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Features

‘Whitehall was horrified by Brexit’: an interview with Australia’s departing high commissioner

Australia’s departing high commissioner on what really happened in the trade talks

7 May 2022

9:00 AM

7 May 2022

9:00 AM

When Britain voted for Brexit, Tony Abbott, the former prime minister of Australia, had an idea. How about striking a new free trade deal between Australia and the UK to celebrate escaping the statism and bureaucracy of Brussels? The deal needed to be only one page long, he argued, because the two countries were already so similar.

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