The transition is complete. Advance UK has now joined forces with the Great British PAC, and I want to personally welcome you to our growing movement.
Above everything else, there is one thing I hope you will do: please stick with us, get involved and help us protect our country.
You have not been moved from one organisation to another simply to sit on another mailing list. Quite the opposite. Behind the scenes, our team is working tirelessly to prepare our next national campaigns, legal challenges, investigations and policy initiatives. The Great British PAC is fast becoming one of the most effective grassroots campaigning organisations in the country, capable of acting quickly when Britain's interests are threatened and giving ordinary people a practical way to fight back.
And last week, we received a remarkable reminder of exactly why this organisation exists.
We were told no. We appealed. The Chagos fight is back on.
Earlier this year, the courts refused permission for the Chagossians' Judicial Review challenging the Labour Government's handling of the Chagos deal. We could have accepted that decision and walked away. We didn't. British territory is worth fighting for. We appealed.
Now we have had some genuinely encouraging news. The Court of Appeal has ordered a fresh hearing to reconsider that refusal. It means the case that many believed was finished is alive again and the Chagossians have another opportunity to seek proper legal scrutiny of the Government's failure to consult them before making decisions about the future of their homeland.
This is a significant legal breakthrough, but we now have a narrow window in which to prepare.
We urgently need to raise £10,000
Our legal team estimates that preparing for and attending this Court of Appeal hearing will cost between £10,000 and £20,000. We need the first £10,000 now so that counsel can be instructed and preparations can begin.
We are also in advanced discussions with a supporter about matching the first £10,000 we raise. If that is confirmed, it would effectively double the impact of every donation. We will let you know as soon as that arrangement is finalised.
Help fund the Chagos legal fight →
Every pound donated through this appeal will be ring-fenced exclusively for this Judicial Review: counsel's fees, legal submissions and evidence, court fees and representation at the hearing. Any surplus beyond what is required for this stage will remain ring-fenced for the subsequent stages of this case and related Chagos proceedings.
This hearing matters because it is the gateway to the substantive Judicial Review. The case asks fundamental questions about whether the Chagossian people were properly consulted before decisions about their homeland were made, whether Ministers acted lawfully throughout the process, whether the rights and interests of the Chagossians were properly considered and whether the Government's decision-making met the standards required by public law.
These are serious questions. We believe Ministers should have to answer them in open court.
They told us to give up last summer
They were wrong.
When we began fighting the Chagos deal, we were repeatedly told that it was effectively a done deal. Labour had an enormous parliamentary majority. The agreement had the weight of government behind it. What, people asked, could a relatively small campaigning organisation possibly do?
Our answer was to think differently.
We brought together campaigners, lawyers, parliamentarians, researchers, journalists, Chagossians and thousands of ordinary members of the public. We helped generate letters, petitions and parliamentary pressure. Amendments were drafted and tabled. MPs and peers were briefed. Legal challenges were launched. Journalists were supplied with information. Our supporters kept writing, campaigning and refusing to allow the issue to disappear.
The deal could have been ratified last summer. It wasn't. It could have disappeared from public debate months ago. It didn't. Again and again, pressure was applied, a new bill was introduced, polling was done and difficult questions had to be answered.
And when the original Judicial Review appeared to have reached the end of the road, we refused to accept that either. We appealed. Now the Court of Appeal has given the Chagossians another chance.
That determination is at the heart of what the Great British PAC is about.
Our secret sauce is Country Before Party
One of the most important things I want our new members to understand is that the Great British PAC is not a political party. We do not stand candidates and we do not require everyone within the organisation to agree about everything.
Some of our supporters are Conservatives. Some support Reform. Some come from Labour backgrounds. Some support the Liberal Democrats or the DUP. Many belong to no political party whatsoever.
What brings us together is much simpler: we believe the United Kingdom is worth protecting.
That cross-party approach has become one of our greatest strengths. A Labour Government can easily dismiss criticism from Conservatives as party politics. It can dismiss Reform criticism in much the same way. It becomes considerably harder to do that when Conservatives, Reform supporters, Labour figures, Liberal Democrats, Unionists, independents and people with no party allegiance whatsoever are standing together and asking the same questions.
That is our secret sauce, and Chagos proved just how powerful it can be.
With a Government holding a huge Commons majority, simply shouting louder is not enough. We have to think outside the box. We have to use Parliament, the courts, public opinion, journalism, grassroots campaigning and cross-party alliances together.
Country Before Party is not just a slogan. It is how we operate.
So, what happens now?
A great deal.
Our attention is already turning to the next major battles. Teams are developing work around North Sea oil and Britain's energy security, DEI and institutional accountability, government waste and potential wrongdoing, national sovereignty, free speech and the accountability of public bodies. There is much more coming.
We are also building our Great British PAC Policy Platform. I want the PAC to do more than identify what is going wrong with Britain. We should help develop credible solutions as well. Over time, that means bringing together experts, members and policy specialists to produce serious proposals that can be put before politicians of every party.
