Mr Downer is Executive Chair of the International School for Government at King’s College London.

From 2014 to 2018, Mr Downer was Australian High Commissioner to the UK. Prior to that, he was Australia’s longest-serving Minister for Foreign Affairs, a role he held from 1996 to 2007.

Mr Downer also served as Opposition Leader and leader of the Liberal Party of Australia from 1994 to 1995 and was Member of the Australian Parliament for Mayo for over 20 years.

In addition to a range of other political and diplomatic roles, he was Executive Director of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Advisor on Cyprus, in which he worked on peace talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriots.

He is currently Chairman of the UK think tank Policy Exchange, the Chairman of the Royal Overseas League and is a trustee of the International Crisis Group. He is a non-executive director of Yellowcake PLC

Mr Downer has a BA (Hons) in Politics and Economics and an honorary DCL from Newcastle University (UK) and has honorary doctorates from the University of Adelaide, the University of South Australia and Bar Ilan University.