I’m calling it now. Let’s recreate the British Empire. We would change the name: The Commonwealth. We would change the power balance: the constituent parts would all be equal. And of course we would ditch the paternalist racism. But let’s stop playing hard to get and become one. One Federation. One Superpower. One voice on the world stage. The founder members would be Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Isle of Man, Jersey. Guernsey, the UK dependencies (eg Gibraltar) and the English-speaking Caribbean nations, but others would join us in time as their standards of living better approximate those here listed.
We will learn from the errors of the European Union. To include the likes of India or Nigeria at this point, when their GDP per capita is so much lower than the rest and their populations so much larger, would be an error. As with Romanian and Bulgarian accession to the Brussels bureaucracy, mass migration will cause resentment among the founder members with them being demographically and democratically unable to influence policy. Nonetheless as their standards of living ultimately improve, other former Empire nations would be considered for integration. Although the Caribbean nations are also poor in relative terms, their cultures are extremely similar to those of the other founder members. Their history is intimately connected with our own and their populations are small enough for effective, inexpensive integration without the accompanying resentment stirred up by anti-immigration politicians. It also shows our commitment to a multi-racial Commonwealth. Ultimately, with India finally as a member, we would jointly become the world’s pre-eminent superpower, but this is merely a long-term ambition. Even without her, we would be an important, essential, independent force in world affairs.
Within our globe-spanning borders, there would be complete and unquestioned freedom of movement, freedom of trade, freedom of capital, the sharing of resources, the sharing of intelligence, a combined armed forces and a jointly agreed foreign policy. The currently constituted United Kingdom would provide a nuclear umbrella for all members and we will prioritise the construction of a world-beating navy to control the sea lanes of the world. As a trading, sea-faring, global polity, we would set our minds to the removal of all barriers to commerce and we would bring into being the world’s most comprehensive free trade space. Within the constituent members there would be a redistribution of resources from the wealthiest to the poorest regions. So London would give, give, give, but not only Jamaica will receive. The renewal of the North of England and South Wales would be equal priorities.
Within the Federation’s constituent States, there would be a very high level of individual autonomy for domestic affairs; although members would be strongly minded, on a voluntary basis, to unify their rules for employment qualifications, safety standards and the like. The priority, however, would be foreign affairs and projecting a united voice on our shared priorities. Our overriding aim would be safety on the high seas, international control of major waterways, the removal of barriers to trade and the enforcement of international law in shared international spaces by our forces. We would seek strong alliances with similar minded, sea-faring allies whose membership for entry would be seriously considered, particularly Singapore. If necessary, we will create a permanent, military colony on the coast of Yemen, its aim being to guard the Bab Al-Mendez Straits and to take action against all disruptives parties. We believe that the Yemenis have been negligent in their duty and we reject their sovereign claim to control this international waterway.
[Image: The Houthis Attack! We are not amused.]
We would maintain control of our bases at Gibraltar and Cyprus and we will assist the Gulf States and the Singaporeans (the latter possibly as a member) in their defence of sensitive sea junctions. Despite our desire to maintain the flow of global trade, we would have no interest in controlling the people’s of other jurisdictions in their day-to-day lives. Self-determination will remain an important value to us and we will take no action to affect the governance regimes/policies of other nations. Nonetheless authoritarian regimes will only be tolerated - even assisted in the case of Singapore and the UAE - if they are one with the Commonwealth on maintaining freedom of the seas. Otherwise we will do that which the United Nations would never do: we will take action. If the United States takes control of the Panama Canal as a US dominion, we will oppose her. If Panama rejects the free flow of trade through the canal, we will oppose them too. The Panama Canal is a protected international waterway for all nations to use.
There would be a Senate in London composed of representatives from each of the Federation’s members in agreed upon proportions. In matters of foreign affairs it would be sovereign and have supremacy over the Parliaments of member states. However, given our agreed goals and values, this would be an act of national liberation and empowerment rather than one of enslavement. The Commonwealth would be firm in protecting its interests as a global nation and would succeed where the more insular USA has failed.
It is an idea so obvious that no-one has stated it plainly, but it makes eminent sense.
We all speak English.
We have a common history.
We were all birthed of the same mother.
We are all global nations that look outwards across the seas while others look inwards in isolationist comfort.
We all believe in liberal democracy and freedom of expression.
