The comments made by Nick Boles, the former Conservative MP for Grantham and Stamford, on Twitter on 14 April 2022.
There are two ways a a British government could reduce the number of asylum seekers crossing the Channel by boat. One is to nurture good relations with our European neighbours and negotiate a deal like the Dublin Treaty. The other is to spend billions shipping them to Africa.
The comments made by Chris Byrant, the Labour MP for Rhondda, on Twitter on 14 April 2022.
The PM is using the Rwanda plan to mask the fact that he’s the first occupant of Downing Street to get a criminal sanction. Pretty cynical really. Any plan should be announced to parliament first so it can face proper scrutiny.
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The Rwanda plan will cost more than putting them up in the Ritz.
The speech made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 14 April 2022.
For centuries, our United Kingdom has had a proud history of welcoming people from overseas, including many fleeing persecution.
My own great-grandfather came from Turkey in fear of his life, because our country offered sanctuary for his outspoken journalism.
And when you look back over the centuries as people have come seeking refuge or simply in search of somewhere to build a better life, you see this is the very stuff our history is made of.
From the French Huguenots, to the Jewish refugees from Tsarist Russia, to the docking of the Empire Windrush, to the South Asians fleeing East Africa, to the many, many others who have come from different countries at different times for different reasons, all have wanted to be here because our United Kingdom is a beacon of openness and generosity, and all in turn have contributed magnificently to the amazing story of the UK.
Today that proud history of safe and legal migration is ultimately responsible for many of those working in our hospitals and on the front line of our response to the pandemic, for more than 60 per cent of the England football team at the final of Euro 2020, for many of our country’s leading figures in the worlds of business, art and culture, and, I’m pleased to say, for ever growing numbers of people serving in public life, including colleagues of mine like Nadhim Zahawi who escaped with his family from Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, Dominic Raab, whose Jewish father came to Britain from Czechoslovakia to escape Nazi Germany, and Priti Patel, whose family fled persecution in Uganda.
So I’m proud that this government has continued the great British tradition of providing sanctuary to those in need, in fact, doing more to resettle vulnerable people in the UK – through safe and legal routes – than any other government in recent history.
Since 2015 we have offered a place to over 185,000 men, women and children seeking refuge, more than the entire population of Sunderland and more than any other similar resettlement schemes in Europe.
This includes almost 100,000 British Nationals Overseas threatened by draconian security laws in Hong Kong, 20,000 through our Syrian scheme, 13,000 from Afghanistan and to whom we owe debts of honour, and around 50,000 Ukrainians.
And we are not only supporting British nationals and those settled in the UK to bring potentially hundreds of thousands of their extended family from Ukraine, we are also welcoming unlimited numbers of refugees from that conflict, as the British people open their homes, in one of the biggest movements of refugees to this country that we have ever known.
And as we work with local authorities and the devolved administrations to welcome those coming from Ukraine into our communities, we will also find accommodation across our whole United Kingdom for all those who have come here previously but who are currently in hotels, because it makes absolutely no sense for the taxpayer to foot those bills, running to almost £5 million a day, with the sum total of those we accommodate being concentrated in just a third of local authorities.
It is controlled immigration, through safe and legal routes, which enables us to make generous offers of sanctuary while managing the inevitable pressures on our public services such that we can give all those who come here the support they need to rebuild their lives, to integrate and to thrive.
But the quid pro quo for this generosity, is that we cannot sustain a parallel illegal system.
Our compassion may be infinite, but our capacity to help people is not.
We can’t ask the British taxpayer to write a blank cheque to cover the costs of anyone who might want to come and live here.
Uncontrolled immigration creates unmanageable demands on our NHS and our welfare state, it overstretches our local schools, our housing and public transport, and creates unsustainable pressure to build on precious green spaces.
Nor is it fair on those who are seeking to come here legally, if others can just bypass the system.
It’s a striking fact that around seven out of ten of those arriving in small boats last year were men under 40, paying people smugglers to queue jump and taking up our capacity to help genuine women and child refugees.
