The Sun newspaper on Tuesday evening reported that Abbott, who served as Australia’s prime minister from 2013 to 2015, would serve as copresident of the UK Board of Trade as Johnson’s government seeks free-trade agreements with countries like Australia, the US, and Japan.
The Australian journalist Bevan Shields reported that Abbott would be an adviser, not copresident. A senior source in Canberra seconded this, telling Business Insider that Abbott would serve in an advisory capacity. There has been speculation about Johnson bringing Abbott into the fold for some time, The Guardian reported.
Abbott is a vocal supporter of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, having originally advised Brits to vote Remain. He is a popular figure within UK Conservative circles and has spoken with packed rooms of party members at Conservative party conferences.
The UK government revamped the Board of Trade to coincide with the UK’s exit from the EU. Its job is to promote Britain’s status as an independent trading nation to the world as it tries to sign several trade deals in the coming years.
Economists, however, have lambasted Abbott for downplaying the economic risk on of a no-deal Brexit to the UK.
In a column for The Spectator last year, he said a no-deal Brexit would be “no problem” as Australia had a “perfectly satisfactory ‘no deal’ relationship” with the EU. “A no-deal relationship with the EU has not stopped Australia doing about US$70 billion worth of trade with the EU in goods and services,” he said.
Economists pointed out that unlike the UK, Australia does not rely on complex, just-in-time supply chains to import food, medicine, manufacturing goods, and other products from Europe and that UK trade with the EU dwarfs Australia’s trade with the bloc.
A former senior colleague of Abbott in the Australian Parliament said the appointment “is being viewed with bemusement” in Australia given what is widely seen as a lack of credentials to advise on trade.
“Abbott is not a commercial guy, at all,” the person told Business Insider. “He’s a very much a political person. I suspect Boris wants us him to go out there and talk about how great Brexit is.”