"Does anyone specifically have a question that's not on Sri Lanka or human rights?" the media spokesman for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting implored journalists at a press conference held by host president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

 

The normally diplomatic Richard Uku had just unwittingly summed up a CHOGM that can only be described as extraordinary for all the wrong reasons

 

Most CHOGM attendees have refrained as far as possible from embarrassing Mr Rajapaksa over questions about his regime's human rights record. Much of the talk at CHOGM focussed on Sri Lanka's positives, especially its promising post-conflict economic prospects.

 

But British prime minister David Cameron broke ranks. ...

 

Within minutes of the opening ceremony's conclusion, Mr Cameron and an entourage of British journalists flew to the troubled Jaffna region in Sri Lanka's north.

 

Upon his return to Colombo Mr Cameron spoke powerfully of his meeting with Tamil journalists subject to official harassment and the accounts he heard of disappeared [people].

 

Crucially, he called on Mr Rajapaksa to quickly and credibly investigate claims of war crimes allegedly committed by the Sri Lankan army in 2009.

 

Having delivered arobust character assessment of Mr Rajapaksa's government, Mr Cameron departed Sri Lanka a day before the official conclusion of [the] talks.

 

The host president was left reeling in his wake.

 

The image of Mr Cameron baking in the northern Sri Lankan sun with Jaffna's repressed and traumatised Tamil community, while Mr Rajapaksa chaired droll meetings in florescent-lit, air-conditioned briefing rooms in the capital, will define this CHOGM.

The British prime minister’s flaying of Mr Rajapaksa will burnish his reputation as a defender of democratic ideals and confident international statesman at virtually no domestic political cost.

 

The equation for Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is more complicated.

 

Mr Rajapaksa praised the Australian prime minister's measured comments on the human rights issue, [saying: "I must thank the Australian prime minister for taking that stand. It’s a very practical stand."

 

[His donation of two navy ships to Sri Lanka as part of enhanced cooperation on people smuggling], and his softer line on human rights, conveys the impression Mr Abbott's singular purpose in attending CHOGM was to advance his domestic political agenda despite the meeting's sensitive nature.

 

Public praise from MR Rajapaksa, whose regime is displaying ever increasing symptoms of tyranny, risks damaging Mr Abbott's budding global reputation.

 

Comparisons between his approach to CHOGM and Mr Cameron's will be uncomfortable for a prime minister still finding his place on at the international table.