How WA Premier Mark McGowan's hardline Covid stance could see UK flights rerouted to Darwin for good - as the origin of his unflattering 'Sneakers' nickname is revealed

Mark McGowan's hardline stance on Covid border restrictions could see the state lose its flagship Perth to the UK direct flight route, as former colleagues reveal his less-than-flattering nickname - Sneakers.

Qantas said it is considering shifting its non-stop Australia-London flights to Darwin from the existing Perth hub because of 'conservative border policies in Western Australia'.

The Western Australia Premier, who has kept borders shut with most other states to prevent virus cases leaking in, was left fuming at the announcement made by Qantas CEO Alan Joyce.

Qantas has said flights between Australia and the UK could be moved to Darwin instead of Perth because of WA's strict Covid border closures

WA has remain largely Covid-free in 2021 but has also been cut-off from the rest of the country (pictured, people walking in Perth in June during a four-day lockdown)

'As a state, we funded the Perth to London flights, we put in place $15million worth of improvements at the terminal,' Mr McGowan said.

He added WA's economy - which boomed through 2020 despite the Covid pandemic courtesy of a strong mining industry - was helping to prop up the rest of the country including taxpayer funds which have kept the airline afloat. 

'They need to show some understanding and perhaps some gratitude for what the state government has done.' 

Mr McGowan earlier this month recommitted to border closures and lockdowns even when 80 per cent of the population is vaccination - doubling down on the zero-Covid strategy which has fueled his popularity.  

Former Labor MPs said McGowan's demeanor had changed to be more confident in recent years (pictured in Perth this month)  

Famously parochial locals on the west coast have lapped up the premier's willingness to stand up to his counterparts on the east coast by imposing the strictest and lengthiest border closures in the country. 

A move which has made him a household name across the country in a way no previous west coast premiers have managed. 

He was voted back in by a landslide majority at the state's election in March this year.

McGowan early in his political career (pictured with former PM Gough Whitlam) 

But the no-nonsense attitude and charisma of the last 18 months are a relatively new side to the 54-year-old former Navy lawyer. 

An old Labor colleague of two decades revealed to The Australian this week that Mr McGowan's early manner was worlds away from the authoritative persona he emits now. 

'Before, he was a bit of a nervous Nellie, but he has changed his demeanour. He is confident, he is willing to take people on, he is not cue-carded like most of the party is,' former MP Mick Murray said.

He was also regarded as a brown-noser and was so disliked within the Labor party early in his political career that he was given the nickname Mark 'sneakers' McGowan because that was the only part of him still visible, so the story goes.

Mr McGowan grew up and went to primary school in NSW before he relocated first to Queensland for university and then to WA to working for the Navy

While Mr McGowan may be a hero at home - as long as locals have no desire to travel east or overseas - his Covid-free platform may inevitably crumble at some point unless he wants WA to remain isolated from the world. 

And with it so could his popularity, which in the world of politics can swiftly turn.  

Just ask NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who went from leading the 'gold-standard' example of how a state can remain open in the Covid pandemic to being held responsible for a crippling extended Sydney lockdown in a matter of weeks. 

'What he does next that is the difficult thing,' Mr Murray explains.

'The Labor haven't been exposed to any great degree, so if he makes a mistake, he is in the s**t.'

Qantas said they want to move flights to depart from Darwin for long haul international trips