Aussie ex-PM tells Brits to rescue Starmer’s UK from decline

Britain’s “Europe-obsessed political establishment” is pushing a great country into decline, former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has warned.

He said that successive leaders have failed to deliver on the Brexit mandate to “take back control” and a national “act of will” is now required to rescue the country.

The Australian statesman is a champion of the UK on the international stage but is worried that Britain has lost the confidence and pride it needs to defend its values and its interests at a time of international uncertainty.

In what will be seen as the latest blast at Sir Keir Starmer and his recent predecessors, Mr Abbott, who was born in London and studied at Oxford as a Rhodes scholar, said: “I think Britain has been badly let down by its leadership over the last couple of decades… The economy has been stagnant, standards of living have started to decline, productivity has been falling, immigration has been out of control, tax and regulation has been increasing – Government has become weaker because the elected and accountable politicians have handed over too much power to unelected and unaccountable judges and bureaucrats.

“What’s needed is an act of will on the part of the British people and their elected leaders to reverse this.”

For “the best part of 100 years,” he argues, “the British establishment has been defeatist and declinist. There have been some leaders who to their credit have resisted this – Churchill… Thatcher… In his own way Blair resisted that; Boris wanted to resist that but unfortunately was overwhelmed by Covid and brought undone by some acts of ill-discipline.

“The fact remains: This is a country with so much to be proud of, with so much raw potential.

“Pound for pound – other than Australians, of course – there is no one to surpass the people of Britain. What’s needed is this recovery of self-belief and a determination individually and nationally to be your best selves.”

He is worried that western nations are suffering from a crisis of confidence, warning: “The only way you’ll preserve peace is through strength and unfortunately across the West there’s been military, economic and cultural disarmament at a rapid rate over the past couple of decades.”

Calling for nothing less than a revival of western civilisation, he said: “You will not fight for yourself if you do not believe in yourself. Really, for a generation or so we in the West have been telling ourselves that we’re racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic etc.

“We’re by no means perfect but countries like Australia, Britain and the United States are the least racist, most colour-blind countries on earth. They are the fairest to minorities on earth and we should be proud of ourselves for all we’ve achieved and we should be absolutely determined that we will build on our strength and take western civilisation to even greater heights in the decades ahead as opposed to looking back on this as a period of eclipse and decline.”

The 67-year-old father of three daughters, talks of his love for Britain with a passion rarely matched by Westminster’s politicians.

“No country on earth has had more impact on the modern world than Britain,” he enthuses. “Britain has provided the world’s common language, the mother of parliaments, the industrial revolution, the emancipation of minorities, most of the world’s sports – no country on earth is more capable of standing on its own two feet.”

Mr Abbott was in London in the past week for a gathering of the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship. This brings together conservative luminaries who share a desire to salvage the West from decline and “re-lay the foundations of our civilisation”.

He won the leadership of the Liberal Party in 2009 and served as PM from September 2013 to September 2015.

During his time in office his country mourned the loss of 38 Australians among the 298 people who perished when Malaysian Airlines MH17 was shot down over Ukraine. Using an Aussie term for a rough tackle, he threatened to “shirtfront” Vladimir Putin.

In February 2022, just days before Russia staged its full-scale invasion, he warned that a “new iron curtain” could come down in Europe and in the confusion China could seize Taiwan – a move which would see the “whole world order would shift against the democracies”.

Today, he wants Britain and Australia to defend the liberty of Ukraine, regardless of what the United States does. And he is still concerned about the potential threat China poses to its neighbours.

However, he is excited that the UK has won membership of a trans-Pacific trading bloc which unlocks a “free trade deal with Australia, New Zealand and Canada”.

Describing this as a “massive win”, he says the “countries of the most economically dynamic region in the world were happy to welcome Britain” because of our “intellectual, scientific and technological strengths”.

“Let’s make the most of that,” he adds.