In 2016 the Migration Observatory at Oxford University reported that Poles constituted the largest foreign-born population within the United Kingdom, with over 800 000 Polish-born residents living in our country, interacting on a daily basis with local culture, politics and society. In light of this, there has never been a more interesting or more important time to understand, and work in conjunction with a nation, whose people have so frequently, and so successfully chosen to embrace British values and make our country their home. History teaches us that embracing opportunities for Anglo-Polish cooperation can lead to the kind of inspiration which fuelled debates on the 19th-century Great Reform Act, and the kind of courage, which led to victory in the Second World War. However, while embracing the past, we must also look to the future.