London | Lynton Crosby has been named Australian of the Year in Britain for steering David Cameron to an unexpected and emphatic election victory in   May 2015.
But the big question in Tory political circles is whether the South Australian political strategist will take over the faltering Conservative Party's mayoral campaign. 
Mr Crosby, who was controversially given a knighthood in the Queen's New Year's honours list, was named Britain's Australian of the Year during a dinner at Australia House in London on Saturday night.
The award was presented by high commissioner Alexander Downer and the winner was chosen by the Australia Day Foundation, a body that promotes Australia in Britain.
Previous winners include pop singer Kylie Minogue, entertainer Barry Humphries and hedge fund manager Michael Hintze.
Mr Crosby was the federal director of the Liberal Party and worked on numerous campaigns in Australia, including John Howard's 1996, 1998, 2001 and 2004 election victories.
In recent years his political consultancy Crosby Textor, which was formed in 2002 with pollster Mark Textor, has expanded beyond Australia to work on campaigns in New Zealand and Sri Lanka, as well as the European parliamentary elections.
However, it is in Britain where Mr Crosby has made his mark internationally. He has run two winning campaigns for London mayor Boris Johnson, who describes him as "simply the best campaign manager and political strategist I have ever encountered or even heard of"'. And the 2015 general election campaign will go down as one of the Conservative Party's great victories, after Mr Cameron defied the expectations of most pundits and polls by winning an outright majority in the House of Commons.
"A world leader in his profession and a great Australian, we are pleased to recognise his contribution here in the UK," M&C Saatchi and Australia Day Foundation director Bill Muirhead, who has worked with Mr Crosby on several British campaigns, said.
Mr Crosby is not working directly for Zac Goldsmith, the Tory candidate for London mayor who is trailing Labour's Sadiq Khan in the polls with about four months left before election day. Instead, the campaign is being run by Mr Crosby's British business partner, Mark Fullbrook.
However, this has not stopped some Conservatives from privately agitating for the Australian to play a more active role in the campaign.
The Evening Standard quoted one unnamed Tory as saying, "people are pleading with Lynton Crosby on a daily basis to take over Zac's campaign". It is a view that has also been expressed to The Australian Financial Review by Conservative Party figures.
Other recipients of Australia Day Foundation awards included renowned British chef and restaurateur Rick Stein OBE, who was named Honorary Australian of the Year in Britain, and saxophonist Amy Dickson, who was named Young Australian of the Year in Britain 2016.