and almost two dozen others, said on Friday that ministers should not appoint Abbott to the board. “This is a man who described abortion as ‘the easy way out’, and suggested that men may be ‘by physiology or temperament more adapted to exercise authority or to issue command’,” the letter says. “This is a man who described himself as ‘threatened by homosexuality’, and vigorously campaigned against the ultimately successful referendum in Australia to allow same-sex couples to marry. This is a man who has suggested that climate change is ‘probably doing good’, and who downplayed the link between extreme weather and bushfires at the height of this year’s Australian bushfire crisis.” While Abbott’s appointment had previously been assumed to be imminent, Downing Street insisted on Thursday that “no decisions” had been made, prompting speculation about another U-turn.
Asked about the issue on Friday, the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, stressed Abbott did not yet have a confirmed role. “I hate to bring us back to reality but he hasn’t been appointed to anything and as far as I know there haven’t been any appointments made,” he told Sky News. “There are lots of people with whom their comments I vehemently disagree but I’m not into defending people who are not actually carrying out any role for the British government.” The hints of a change of mind come after the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, raised serious concerns about Abbott’s suitability for the role, misgivings echoed by the human rights groups Amnesty International and Liberty, the Trades Union Congress, the Fawcett Society for women’s equality, and the environmental group Greenpeace. The Board of Trade is a historical body revived by Theresa May’s government to advise on Britain’s post-Brexit trade policy around the world. It is understood Abbott’s name was on a list of potential candidates approved by No 10 several weeks ago, but a final announcement has since been delayed. The post is unpaid.
The shadow women and equalities minister, Marsha de Cordova, has written to her government counterpart, Liz Truss, who is also the international trade secretary, to express her alarm at Abbott’s “offensive and outdated views”. De Cordova said she was “disappointed” at Truss’s own refusal in parliament on Thursday to answer questions about Abbott’s views, action for which Truss was reprimanded by the Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle. Separately, the Guardian has learned that Emily Thornberry, the shadow international trade secretary, also wrote to Truss. In a letter copied to the cabinet secretary, Thornberry asked 25 questions, including whether the post was advertised in accordance with Cabinet Office guidelines, and whether the job was discussed when Truss appeared alongside Abbott at recent public events.