Shadow Foreign Secretary visits… in an interesting week in Canberra

Last week Shadow Foreign Secretary, the Rt Hon Douglas Alexander MP, visited Australia as a guest of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The Australian government arranged the programme for him, but we gave him an in-depth briefing at the High Commission, and I hosted a dinner to discuss foreign policy with MPs, officials and think tank scholars.

For anyone interested in politics it could not have been a more interesting week to be in Canberra. Certainly that’s what Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former spokesman, said when he passed through earlier in the week.

On 26 June there was a “spill” or leadership vote of the Parliamentary Labor Party. Kevin Rudd replaced Julia Gillard, and was sworn in for the second time as PM on 27 June, after securing the support of sufficient green and independent members to continue the minority government.

Our PM, David Cameron, called Julia Gillard, with whom he had worked closely in various international fora, to pay his respects and wish her well. She will have an important place in history as Australia’s first female PM. And many Welsh people have taken pride that someone born in South Wales has achieved such high office in this country, to which she emigrated as a child.

Mr Cameron then called Kevin Rudd to congratulate him and look forward to working together on a wide range of international issues.

Douglas Alexander met some of the key personalities involved in the events which unfolded over the course of a dramatic week. It was a somewhat bewildering few days even for those close to the action.

On the Foreign Policy side, Mr Alexander gave a lecture on Labour’s policy on Europe. He was particularly interested to hear hosts’ views on developments in Asia, and on how the UK and Australia could best work together to mutual benefit in the “Asian Century”.