We all seek tariff-free trade and open commerce.
We all seek to maintain international order through keeping the world’s major waterways pirate- and Houthi missile- free.
We all seek reducing the price of food, rejecting selfish French-EU protectionist policies and Arab OPEC domination with equal contempt.
We all believe in the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary.
We all believe in strong militaries against the threat of unstable authoritarians.
We all believe in innovation and business-friendliness while maintaining a safety net for the most vulnerable.
We all believe in flexibility, pragmatism and the stupidity of needless bureaucracy.
We all (bar Canada!) play the same sports.
We all belong together in a dangerous world.
A special exception may be made for the membership of authoritarian (but super stable) Singapore given its precarious, geographical position and our alignment in international affairs. We respect Singapore’s effective stewardship of the Malacca Straits which is at the heart of our priorities. We respect Singapore’s belief in international business and its investment in human capital. Our priorities are prosperity, freedom of trade and freedom of the seas and in this Singapore is aligned with the other members.
Let us speak plainly. If we are to live in a multipolar world so be it: Let us become our own superpower. Let us counterbalance the USA, EU and China who have completely different priorities, values and interests. Let us speak with one voice.
The time for bending the knee to an isolationist, self-sufficient, self-interested United States is over. That endlessly selfish oligop-democracy that divorces itself from world affairs and concerns itself more and more with its interests alone. If the United States was ever in a “special relationship” with us is questionable, but even it were, it was a relationship of subservience. We had to agree with her bonkers wars one day and her bonkers non-intervention the next. We had to accept her one-sided loans during World War II, yet they wouldn’t even donate a dime when we came asking a year later in peacetime. They took advantage of a friend who kept the light of European freedom alive. Always out to take advantage. Always out to kick a friend when he’s down. Now they want to impose tariffs on us. Their abandonment of Eden at Suez has never been forgotten.
The time for bending the knee to the selfish, ideological, anti-pragmatic European Union is over. That inflexible brick wall which seeks the interests of French farmers over the interests of British industry; that seeks the success of Spanish fishermen over the desire of Britons for cheap food from the Commonwealth. We saved their asses in WW11 and their gratefulness was “overwhelming”. They vetoed us, they failed to notify us about the Schuman Plan, they passed unwanted law after unwanted law against our will. We should have left De Gaulle in France to liberate Paris himself! We were willing to join them but not to be servile to them. We were willing to negotiate with them, but not to plead. We were willing to be partners for change, but they sought our inflexible submission to the pre-determined, self-interested goals. They demanded ever closer union without regard to our democracy, our history and our public opinion. We were asked to abandon the Commonwealth for Europe, to ditch New Zealand farmers for those in France, to shackle our island to an immovable, undemocratic hulk. Building a Europe of freedom and peace was our goal; but they just wanted to place an iron wall of protectionism around their uncompetitive agriculture and to impose dictates from high about every facet of our lives.
The time for bending the knee to the terrorist-supporting, authoritarian-promoting, anti-British. anti-Israel United Nations is over. You never kept the peace, responded to dictators or supported democracies. You never intervened to stop real genocides. You never responded to crises and when you did they were the wrong crises. Your membership is rotten to the core and you are rotten with it. You’ve never had any credibility since abandoning Britain at Suez and Gaza finally destroyed you. Your values repulse us.
None of this is to say that we don’t share a history, a language and much besides with the United States, but it is an unequal relationship and the Americans have very different priorities. As a country it is self-sufficient in human capital, space, natural resources, food production and defence. It doesn’t need us. It doesn’t need the world. It can survive without global trade. But we can’t. The seas are our lifeblood and the oceans are our oxygen. The United States has no interest in defending these international spaces because every dime is a wasted investment for them. Yet for us, it is essential as the air we breathe.
None of this is to say that we don’t value a continued role for the European Union. We wish them well. In shackling France and Germany together, it has ensured peace on the continent. In creating a common space, it has guaranteed the borders of Poland. Through its semi-democratic values, it has ended the prospect of dictatorship returning to Spain. It is a miracle for its citizens and we support it. But we support it for them, not for us. Britain isn’t European, Australia isn’t Asian, St Lucia isn’t Latin American and Canada isn’t the 51st State of America. We are a global people and the seas are our continent. To continentals, it is as natural as water to change a political, constitutional order. Yet for us EC Supremacy meant “the end of a thousand years of history” (Hugh Gateskell). Divorce was the only way out.