This is particularly perverse as those attempting crossings, are not directly fleeing imminent peril as is the intended purpose of our asylum system.
They have passed through manifestly safe countries, including many in Europe, where they could – and should – have claimed asylum.
It is this rank unfairness of a system that can be exploited by gangs, which risks eroding public support for the whole concept of asylum.
The British people voted several times to control our borders, not to close them, but to control them.
So just as Brexit allowed us to take back control of legal immigration by replacing free movement with our points-based system, we are also taking back control of illegal immigration, with a long-term plan for asylum in this country.
It is a plan that will ensure the UK has a world-leading asylum offer, providing generous protection to those directly fleeing the worst of humanity, by settling thousands of people every year through safe and legal routes.
And I emphasise this. So whether you are fleeing Putin or Assad, our aim is that you should not need to turn to the people smugglers or any other kind of illegal option.
But to deliver it, we must first ensure that the only route to asylum in the UK is a safe and legal one, and that those who try to jump the queue, or abuse our system, will find no automatic path to settlement in our country, but rather be swiftly and humanely removed to a safe third country or their country of origin.
And the most tragic of all forms of illegal migration, which we must end with this approach, is the barbaric trade in human misery conducted by the people smugglers in the Channel.
Before Christmas 27 people drowned, and in the weeks ahead there could be many more losing their lives at sea, and whose bodies may never be recovered.
Around 600 came across the Channel yesterday. In just a few weeks this could again reach a thousand a day.
I accept that these people – whether 600 or one thousand – are in search of a better life; the opportunities that the United Kingdom provides and the hope of a fresh start.
But it is these hopes – those dreams – that have been exploited.
These vile people smugglers are abusing the vulnerable and turning the Channel into a watery graveyard, with men, women and children, drowning in unseaworthy boats, and suffocating in refrigerated lorries.
And even if they do make it here, we know only too well some of the horrendous stories of exploitation over the years, from the nail bars of East London to the cockle beds of Morecambe Bay, as illegal migration makes people more vulnerable to the brutal abuse of ruthless gangs.
So we must halt this appalling trade and defeat the people smugglers.
That is why we are passing the Nationality and Borders Bill, which allows us for the first time to distinguish between people coming here legally and illegally, and for this distinction to affect how your asylum claim progresses and your status in the UK if that claim is successful.
It will enable us to issue visa penalties against those countries that refuse to accept returns of foreign criminals and failed asylum seekers.
It will clean up the abuse of our legal system, introducing a one-stop shop that will end the cycle of last minute and vexatious claims and appeals that so often thwart or delay removals.
And it will end the absurd practice of asylum-seeking adults claiming to be children to strengthen their claims and access better services.
Crucially it will also allow us to prosecute those who arrive illegally, with life sentences for anyone piloting the boats. And to identify, intercept and investigate these boats, from today the Royal Navy will take over operational command from Border Force in the Channel, taking primacy for our operational response at sea, in line with many of our international partners, with the aim that no boat makes it to the UK undetected.
This will be supported with £50 million of new funding for new boats, aerial surveillance and military personnel in addition to the existing taskforce of patrol vessels, Wildcat helicopters, search and rescue aircraft, drones and remotely piloted aircraft.
This will send a clear message to those piloting the boats: if you risk other people’s lives in the Channel, you risk spending your own life in prison.
People who do make it to the UK will be taken not to hotels at vast public expense, rather they will be housed in accommodation centres like those in Greece, with the first of these open shortly.
At the same time, we are expanding our immigration detention facilities, to assist with the removal of those with no right to remain in the UK.
We are investing over half a billion pounds in these efforts.
And this is on top of overhauling our arrivals infrastructure here in Kent, with new processing facilities now operational at Western Jet Foil and Manston.
But we need to go still further in breaking the business model of these gangs.
So from today, our new Migration and Economic Development Partnership will mean that anyone entering the UK illegally – as well as those who have arrived illegally since January 1st – may now be relocated to Rwanda.
