Hearing that Alexander Downer, for a very, very long time Australia’s foreign minister, and a top-rated contestant in the “foreign minister with the lowest IQ” stakes, has finally stepped out of politics.
It takes me back…
…back to a press conference in the country town of Armidale, when Downer was there for a much-postponed jolly as he was trying to decide whether to challenge John Howard for the leadership of Australia’s (conservative) Liberal Party. (It is no compliment to Howard that Downer won.)
There was a reporter from the local ABC radio, the regional paper’s stringer, and me, wearing my “university community radio” hat — not what you’d call a formidable force. Yet we had him on the back foot, frantically looking to his press officer for rescue, as we asked the obvious questions about leadership challenges.
…and then back to drinking with staff from various Australian embassies around south-east Asia, who all, whatever there religious affiliation, sent up regular passionate prayers whenever Downer was in the region: “please, please, don’t let him make the inevitable gaffe on my patch”.
Ah nostalgia…. and a very strong argument against the hereditary principle in politics.
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