What is the shortest term to refer to people whose mother tongue is English?

Solution 1:

Native anglophone is, I believe, an even shorter term.

anglophone (noun)
an English-speaking person

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^{Oxford Dictionaries}

Solution 2:

Native English speakers.

I do not believe that the term "mothertonguers" would be generally well received.

Solution 3:

In England, we tend to use a phrase (term?) popularised by Winston Churchill in a book he wrote in the early 20th Century. The phrase is "the English speaking peoples".

Not as humorous (nor as open to misinterpretation) as mothertonguers. :-)

You won't find too many people on the streets of London who would understand what you were talking about if you asked them, 'Are you an Anglophone?' Don't think you'd offend anyone, but don't believe they'd have a clue what you were asking them either. More than likely, they'd think you wanted to borrow (or steal!) their mobile phone (translation: cellphone).

If you were asking what is the correct racial name for someone (in the UK) who is English by descent, a pretty common term is Anglo-Saxon. But even most (British) people of Celtic origin (i.e. Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Cornish) nowadays only speak English.

Nearly all former British colonies, including (but not limited to) the present-day Commonwealth, are inhabited mainly by people whose "mother tongue" is English. So you're really asking for a term that describes or includes dozens of countries. But English-speaking (native English-speaking?) is the best description we've ever been able to come up with.

Really, there is no term (today) for people who speak English. There used to be! Once-upon-a-time they were called Englishmen. :-)