The country’s shadow attorney general Mark Dreyfus said Mr Abbott’s knowledge of the ruling Liberal party and Australian government dealings could present an issue in trade discussions.
Readers of The Sun and The Times were told on Twitter that the protest action could mean delayed deliveries of papers to newsagents on Saturday morning.
Ex-Australian PM Tony Abbott - who is being lined up as Boris Johnson’s new post-Brexit trade ambassador - described lockdown as “virtual house arrest” and lashed out at “virus hysteria” and "unaccountable experts” in a speech in London.
Abbott is being tipped to advise Britain - his birthplace - on how to seize trade opportunities after Brexit, with the Sun reporting that the socially conservative ex-PM is set to become the UK’s “new trade deal supremo”.
"This Bill drives a cart and horse through the principles of parliamentary democracy", Emily Thornberry has warned.
The shadow foreign secretary narrowly fails to get the constituency party nominations needed to make it onto the ballot paper.
Thornberry said she and Sir Keir Starmer had called for the shadow cabinet to do more to tackle the issue, but she couldn't remember Long-Bailey doing the same.
The Labour frontbenchers swiped at each other during the meeting in Nottingham.
The shadow foreign secretary described herself as the ‘most experienced of the candidates’ as she urged those attending a hustings to nominate her.