Matt Hancock has expressed apparent discomfort at the appointment of Tony Abbott as a UK trade envoy, declining to endorse the former Australian prime minister’s views in areas such as gender equality and equal marriage.
While the health secretary defended the government’s decision, saying Abbott had “a huge amount of expertise” in international trade, he repeatedly stressed his own contrasting opinions on such matters.
Asked whether he believed Abbott, who was regularly condemned as a misogynist while in Australian politics, opposed same-sex marriage and is sceptical about the climate emergency, was a “fit and proper” person to take on an official UK role, Hancock declined to concur.
He replied: “I think the best thing to say is that I am totally focused on the coronavirus crisis and the future of the NHS and social care. That is my area. I do know that Mr Abbott is very good and very experienced in trade.”
At one point Hancock did disagree with the idea that Abbott is a “homophobic misogynist”, saying, “I don’t think that’s true.” But when some of the former PM’s views were put to him, Hancock added: “He’s also an expert in trade.”
SkyNews (@SkyNews)'Is Tony Abbott the right person to represent us - even if he's a homophobic misogynist?' - @KayBurley
September 3, 2020
Health Secretary @MattHancock says the former Australian PM is "also an expert in trade" and denies the claims.
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The government has yet to confirm that Abbott is to be appointed to the Board of Trade to help with post-Brexit trade deals, but has also not denied this will happen.
Labour has condemned the plan, calling Abbott a “Trump-worshipping misogynist”.
Abbott’s attitudes to women, including describing abortion as “the easy way out” and suggesting men are better adapted than women to exercise authority, made international headlines in 2012 when the then-Australian PM, Julia Gillard, used a widely shared speech in parliament to castigate his views.
Hancock argued that the main issue in appointing Abbott was his experience in trade: “As far as I understand it, the proposal is that Mr Abbott supports the UK on trade policy, which is an area in which he has a huge amount of expertise. I bow to nobody in my support of everybody to love who they love, whoever that is.
“But we need to have the best experts in the world, working in their field, and as the former prime minister of Australia, obviously Mr Abbott has got a huge amount of experience.”
Asked if his trade expertise negated his views, Hancock said: “What I’m saying is that we need experts in different areas, and the former prime minister of Australia is, obviously, an enormous expert in the field of trade. It doesn’t change my views.”
NEW Opposition MPs were highly critical of the defence, with shadow minister Peter Kyle saying ministers “don’t even pretend not to embrace bigots anymore”.
Labour MP Marie Rimmer added: “Surely there’s trade experts who aren’t homophobic and misogynists? Britain deserves better than Tony Abbott representing us on the world stage.”
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Mr Abbott’s coronavirus views are “deeply offensive and wrong” and he is not fit to be a trade envoy.
“But Tony Abbott, before these comments, is a misogynist, he’s a sexist, he’s a climate change denier,” she told Sky News.
“Trade, in many respects, should reflect our values - there should be ethics attached to any country’s trading profile.” NEW ENDS
source https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/sep/03/matt-hancock-shows-unease-at-tony-abbott-as-uk-trade-envoy
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