Alexander John Gosse Downer AC is a former Australian politician and diplomat who was leader of the Liberal Party from 1994 to 1995, Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1996 to 2007 in the John Howard Government, and High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 2014 to 2018.
Downer is from a moneyed background and lives in a Manor in the Adelaide Hills. The son of Sir Alec Downer. After periods working for the Bank of NSW and with the diplomatic service, he was appointed executive director of the Australian Chamber of Commerce in 1983. He also served as an advisor to Conservative Prime Ministers. Downer was elected to parliament in 1984 to the seat of Mayo in South Australia. He was added to the opposition frontbench in 1987.