“You know, in the end, we are all worms, but I do believe I am a glow worm” Winston Churchill once told a friend. Paul Keating, speaking in 2008 agreed “He was a glow worm and he lit up the most miserable epoch of the miserable twentieth century like no one before or after him.”
I had been invited to give the annual Churchill Lecture by the English Speaking Union of Queensland in Brisbane. Churchill sometimes gets mixed reviews in Australia: criticized by some for failings in the Gallipoli campaign in WW1, then in WW2 for letting Singapore fall and for arguing with PM Curtin about the return of Australian troops from North Africa. But most would agree with PM Menzies’ assessment at Churchill’s funeral “He was a great Commonwealth statesman who was able to warm hearts and inspire courage right round the seven seas” who “won a crucial victory… for the very spirit of human freedom.”
I focused mainly on the values which underpin successful societies and economies – the things David Cameron has described as a “Golden Thread” – like democracy, the rule of law, good governance, absence of corruption. I described the role that Britain and Australia can play in promoting these through institutions like the Commonwealth, and the G20 which Brisbane will host in November. The audience included distinguished judges and academics, and Fiona Simpson, Speaker of the State Parliament.
Whilst in Brisbane I joined the newly installed Governor HE Paul de Jersey and his wife Kaye for lunch at Government House. As the distinguished former Chief Justice he has already devoted many years to public service. He told me how much he was looking forward to his forthcoming trip to the UK to call on Her Majesty.
I also called on a couple of Queensland-based mining companies with significant resource investment plans, to explore the business opportunities for British engineering companies to participate. And I visited a small, high tech life sciences company that had recently set up its first business in the UK. They had opted to base themselves just north of London, with convenient access to the research hubs at Cambridge and Oxford, and the venture capital pool in the City.