Tony Abbott, the former Australian prime minister, boasted that he signed deals with China because he was not “sidetracked by peripheral issues such as labour and environmental standards”, raising further questions over the UK government’s reported intention to use him as a trade envoy.
Abbott will reportedly be appointed to the Board of Trade, which advises Boris Johnson and trade secretary, Liz Truss, on future trade deals and will be a vital component of the UK’s future post-Brexit trade strategy.
Abbot’s past accounts of his role in Australia’s trade deals with China, Korea and Japan, signed during his two-year premiership, suggests he would have little sympathy with government’s stated intentions to maintain British standards on food, the environment and workers’ rights.
