CF of CANZUK Hilary ‘25 newsletter

Good afternoon,

The beginning of this year has seen the CANZUK cause grow from strength to strength. This is mostly due to the stalwart efforts of pro-CANZUK supporters, but another major factor has been the unexpected actions of the United States.

Focussing on our work, I am immensely proud of the entire Conservative Friends of CANZUK team. We have held our parliamentary launch, gained many new parliamentary patrons, created a solid supporter network and membership scheme, cemented relations with our sister parties, and met with representatives from the CANZ high commissions.

In this Hilary edition, we provide a summary of our activities over the term and highlight activities across the realms which, if not purposefully supporting CANZUK, are nevertheless deepening ties between the four realms. It has been a very busy time, and I am pleased to provide such a cornucopia of ‘good news’.

Looking forward to the Trinity term, we are pleased to announce our first CANZUK lecture, to be delivered by our patron Lord Roberts. It will be held at 19:00 in the Churchill Room of the Carlton Club. We do hope you will be able to attend. A ‘save the date’ image is attached to the bottom of this email. I will send further information, and a formal invitation, to you closer to the date.

We have a raft of other events planned, for which we will, of course, keep you updated. As you will be aware, Australia and Canada are holding general elections within a week of each other. Though the timings are tight, we hope to hold at least an online meeting to discuss these, perhaps tying in with other groups. We will update you if/when we are able to arrange this.

As always, a great ‘thank you’ to our patrons, donors and supporters, for boosting this positive and future-focussed mission.

On behalf of everyone on the Conservative Friends of CANZUK committee, may I thank you for your continued support.

Elliott Malik

Director of the Conservative Friends of CANZUK

Our work

We held our parliamentary launch on the 12th of March, in the Jubilee Room of the Palace of Westminster. This was packed-out with CANZUK supporters from across the UK and the CANZ realms. We were particularly delighted to see members of the high commissions and our sister parties attend.

We met with the Canadian Conservatives Abroad, agreeing to work closely with them in the future.

We re-structured our team and expanded the number of roles to enable deeper connections with the CANZ realms.

We gained our first parliamentary patrons in the Shadow Cabinet: Andrew Bowie MP (Scotland) and Kevin Hollinrake MP (Housing, Local Government, and Communities). We also recruited David Simmonds MP and Greg Stafford MP. In the Lords, we recruited the Lords Howell, Moylan and Roberts.

We created our Local Government Network, giving a voice to elected representatives ranging from parish councillors to police and crime commissioners. If you are an elected representative, please considering signing up via our CANZUK Pledge.

We formalised our supporter network, paid membership and financial patronage scheme to turbo-charge our work.

Our blog continues to be populated with new pieces from our team and wider supporter networks.

We also now have a Whatsapp broadcast channel, so CF of CANZUK supporters can receive a weekly update on our work.

Deepening ties between the realms

The then-candidate for the Liberal Party of Canada leadership, Mark Carney, endorsed CANZUK during a televised leadership debate.

In the first major security deal of his premiership, Canadian PM Mark Carney and Australian PM Anthony Albanese announced a deal for Canada to purchase a C$6bn missile defence system from Australia.

During Mark Carney’s visit to meet the King of Canada, Mr Carney met UK PM Sir Kier Starmer. Sir Kier vowed to deepen relations between the two realms.

The British Minister of State for International Development, Latin America, and the Caribbean, Baroness Chapman, voiced support for closer relations between the CANZUK realms. We thank our President, Lord Hannan, for raising this in the chamber.

Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, became the first leader of a mainstream UK political party to endorse CANZUK.

The first cohort of Royal Australian Navy submariners qualified to serve on Royal Navy nuclear submarines.

Canada sent its largest ever trade delegation to Australia.

Australia and New Zealand worked together to monitor a Chinese flotilla which sailed through the Tasman Sea.

An interesting new idea has been floated: laying an undersea power cable between Canada and the UK.

Virgin Atlantic announced a re-inauguration of its London-Toronto direct flight, joining 18 new routes connecting Canada and the UK.