With an ascendant, centre-right leader triumphing over an avowedly socialist opponent in an epoch-making general election, just as Robert Menzies did in 1949, could Boris Johnson be Britain’s new Menzies? Of course, it is still very early days and a completely different historical context yet that said, there are parallels between the re-election of Britain’s Prime Minister last Friday and the election of Australia’s longest-serving Prime Minister on 20 December 1949.   

First, the two prime ministers brought a similar political creed to their respective elections.