Alexander Downer

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Alexander Downer (2006)

Alexander John Gosse Downer AC (born September 9, 1951 in Adelaide ) is an Australian politician and was the 38th foreign minister of the country from March 1996 to early December 2007. From 1994 to 1995 he was chairman of the Liberal Party of Australia .

Life

Downer was born in Adelaide, South Australia . His father, Sir Alexander "Alec" Downer , was also a politician and a member of the Australian Senate and later Minister for Immigration and Citizenship . His grandfather, Sir John Downer, was a senator in the first state parliament in 1901. His mother, nee Mary Gosse, was one of the first immigrants to settle in South Australia. Downer is married with four children and speaks French fluently.

He attended Crafers Primary School , then Geelong Grammar School in Australia. He later went to England, where his father was High Commissioner in London, and attended Radley College , Oxford between 1964 and 1965 . Downer later came to Newcastle University .

From 1975 to 1976 he worked for the Bank of New South Wales before becoming a diplomat. During this time he was in Brussels and learned French there. He then worked as an advisor to Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser . Between 1983 and 1984, Downer was Chairman of the Australian Chamber of Commerce. In the same year he was elected to Parliament for the Division of Mayo and has held this seat ever since.

In 1993 he became treasurer of the Liberal Party. In May 1994 he took over the party leadership from John Hewson .

From 1996 to 2004, Downer was Australia's foreign minister , making it the longest-serving incumbent.

From July 2008, Downer was the United Nations Envoy to Cyprus. In June 2014, Downer became the Australian High Commissioner in the United Kingdom . As such, he met with Trump's campaign advisor George Papadopoulos in May 2016 . The conversation about oil, gas and Russia's impending campaign against Hillary Clinton was summarized in a wire report and thus became known to the Australian domestic intelligence service , which later relayed this information to the FBI.

In June 2018, Downer moved to King's College London .

Web links

Commons : Alexander Downer  - collection of images, videos and audio files
 Wikinews: Alexander Downer  - on the news

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/12/2301873.htm
  2. ^ The Australian: Former Foreign Minister Downer: the end of the world is not nigh
  3. ↑ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-22/george-papadopoulos-alexander-downer-meeting-what-happened/10286868
  4. ↑ https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry-latest-russia-mueller-ukraine-zelensky-a9181641.html
  5. ↑ https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/alexander-downer
personal data
SURNAME Downer, Alexander
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Downer, Alexander John Gosse
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian politician, Secretary of State
DATE OF BIRTH September 9, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Adelaide