Former foreign minister Alexander Downer has accused the United Nations of abandoning its core mission, labelling it “a house of virtue signalling and nothing more” as he condemned the Albanese government’s approach to foreign policy.

Mr Downer said Labor’s decision to recognise Palestine at the United Nations was emblematic of an ideology more concerned with multilateral symbolism than protecting the national interest.

“It's typical of the ideology of the Labour Party, which believes in multi-lateralism for its own sake,” the former foreign minister told Sky News host Chris Kenny on Thursday.

“Whereas I suppose the centre-right of politics is much more enamoured with the promotion of the national interest.”

Downer argued that the UN had failed to address the most pressing conflicts of

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