Alexander Downer, ‘A Progressive Conservative’ Being a Liberal Leader

Since the record-breaking run of Robert Menzies, there have been 14 leaders of the Liberal Party of Australia. Each of them has been influenced in various ways by the party’s founder, as they try to take up the essential task of upholding the principles of Australian liberalism (which indeed is a political tradition which long predates Menzies himself). In this special series of the Afternoon Light podcast, we intend to speak to each of the surviving leaders of the party about their connection to Menzies, philosophical beliefs, and time spent heading the centre-right of Australian politics. 

In this week’s episode of the Afternoon Light podcast, Robert Menzies Institute CEO Georgina Downer talks to Alexander Downer, leader of the Liberal Party 1994-5, about his political beliefs and experiences in the role. 

Alexander Downer AC is Executive Chair of the International School for Government at King’s College London. From 2014 to 2018, Mr Downer was Australian High Commissioner to the UK. Prior to this, he was Australia’s longest-serving Minister for Foreign Affairs, a role he held from 1996 to 2007. Mr Downer also served as Opposition Leader and leader of the Australian Liberal Party from 1994 to 1995 and was Member of the Australian Parliament for Mayo for over 20 years. In addition to a range of other political and diplomatic roles, he was Executive Director of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus, in which he worked on peace talks between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots. He is currently Chairman of the UK think tank Policy Exchange and a trustee of the International Crisis Group.