See here for accompanying article: https://unherd.com/thepost/malcolm-turnbull-trump-is-not-a-conservative/ Click here to subscribe to UnHerd: https://unherd.com/subscribe-daily-email/ Malcolm Turnbull, Prime Minister of Australia from 2015-2018, doesn’t hold back in this wide-ranging interview with Freddie Sayers. We cover everything from the Black Lives Matter protests to rising China and the absence of conservatism in much Right-wing thought. Singling out Donald Trump as someone who is “clearly not a conservative”, the two-time Liberal Party leader explains what he learned about the president from his time in office. Some key quotes: 0:00 Intro 0:58 On statues • “I’m not a fan of tearing down statues… you can tear down a statue, but you can’t tear down the history”. 2:10 On Black Lives Matter • Supports the movement but hasn’t “had the opportunity” to take the knee. 3:25 On China • "China has changed its approach in recent years to bullying and bellicose rhetoric”. • "Wolf warrior diplomacy is counter-productive". • "Trump is using China as a way to deflect from his failures with Covid". • Says US-China relations risk “falling into the Thucydides Trap”. • No need for relations to “become any more intense”. 5:17 On 5G • “I’m not saying that Huawei is spying for China, but if they’re required to, they will have to”. • “Surprised” by the British government’s decision to grant Huawei access to key infrastructure. • “Most people in the Five Eyes Intelligence World would say that Australia has taken a more prudent approach”. 16:48 On Dominic Cummings • "Going to Barnard Castle to check your eyesight seems like a pretty wild thing to do”. • “It’s important that the Prime Minister is not seen as being under the dominion of another”. 19:35 On conservatism • Boris could “place Brexit within the tradition of practical, patriotic British conservatism”. • But “most people who claim to be conservatives nowadays wouldn’t know the difference between Edmund Burke and Tony Burke” [Labour politician in Australia]. • "Many conservatives are the absolute antithesis of conservatives”. • Instead there is “a lot of Right-wing, nativist populism flying around, which doesn’t respect institutions”. 21:19 On Trump • Trump is “clearly not a conservative”. • The most “idiosyncratic president in history”. • Describing him as a “bully” is like saying “the Pope’s a Catholic”. • Expected Trump to be “changed by the office”, but this was “confounded”. • Found him “practical, pragmatic and business-like” in personal dealings.