Former prime minister Paul Keating rants at ‘deluded’ Britain

Paul Keating says Britain suffers from ‘delusions of grandeur and relevance deprivation’ and will not be taken seriously in the Indo-Pacific region.

Former prime minister Paul Keating has launched a blistering attack on Britain. Picture: AAP

Paul Keating has launched a scathing attack on Britain, saying Australia’s oldest ally suffers from “delusions of grandeur and relevance deprivation” and would not be taken seriously as a player in the Indo-Pacific region.

The former prime minister said the nation of nearly 70 million people was led by a “disreputable government” and labelled British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss – a contender for next prime minister – as “demented”.

Mr Keating’s diatribe, released in a statement over the weekend, came after the Morrison government hosted Ms Truss and British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace in Sydney as the allies work to counter China’s influence in the region.

The issue that stoked the most criticism from Mr Keating was an interview Ms Truss conducted with Peter Hartcher, the political editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age and a strong critic of Mr Keating’s pro-China stance. In the interview, which ran in Nine’s newspapers on Saturday, the British Foreign Secretary said China could mimic a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine through aggression in the Indo-Pacific region.

‘‘I don’t think we can rule that out,’’ Ms Truss said.

“Russia is working more closely with China than it ever has. Aggressors are working in concert and I think it’s incumbent on countries like ours to work together.’’

Mr Keating said the statement by Ms Truss was “nothing short of demented”.

“Not simply irrational, demented,” Mr Keating said.

“And this piece of nonsense by Truss commanded the front page of The Sydney Morning Herald in a piece written by the Press Gallery’s most celebrated beat-up merchant, Peter Hartcher.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has copped a particularly harsh appraisal from Paul Keating. Picture: Annabel Moeller

“Truss said, such a move by China ‘could not be ruled out’.

“And on those fleeting words, Hartcher pounced, carrying the notion to the Herald’s readership that China and Russia are working in concert, justifying the Herald headline, that ‘China could follow Russia into war’.

“The irresponsibility of the story, and Hartcher’s writing of it, is breathtaking.

“But it is a measure of how far the Herald has sunk in accommodating Hartcher’s extreme and unworldly positions – especially as they relate to China.”

Sydney Morning Herald editor Bevan Shields defended the newspaper’s coverage.

“Is Mr Keating really suggesting The Sydney Morning Herald should ignore comments by the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom because they don’t accord with his own views?” he said.

“Mr Keating repeatedly plays the man, not the issue, so his latest outburst is disappointing but not surprising.”

Mr Keating said the underlying fanfare in last week’s visit by British ministers was the government’s “desperate” push to promote Britain as a strategic partner to help contain China.

“The reality is Britain does not add up to a row of beans when it comes to East Asia. Britain took its main battle fleet out of East Asia in 1904 and finally packed it in with its ‘East of Suez’ policy in the 1970s. And it has never been back,” Mr Keating said.

“Britain suffers delusions of grandeur and relevance deprivation.

“Truss would do us all a favour by hightailing it back to her collapsing, disreputable government, leaving Australia to find its own way in Asia.

“Xi Jinping told the audience at Davos this week that ‘major economies should see the world as one community’.

“Hardly the sort of sentiment that sits contemporaneously with someone about to spring an aggressive military action.”