The need for CANZUK has never been starker

To quote veteran Westminster correspondent Christian Calgie, "The need for CANZUK has never been starker." At last, the media is waking up to what we have long known: CANZUK is not merely a compelling idea but an absolute necessity for the UK and the wider Anglosphere. In an era of shifting geopolitical tectonics, the case for a strong, integrated alliance between Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom is now more urgent than ever.

Take a look at the world around us. The United States is now in a second Trump presidency— one that has already floated the idea of purchasing Greenland from Denmark. In a world where national interests are increasingly transactional, Britain cannot afford to be left adrift. It must embrace realism and the understanding that CANZUK is her natural path. Meanwhile, our allies in Washington have slapped punitive tariffs on British steel and Canadian timber, showing that economic partnership is far from secure.

Britain must therefore look beyond its traditional assumptions and assert itself in a way that strengthens our economic and strategic position. We should be leading, not pleading. CANZUK is the vehicle through which we can achieve this, uniting four like-minded, English-speaking democracies that share common law traditions, deep historical ties, and, crucially, complementary economies. This is not some fanciful nostalgia project; it is realpolitik in action.

Those who scoff at CANZUK as an unattainable goal fail to realise that it is the natural evolution of our existing relationships. We already share intelligence through the Five Eyes alliance, we fight together in security engagements, and we trade extensively. A formal CANZUK agreement would allow us to consolidate these bonds into a meaningful force in global affairs—one that stands for free trade, security cooperation, and shared democratic values. The western world cannot afford to squabble whilst an aggressive China and Russia continues to exploit a retreating West.

And yet, while the necessity of CANZUK becomes clearer by the day, the UK Government has chosen to prioritise appeasement over ambition. The decision to hand over the Chagos Islands—a strategically crucial British Overseas Territory in the Indian Ocean—to a hostile Mauritius at the behest of the UN is nothing short of a disgrace. It sends a chilling message: Britain no longer values its own territories and is willing to relinquish them to its adversaries rather than strengthening its own global position. We hope that President Trump will veto the hand over for good. This is precisely the kind of self-defeating weakness that CANZUK would prevent.

If Britain wants to be respected on the world stage, it cannot continue to engage in diplomatic self-sabotage. The post-Brexit era offers us the opportunity to define a bold new course—one where we stand alongside our CANZUK allies as an economic and military power bloc, rather than a diminished relic of past greatness.

The tides are turning, and I welcome the fact that more journalists, commentators, and politicians are waking up to the necessity of this alliance. We at Conservative Friends of CANZUK have a clear vision for CANZUK to be the central foreign policy position of not just the British Conservative Party, but of all CANZUK political parties. We look forward to our Parliamentary launch on the 12th March, where we will pitch CANZUK to one of the oldest democracies in the world. The world is not waiting for us to get our act together. Now is the time to act.

The need for CANZUK has never been starker—and we must seize the moment before it is too late.

David Moore

Co-Chair and Director of the Conservative Friends of CANZUK