Sydney - Mr Cameron resisted the calls to boycott the [Commonwealth Heads of Government] summit and will therefore have a chance to meet and have talks with Tony Abbott, who also said this week that he would not ‘trash’ the institution by joining in a boycott, and nor would he give lectures to other countries, especially those that had endured a civil war with atrocities on both sides.
This can only be a good thing from Mr Cameron’s point of view, for he seems to go out of his way to avoid meeting genuine conservatives when at home, and he may learn something.
Mr Abbott should use the opportunity to lobby Mr Cameron about the rights of Australians to enter, work and live in the United Kingdom, and he would have much popular sentiment on his side in the old country were he to do so. Most Britons
find it hard to comprehend why Spaniards and Slovakians can settle in the UK as of right, whereas cricket-loving, Anglophone Australians without a British (or Greek, or Italian, and so on) grandparent cannot, beyond the registered traveller perk for easier passport controls announced by David Cameron on Wednesday. With the European Union an increasingly contentious prospect for most Britons, now would be a very good time for Britain to repair the damage done to old ties of blood and culture during the inexplicable 40-year love affair with continental Europe.
This is an excerpt of an article by Simon Heffer in this week's issue of the Spectator Australia. You can read the rest of the piece here, and you can subscribe here.