It's just seven months now until our man in London, Alexander Downer, returns home to Adelaide (or perhaps Melbourne). Barring a last-minute extension (something neither Downer has sought or Malcolm Turnbull has offered), May 2017 will be the second time His Lordship has vacated Stoke Lodge, his childhood home under his father Sir Alick's stint as High Commissioner.
The job is Tony Abbott's for the taking – well, at least it was, until the prospect of a Warringah by-election became such a terrifying prospect for the PM and his somewhat fragile administration. Anyhow, Abbott has made his disinterest in the plum role abundantly clear. Sitting there grinning on the backbench next to Kevin "Schwarzkopf" Andrews, he almost looks content!
No, it's another Tory who covets the Downers' Kensington Gate address: Attorney-General George Brandis. The government's Senate leader has made his availability well-known to the PM and foreign minister Julie Bishop. After (by then) 17 years in Canberra, a decade in his portfolio, four years in Cabinet and two years as upper house leader, what's more to achieve?! And Brandis could, of course, depart Parliament mid-term without triggering a by-election – the LNP in Queensland would simply fill the casual vacancy.
Brandis' old bestie, Brett Mason, is ensconced safely across the channel at The Hague. Boys weekend in Amsterdam? Not bloody likely…
It's telling that Brandis, like Bishop, was vocal in his support of Kevin Rudd's nomination for the UN Secretary-Generalship last month. That's on the record for when an incoming Shorten government considers recalling His (then) Excellency early, Steve Bracks style…