The UK is Europe’s second biggest economic power. It is Europe’s biggest military power. But it has always had zero influence on the affairs of the Community. Luxembourg was our superior and we begged to be heard. Taken into initiative after initiative against our will, it was never the place for our people. The world said we were European because of geography. America said we should sign up “to find a role”. Neither understood that our families and friends were in Australia beyond the ocean. They were our natural family. As Anthony Eden once said of his constituents, their connection with the world is the Commonwealth; Europe is where their loved ones are buried.
None of this is to say that we reject international order. Indeed we embrace it. We search longingly for it. That is why we reject the UN and its priorities: decolonisation at all costs over international security. Geographical nationhood over global Commonwealth nationhood. Dictators over peace. The Commonwealth will undertake the role that the United Nations has scorned.
To our friends in Canada Australia New Zealand Barbados The Isle of Man Jersey Jamaica Guernsey Grenada Guyana St Lucia St Vincent and Trinidad: let us join together at last… You, at least, remained loyal when temptation overtook us. Let us become one Federation, one mighty nation. Let us double our GDP together and let us speak together with a united voice.
The nations of the world have always spoken against our Union in prejudiced terms, saying that because we sit on the opposite sides of the world we are an imperium and not a country. They say that Europe may unite; for despite its vast linguistic, economic and historical differences, it is geographically together. They say that Alabama and Vermont may be united likewise. But for Australia and Britain to unite is “imperialism”. This is a sentiment which we utterly reject. For that we will be the only country on Earth that is spread to all corners will be our strength! It will negate any economic weakness, It will negate the power of America and China and Russia and Europe. We will be present throughout the world, guarding the seas against its ever present dangers, guarding our freedom against the isolationists and putting up an iron wall against the erratic dictatorships that threaten trade.
The peculiarities of each Member State will remain. But we are a natural Union. As one international polity, we will speak on global affairs with a united voice. Dean Acheson once said Britain had lost its Empire, but was still searching for a role. It has now found it. And in this new State called The Commonwealth our combined citizenship will once more rule the waves.
If you ever formed such a union I would leave the US and join. I'm considering it anyway!
Daniel, this article was pure poetry and music to my ears! I would be all for absolutely everything you describe in this article! A British Commonwealth encompassing Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the nations of the Caribbean is exactly what we need right now! I would have no problem at all with a multipolar world. We need to have a counterbalance to America, Russia, China, and the EU! Not to mention another option for those who love democracy but don’t like the way the United States and EU are doing things and see how broken and in need of reform the UN is. I’m a patriotic American who supported Donald Trump and I still believe in the EU and UN. But I also don’t entirely agree with the stuff Trump is doing right now. No, Canada shouldn’t be a state! No, we shouldn’t take back the Panama Canal! No, the Gulf of Mexico is NOT the Gulf of America! No, we shouldn’t be doing protectionism! The EU and UN are broken and badly in need of a massive reformation. I’m not crazy about Brexit, but it is the will of the British people and so I respect it and furthermore I must agree Daniel, that the other EU nations have not always done right by Britain. I love the special relationship between our countries. But you’re right it has been uneven with the U.S. being the one in the driver’s seat and these days it’s strained to nonexistent. The Commonwealth would spread democracy, capitalism and human rights around the globe, assist refugees, asylum seekers and displaced persons, combat piracy by the Houthis and others, protect minority communities around the world, topple dictatorships, wipe out terrorist groups and impose order on the international scene, and back up Israel in its fight for survival against its Arab and Iranian enemies. Free movement of people and free trade would be established and peace and prosperity would reign supreme in the Commonwealth. When India, Nigeria and I would add South Africa get their GDP up and in South Africa’s case get a better government, they too should be considered for admittance into the Commonwealth. Singapore would be a good candidate for a Commonwealth member! I think the nations of the Commonwealth should open charter cities in countries all over the developed world with the consent of those governments to spread the blessings of liberty, freedom, justice, and prosperity to those nations. Yemen should be put under the control of a liberal democracy under British tutelage. British charter cities should be opened there too. There should also be defense pacts signed between the British Commonwealth and Israel and Saudi Arabia. The New Commonwealth superpower would also challenge the U.S. Navy for supremacy of the seas.