Tony Abbott is to advise a new free trade think tank established by a leading Brexiteer and conservative British member of the European Parliament.

The Institute for Free Trade is being in launched at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Wednesday night by Daniel Hannan and two of the other Leave campaign's prominent faces - Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Trade Secretary Liam Fox.

Writing for the pro-Leave website BrexitCentral Mr Hannan said the former Australian prime minister would serve on the institute's international advisory panel which is made up entirely of right-wing figures including Spain's former prime minister José María Aznar.

Mr Hannan described the former leaders as "statesmen who have liberalised their own economies". Mr Aznar served as Spain's prime minister between 1996 and 2004 and now sits on the board of directors of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.