Hilary ‘26 newsletter
Good evening,
One year ago, the Conservative Friends of CANZUK launched in the Jubilee Room of the Palace of Westminster. At the time, we were very much at the fringe of conservatism. CANZUK was largely unknown, and we had to work to gain traction.
My goodness, how things have changed. CANZUK is official Conservative party policy and members of the shadow cabinet are actively advocating for it. We now have strong connections with CANZUK supporters across the realms, including the leader of the Canadian Conservatives, Pierre Poilievre PC MP, who we hosted for a CANZUK reception in the Carlton Club.
This has also been a time of internal change. I was delighted that Jack Rankin MP agreed to become our new vice-President. I would like to thank him, and our President Lord Hannan, for all their work.
Thank you also to our whole parliamentary caucus for their continued support. I have been particularly pleased to welcome so many new parliamentary patrons. The CF of CANZUK team looks forward to working with them.
In this Hilary edition, we review the highlights of our most successful term. We look forward to building upon this by creating Britain’s first cross-party CANZUK advocacy organisation. CF of CANZUK will continue, but we must now expand to make this a reality.
On behalf of the CF of CANZUK team, thank you for your continued support. For those who are observing, may I wish you a peaceful and reflective Holy Week, and a very happy Easter.
Yours sincerely,
Elliott Malik
Director of the Conservative Friends of CANZUK
Achievements of Hilary ‘26
CANZUK was endorsed by the Conservative party. The Daily Mail covered this, with Kemi Badenoch MP and Andrew Griffith MP explaining why CANZUK is so important.
We hosted the leader of the Canadian Conservatives, Pierre Poilievre PC MP, for a CANZUK reception at the Carlton Club. We were joined by supporters and high commission representatives from all four realms.
Our President, Lord Hannan, spoke at the Chagos protest. The overseas territories are vital for CANZUK, and it was both important to support the right of Chagossians to remain British and to stand together within the conservative movement with our friends at Conservative Friends of the Overseas Territories.
We gained new parliamentary patrons: Sarah Bool MP, James Cartlidge MP, Richard Holden MP, Nigel Huddleston MP, John Lamont MP, Gagan Mohindra MP, Rebecca Smith MP, Graham Stuart MP, Bradley Thomas MP and Lord Johnson of Lainston.
CANZUK in the news
Our vice-President, Jack Rankin MP, wrote an article for Conservative Home which explained why CANZUK is so important.
Our parliamentary patron, Tom Tugendhat MP, contributed an article for Canada’s Globe and Mail on the opportunities CANZUK presents for our energy security.
Andrew Griffith, the Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade, wrote an article in CapX outlining why he supports CANZUK.
Dr Egveny Postikov analysed the benefits of CANZUK for the Australian Institute of International Affairs.
Our ever-deepening ties
The Prime Ministers of Canada and the United Kingdom met to discuss the Russo-Ukranian war and the Iran war. They noted our deep ties and agreed to cooperate further on defence and trade.
The Prime Ministers of Australia and Canada discussed how to advance shared economic and security interests. Amongst many new and updated agreements, an agreement was made to strengthen collaboration between each country’s critical mineral reserves, and a new Australia-Canada Green Energy Partnership was signed. It was agreed that defensive interoperability and combined military activities in the Indo-Pacific would be enhanced and formalised.
The leaders of the Canadian and British Conservative parties met in London. They agreed that both parties must continue to back enterprise, control spending, secure borders, and put working people first.
The Australian Foreign Minister and New Zealand Defence Minister agreed to create a ‘force posture working group’ to ‘identify every possible opportunity’ for the two militaries to work together.
The Canadian government is considering joining the British-led Joint Expeditionary Force as it expands its military.
SYOS Airspace, a British-New Zealand defence firm, secured a contract to supply the New Zealand Defence Force with unscrewed autonomous vehicles.