Paul Keating recognises the reality of Britain’s post-Brexit standing

While the UK’s trading importance for Australia is long since diminished, global tensions have pushed these old allies back together again, writes Sean O’Grady

Australia’s former PM Paul Keating has hit out at comments made by Liz Truss (EPA)

Painful as it is, there is much truth in what the former prime minister of Australia, Paul Keating, says about the reality of Britain’s post-Brexit place in the world.

Viewed from the vantage point of east Asia, and the geopolitical imperatives that region imposes on any Australian government, the UK is at best a friendly, useful power with considerable links – and, of course, the two countries share a language as well as a head of state. But those links have gradually weakened over the decades. There was a time when the Australian pound was part of the sterling area, and citizens enjoyed British “cuisine”, drove Hillmans and Morrises, sang “God Save the Queen”, and laughed at Tony Hancock and Morecambe and Wise.

Today, Australia is a far more diverse nation – though the union jack sits stubbornly next to the southern cross in the national flag, and the Ashes have an outsized importance. It still has Queen Elizabeth as its head of state, but seemingly only because Australians can’t agree on who, or what, to replace her with.