Good policy should not belong exclusively to one tribe. If an idea would make Britain stronger, safer, freer or more prosperous, we want politicians competing to adopt it.
Alongside that, we are developing new ways for members themselves to participate.
Our remarkable Email Warriors network already includes hundreds of volunteers who write individually to MPs, peers, councils, government departments, regulators and other decision-makers when concentrated public pressure can make a difference. We have repeatedly been told that these letters get noticed.
Now imagine what that operation could become with tens of thousands more patriots standing behind it.
We want PAC members to be able to alert us to issues that matter to them and, where appropriate, rapidly mobilise support around them. We are developing a letter-signing and campaigning unit, more volunteer opportunities, member involvement in policy development, local initiatives, national campaigns and special member benefits.
Some members will want to help develop policy. Others will want to investigate. Some will become Email Warriors. Some will volunteer in their communities. Some will support petitions. Some will help finance legal cases. Others may simply contribute their annual membership and know that they are helping sustain an organisation prepared to fight for Britain every day of the year.
Every one of those people matters.
Our job is to build the machinery that allows patriotic people to do something when something they care about is happening.
A message from the Chagossians
Misley Mandarin, Interim First Minister of the Chagossian Government in Exile, has asked me to share this message with you:
"For generations, my people have fought for one simple principle: the right to decide our own future. The overwhelming majority of Chagossians who have taken part in our democratic elections and consultations have made clear that they want to remain British and they want the right of self-determination.
"The Court of Appeal has now given us another chance to challenge the Labour Government's failure to consult us and let us determine our fate. This is an opportunity to ask important legal questions about decisions that affect our homeland and our future.
"This case matters not only to the Chagossian people, but also to everyone who believes British sovereign territory should not be transferred without proper legal scrutiny and without the people most affected having their voices heard.
"The Great British PAC has stood beside us from the beginning, helping us bring this case before the courts. Without the generosity of its supporters, we simply could not continue.
"Today, I am asking for your help again. Every donation, no matter how small, will help us prepare for this crucial hearing and ensure our case can be properly presented.
"On behalf of the Chagossian people, thank you for standing with us."
— Misley Mandarin, Interim First Minister of the Chagossian Government in Exile
Now I am asking you to stay with us
Advance UK brought together tens of thousands of people who looked at the direction in which Britain was travelling and decided that merely complaining about it wasn't enough.
That energy is not disappearing. It is being put to work.
You are now part of an organisation that can operate beyond the constraints of party politics; one that can collaborate across political divides, bring cases before the courts, mobilise thousands of campaigners, investigate what those in power would rather remained hidden, develop policy and intervene wherever Britain's interests need defending.
There will be victories and there will undoubtedly be defeats. There will be occasions when people tell us that something cannot be done.
Good. We've heard that before.
They told us Chagos was a done deal. We kept going. When permission for the Judicial Review was refused, we could have walked away. We appealed. Now we're going back to court. The Chagos Islands must stay British.
That stubborn determination is what I want the Great British PAC to become known for. Not endless outrage. Not political theatre. Results.
With approximately 38,000 Advance members now joining the PAC movement alongside our existing supporters, we have an extraordinary opportunity. Imagine what we can achieve if even a fraction of those people become actively involved.
So please stick with us. Open our emails. Follow the Great British PAC social channels as the transition completes. Join our campaigns. Become an Email Warrior. Help shape our policies. Volunteer. Sign our letters. Send us the issues you think need investigating. And, when you are able, help us finance the legal battles that governments and powerful institutions would rather ordinary people could never afford to bring.
When your annual PAC membership becomes due, I also hope you will choose to remain part of what we are building. For just £10 - £20 a year, your membership helps give this movement the infrastructure it needs to campaign for Britain every day of the year.
But today, there is one immediate thing you can do.
Help us get the Chagossians back into court. Protect British sovereignty. The Chagossians overwhelmingly want to stay British and return to their islands as British citizens.
Whether you can give £10, £25, £50, £100 or more, every contribution takes us closer to the £10,000 we urgently need to instruct counsel and prepare for this hearing.
Yes — I'll help fund the Chagos fight →
This is your new PAC, and I want us to build something rather extraordinary together: tens of thousands of patriots from different political traditions, putting aside the things on which we disagree and working together with absolute determination on the things where we do agree.
That is our strength. That is our secret sauce. And that is how we can confront a Government with an enormous parliamentary majority and still make ourselves impossible to ignore.
Country Before Party.
Welcome to the Great British PAC. Please stick with us, get involved and help us protect our country.
Let's get to work.
P.S. If you're wondering whether ordinary people really can change anything, remember Chagos. We were told to give up and we didn't. When the Judicial Review was refused, we appealed. Now the Court of Appeal has given the Chagossians another opportunity to make their case. If just 1,000 of our new members gave £10 each, we would have the first £10,000 we need. Please make your first PAC campaign action count and help us get them back into court.