This innovative approach – driven our shared humanitarian impulse and made possible by Brexit freedoms – will provide safe and legal routes for asylum, while disrupting the business model of the gangs, because it means that economic migrants taking advantage of the asylum system will not get to stay in the UK, while those in genuine need will be properly protected, including with access to legal services on arrival in Rwanda, and given the opportunity to build a new life in that dynamic country, supported by the funding we are providing.
The deal we have done is uncapped and Rwanda will have the capacity to resettle tens of thousands of people in the years ahead.
And let’s be clear, Rwanda is one of the safest countries in the world, globally recognised for its record on welcoming and integrating migrants.
Later this year it will welcome leaders from across the Commonwealth, and before the pandemic, in 2018, the IMF said Rwanda was the world’s fourth fastest growing economy.
We are confident that our new Migration Partnership is fully compliant with our international legal obligations, but nevertheless we expect this will be challenged in the courts, and if this country is seen as a soft touch for illegal migration by some of our partners, it is precisely because we have such a formidable army of politically motivated lawyers who for years who have made it their business to thwart removals and frustrate the Government.
So I know that this system will not take effect overnight, but I promise that we will do whatever it takes to deliver this new approach, initially within the limits of the existing legal and constitutional frameworks, but also prepared to explore any and all further legal reforms which may be necessary.
Because this problem has bedevilled our country for too long and caused far too much human suffering and tragedy, and this is the government that refuses to duck the difficult decisions, this is the government that makes the big calls, and I profoundly believe there is simply no other option.
And I say to those who would criticise our plan today, we have a plan; what is your alternative?
I know there are some who believe we should just turn these boats back at sea.
But after much study and consultation – including with Border Force, the police, national crime agency, military and maritime experts, to whom I pay tribute for all the incredible work that they do dealing with this problem as things stand – it’s clear that there are extremely limited circumstances when you can safely do this in the English Channel.
And it doesn’t help that this approach, I don’t think, would be supported by our French partners, and relying solely on this course of action is simply not practical in my view.
I know there are others who would say that we should just negotiate a deal with France and the EU.
And we have made repeated and generous offers to our French friends and we will continue to press them and the EU for the comprehensive returns agreement that would solve this problem.
We remain grateful to the gendarmes on the beach, for the joint intelligence work and the co-operation that has stopped thousands of boats.
We would like to deepen that work and we continue to believe that a deal with France and the EU is in the national interest of all our countries.
But we must have our own framework for full sovereignty over our borders and we must find a way to stop these boats now, not lose thousands more lives while waiting for a deal that just doesn’t exist.
And I know there will be a vocal minority who will think these measures are draconian and lacking in compassion. I simply don’t agree.
There is no humanity or compassion in allowing desperate and innocent people to have their dreams of a better life exploited by ruthless gangs, as they are taken to their deaths in unseaworthy boats.
And there is no humanity or compassion in endlessly condemning the people smugglers, but then time and again ducking the big calls needed to break the business model of the gangs and stop these boats coming.
And there is no humanity or compassion in calling for unlimited safe and legal routes, offering the false hope of asylum in the UK to anyone who wants it, because that is just unsustainable.
There are currently 80 million displaced people in the world, many in failed States where governments can’t meet their aspirations.
In an era of mobile connectivity they are a call or a text away from potentially being swept up in the tide of people smuggling.
The answer cannot be for the UK to become the haven for all of them.
That is a call for open borders by the back door, a political argument masquerading as a humanitarian policy.
Those in favour of this approach should be honest about it and argue for it openly.
We reject it, as the British people have consistently rejected it at the ballot box – in favour of controlled immigration.
We simply cannot have a policy of saying anyone who wants to live here can do so.
We’ve got to be able to control who comes into this country and the terms on which they remain.
And we must do this in the spirit of our history of providing refuge.
And in that way we can more than play our part in offering sanctuary to thousands fleeing persecution.
But then of course other countries must play their part too.
And that is what I think is most exciting about the partnership we have agreed with Rwanda today because we believe it will become a new international standard in addressing the challenges of global migration and people smuggling.
