9 September 1951 in Adelaide, South Australia, when the family were living in the Adelaide Hills home built by his father, Arbury Park. He is the third of four children born to Sir Alexander "Alick" Downer and Mary Downer (née Gosse); he has three sisters. Downer was educated at Geelong Grammar School in Australia, then in England (while his father was High Commissioner) at Radley College between 1964 and 1970. He subsequently completed a Bachelor of Arts in politics and economics at Newcastle University in Newcastle upon Tyne. Early career From 1975 to 1976, he worked as an economist for the Bank of New South Wales, before entering the Australian Diplomatic Service, where he served until 1982. Some of Downer's time in the Diplomatic Service was spent at a posting in Brussels, where he undertook a French language training course. He then worked as an adviser to the then Liberal Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser and subsequent Leader of the Federal Opposition Andrew Peacock. Prior to the 1981 by-election Downer unsuccessfully sought Liberal Party preselection for the seat of Boothby, and in 1982 for the state seat of Bragg. From 1983 to 1984, he also served as the Executive Director of the Australian Chamber of Commerce. In 1984, he was finally preselected and was elected to the federal Parliament as Liberal member for Mayo, in the Adelaide Hills in South Australia. He held this seat until his resignation from Parliament in 2008. Opposition leader Downer held a number of positions on the opposition front bench from 1987 onwards. When the Liberals unexpectedly lost the 1993 election to Prime Minister Paul Keating, after the election Downer became Shadow Treasurer replacing Peter Reith who had resigned from the portfolio. During this time, Downer began to be talked of as a possible leader as John Hewson was seen as weak following the 1993 election defeat. In May 1994 Downer succeeded Hewson as Liberal party leader after defeating him in a leadership spill which Hewson initiated. Downer was the first Parliamentary leader of the Federal Liberal party to come from South Australia. As Liberal leader, Downer initially attracted record levels of public support, even when incumbent Prime Minister Paul Keating launched a series of attacks on Downer's privileged background. Then aged 43, he was perceived as a fresh-faced alternative to a government in its twelfth year of power. Several months after becoming leader Downer's support