Britain will push to lift Fiji's suspension from the Commonwealth should the Pacific nation's elections this month prove to be free and fair.
And Frank Bainimarama, the Fijian general who led a 2006 coup to seize control in the country, would also be welcomed as a world leader should he prevail, said Hugo Swire, Britain's Minister of State on a visit to Melbourne.
"I think in other countries generals have hung up their uniform in the cupboard and translated into democratically accountable leaders," Mr Swire said.
"Bainimarama has a chance to submit himself to the electorate in Fiji and to be elected by them. If he is, then he will be a democratically elected leader - and if he is not, he should abide by the result like anybody else."
Mr Swire, who has responsibility for Pacific affairs in Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office, said Britain would be sending an election monitor to the September 17 election in Fiji - the first since Mr Bainimarama took power.
Mr Swire also remarked on the stress on small Pacific nations from climate change, just days after the small island states of the world held a meeting in Samoa calling for urgent global action.
"I've been to these very vulnerable places, which are very, very threatened by climate change, by rise of sea levels," Mr Swire said.
"Let's face it, this is not something we're prophesying, this is something that in these places has taken place already … the relocation of communities away from coastal areas."
The Marshall Islands has criticised Australia's recent attitude to climate change, with the Abbott government choosing to abolish the carbon tax.
But Mr Swire - a member of Britain's Conservative Party - said it was up to Australia to make its own decisions about reducing the impact of climate change.
"But I would just gently remind everyone that Australia is committed to the same targets as everybody was."
He said Britain wanted to work closely with Australia in the region and said his government would support Fiji joining the political forum at the Commonwealth "once they have a properly true, accountable and democratically elected government."
Fiji was suspended from the 53-member Commonwealth of Nations as punishment after the coup and travel sanctions were imposed on Mr Bainimarama.
Relations between his regime and Australia further soured in 2009 after Mr Bainimarama backtracked on election promises, abrogated the constitution and kicked out Australia's top envoy to Fiji.
But ties have improved, with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop last month agreeing to allow Mr Bainimarama to campaign for expatriate Fijian votes in Sydney.
Fiji was also permitted to compete in the recent Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
