Former Aussie PM Tony Abbott has been appointed as a UK trade envoy despite widespread criticism over his record on "sexism and mysoginy".
Boris Johnson gave the right-wing politician a role on the relaunched Board of Trade to help the British government negotiate post-Brexit international trade deals after launching a qualified defence of his reputation on Friday.
Nicola Sturgeon had earlier condemned Abbott as a "sexist, misogynist and climate change denier" who should not represent the country abroad.
The Prime Minister defended Abbott as "a guy who was elected by the people of the great liberal democratic nation of Australia".
Asked about Abbott’s controversial views, Johnson said: "Obviously don't agree with those sentiments at all."
But he added: "I don't agree with everyone who serves the government in an unpaid capacity on hundreds of boards across the country."
Labour said appointing Abbott would be "completely unacceptable" because of his "offensive and outdated" views
While serving on the frontline of Australian politics, Abbott opposed same-sex marriage as "political correctness" and said he was "a bit threatened" by gay people.
In 2011 Abbott, as opposition leader, appeared on stage in front of a sign that called prime minister Julia Gillard a "bitch".
In a 2017 speech, also in London, Abbott said climate change was "probably doing good" and policies designed to tackle it were like "primitive people once killing goats to appease the volcano gods".
On Thursday, Sturgeon said it doesn't matter how good Abbott is on trade, claiming: "Trade is not separate from the values and reputation that a country wants to project internationally.
"Trade, in many respects, should reflect our values. There should be ethics attached to any country's trading profile. You cannot say he's simply good at trade so it doesn't matter he's a sexist, misogynist and climate change denier.
"Having somebody with those views representing the UK probably doesn’t help us boost trade, it might actually hinder that."
