Australia and Britain’s love ‘greater than Kylie and Jason’s’: Britain’s new foreign secretary

Manchester: Britain’s new foreign secretary has declared that Australia’s relationship is greater than even the romance depicted in Neighbours by stars Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan.

Speaking at an exclusive event for the Conservative Friends of Australia on the sidelines of the Tory conference under way in Manchester, Liz Truss said the trade deal she negotiated with Australia was Britain’s “first and its best”.

Former British trade minister, now foreign secretary, Liz Truss and her Australian peer, Dan Tehan meeting in April.

Truss said she was the most regular visitor to Australia’s official residence in London Stoke Lodge, as a result of the “difficult” negotiations she had thrashed out over breakfasts, dinners, Australian wine and even karaoke with Australia’s high commissioner to the UK George Brandis.

“My first interaction with Australia, like many people my age, was watching Neighbours on television and of course the great romance between Kylie and Jason,” she said, referring to the show’s lovebirds Charlene and Scott.

“But I think the UK and Australia are even closer than that,” Truss told the room to applause.

Truss also said the trade deal she struck when trade secretary was Britain’s “first from scratch post-Brexit” and “probably the best”.

“There’s been some difficult breakfasts, there’s been some difficult dinners, there’s been some difficult late-night drinks, there’s been some very dubious karaoke,” she revealed.

“Too much information,” Brandis intervened.

Truss, also the equalities minister, then invited the crowd to attend Manchester’s premier gay club Cruz 101, where the pair would later deliver a speech. Brandis was instrumental in securing gay marriage in Australia before his retirement as attorney-general.

Samuel Armstrong from the Henry Jackson Society, a think tank which takes a hawkish position on security, said Truss’ remarks were unprecedented for a British foreign secretary.

“In all my years of work in British foreign policy, I have never seen as ringing an endorsement from a foreign secretary for a bilateral and personal relationship as was just handed to George Brandis and Australia,” he said.

Australia’s High Commissioner to the UK George Brandis brandishes a German-made koala, emphasising that they were not manufactured in China.Credit: Callum Stewart

Britain and Australia are expected to complete the trade deal agreed to in July when Trade Minister Dan Tehan arrives in London next week.

Earlier, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, who replaced Truss as trade secretary following her elevation into one of Britain’s four Great Offices of State, said her country would not be pursuing a trade deal with China.

“I don’t think that’s at the front of my mind at all,” she told a fringe event hosted by Conservative Home.

Like Australia and Britain: Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue as Scott and Charlene in Neighbours.

When asked if human rights tests should be applied to future trade deals, she said the debate currently under way in the Commons on the subject was “really helpful”.

Trevelyan was among the handful of cabinet ministers who attended the Australian event where Jansz sparkling wine from Tasmania, and Shaw and Smith red and white wines from South Australia were served.

Speaking of the beverages, Truss said the Tasmanian drop tasted better than French champagne.

The elite crowd which included numerous British government advisers were given koala toys made in Germany. The event was sponsored by Australian Tory donor and hedge funder Sir Michael Hintze.

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