So Joe Hockey thinks the age of entitlement is over.

Not for Alexander Downer it isn’t; entitlement has been part of the Downer genome for generations, and it will take more than the upstart son of an Armenian to end it.

As the nearest thing to a hereditary Adelaide aristocracy, the Downers have always demanded and usually received as their birthright what they could never have achieved by talent, a characteristic they conspicuously lack. Indeed, it is rumoured that since encountering young Alexander (as he is still known for his perpetual emotional immaturity), naturalists have had to revise their conclusion that the koala has the smallest brain-to-body weight of any mammal.

Nonetheless Alexander John Gosse Downer is off to London, to the court of St James, to represent Australia as High Commissioner. To make room for him the current occupant, the much worthier former South Australian Premier Mike Rann, is to be unceremoniously pushed aside. There is, after all, a precedent; another former Labor premier Steve Bracks was denied the position of consul-general in New York to leave the post open for the sinister senator, Nick Minchin, Tony Abbott’s political mentor and minder.

And it is reported that Downer would in fact have preferred to have taken the job of Ambassador to Washington, now held by the former Labor minister and leader Kim Beazley. But the normally acquiescent Foreign Affairs department jacked up: Washington is not a posting for a bumptious dilettante. London, on the other hand, is now more a ceremonial appointment than a diplomatic one; Downer can be expected to make a few gaffes but the professionals should be able to cover for him. After all, they had plenty of experience during Downer’s long but utterly undistinguished time as their minister – or, as they christened him, our room temperature foreign minister.

read more: http://www.themonthly.com.au/blog/mungo-maccallum/2014/02/24/1393206389/alexander-downers-age-entitlement-lives

Mr Downer was Australia's longest serving foreign affairs minister, serving in the role under the Howard government from 1996-2007.

His appointment is the second time the Abbott government has dumped an ex-Labor premier from a diplomatic post in favour of a former Howard government minister.

Former Victorian premier Steve Bracks was controversially blocked on the eve of his departure for the consul-general post in New York after the Abbott government came to power last year.

Former Howard government minister Nick Minchin was named as his replacement.
Ms Bishop said on Monday that Mr Downer had led "a long and distinguished political career".

Mr Downer was until recently the United Nations Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Cyprus.

Stephen Brady, former governor-general Dame Quentin Bryce's secretary, has been appointed Australia's next ambassador to France.

An email exchange obtained by the ABC has raised more questions about the involvement of former foreign minister Alexander Downer in the case of two Australian property executives jailed in Dubai.

The ABC's Foreign Correspondent program revealed last night that Mr Downer, while working as a consultant for hire, had written to the country's Crown Prince in 2009 seeking bail for one of the Australians, Matt Joyce.

The approach involved a negotiation of a success fee, estimated at $60,000.

Controversially his letter, delivered by the Australian Embassy, made no mention of the other Australian defendant, Marcus Lee.

Mr Downer has said that he was not aware of Mr Lee's case, but an email exchange obtained by the ABC suggests Mr Downer's firm had been specifically requested to lobby on behalf of both Australians.

Both Mr Lee and Mr Joyce were working for a Dubai property firm when they were arrested in 2009, and were acquitted last year after a lengthy trial.

Mr Downer, who was working as a consultant in 2009, arranged for the Australian embassy to deliver a letter to Dubai's Crown Prince, urging him to free Mr Joyce on bail - but not Mr Lee.

In an interview with the ABC's Foreign Correspondent program, Mr Lee accused Mr Downer of ignoring his plight because he could not afford his fee.

"We understand that was because [Mr Joyce's family] were able to make a payment to his private company and we weren't able to. We just didn't have the money to," he said.

The "success fee" discussed with Mr Downer in return for him helping Mr Joyce has been estimated by one person close to the case to be $60,000.

Mr Downer, who has just been appointed as Australia's High Commissioner to the UK, says he ultimately declined any fee, concluding it probably was not something a former foreign minister should be a part of.

"I'm not sure how appropriate it is to collect money for that sort of thing. Ever since I've finished up as foreign minister I've never charged on a consular issue," he told Foreign Correspondent.

And he said his letter to the Crown Prince made no mention of Mr Lee because: "I just simply wasn't approached about him so I simply don't know about his case".

Email indicates Downer's firm was asked to raise Lee's case

However, the ABC has now obtained an email exchange indicating Mr Downer's firm had been asked to raise Mr Lee's case.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-02/imprisoned-australian-lashes-out-at-alexander-downer/5362226