So I am grateful for Rwanda’s leadership and partnership and we stand ready to work with other nations on similar agreements, as well as wider reforms to the international asylum framework.
As I say, we will continue to work with our French friends to tackle the gangs, we will continue to lead co-operation with crime and intelligence partners across Europe, we will continue to seek a returns agreement with the EU or with France.
But in the meantime, and for the foreseeable future, we need this new approach.
The people smugglers are undermining confidence in our borders.
They are betraying all those who do the right thing, who try to come here legally – through forms of migration or the safe and legal routes provided for refuge.
They are undermining the natural compassion and goodwill that people have towards refugees in this country.
And they are endangering human life day after day.
And though the way ahead will be hard, and though we can expect many challenges and many obstacles to be thrown up against this plan, I believe this plan is the right way forward, because the people smugglers must be stopped in order to save countless lives; and because tackling illegal migration is precisely the way to sustain a safe, legal and generous offer of sanctuary to those in need, that is in the very best traditions of this country and the values we stand for in the world.
The statement made by Amanda Milling, the Minister for Asia and the Middle East, on 14 April 2022.
Today marks the 34th Anniversary of the Anfal campaign – Saddam Hussein’s brutal campaign against the Kurdish people in Iraq. Tens of thousands of Iraqi Kurds were slaughtered and thousands more injured, maimed and expelled from their homes. The use of chemical weapons in such a coordinated and planned manner by a state against its own people is horrific beyond comprehension.
My thoughts are with those who died, those who are mourning the loss of loved ones, and those that continue to suffer from the tragic events of 1988. We mark this occasion to honour the memories of those who died and to ensure we never forget Saddam Hussein’s monstrous crimes against the Kurdish people.
The UK remains committed in its support for the peace and prosperity of the people of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
The comments made by Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, on 14 April 2022.
The global migration crisis and how we tackle illegal migration requires new world-leading solutions. There are an estimated 80 million people displaced in the world and the global approach to asylum and migration is broken.
Existing approaches have failed and there is no single solution to tackle these problems. Change is needed because people are dying attempting to come to the UK illegally.
Today we have signed a world-leading Migration Partnership with Rwanda which can see those arriving dangerously, illegally or unnecessarily into the UK relocated to have their claims for asylum considered and, if recognised as refugees, to build their lives there. This will help break the people smugglers’ business model and prevent loss of life, while ensuring protection for the genuinely vulnerable.
This government is delivering the first comprehensive overhaul of the asylum system in decades. At the heart of this approach is fairness. Access to the UK’s asylum system must be based on need, not on the ability to pay people smugglers. The demands on the current system, the cost to the taxpayer, and the flagrant abuses are increasing. The British public have rightly had enough.
That is why we are overhauling this broken system. Our New Plan for Immigration will improve support for those directly fleeing oppression, persecution and tyranny through safe and legal routes, deter illegal entry, and make it easier to remove those with no right to be in the UK.
The comments made by Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, on 13 April 2022.
In the wake of horrific rocket attacks on civilians in Eastern Ukraine, we are today sanctioning those who prop up the illegal breakaway regions and are complicit in atrocities against the Ukrainian people. We will continue to target all those who aid and abet Putin’s war.
From tomorrow, we are banning the import of Russian iron and steel, as well as the export of quantum technologies and advanced materials that Putin sorely needs. We will not rest in our mission to stop Putin’s war machine in its tracks.
The statement made by Vicky Ford, the Minister for Africa, on 11 April 2022.
Over the past two days, I’ve seen the breadth of the partnership between the UK and Zambia. Amongst many areas, our governments are working together to improve the lives of those in poverty and, increasing the opportunities for both Zambian and UK companies to invest in Zambia’s growing economy.
Zambia’s long history of supporting peace and democracy continues today. The resounding vote for respect of human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law that millions of Zambians made last year has demonstrated yet again, their country’s position as a beacon of peace and democracy in the region and beyond. I’m committed to our 2 nations, the UK and Zambia, continuing to work together on protecting and promoting our shared values in the international sphere.
Through the launch of British International Investment here in Zambia, we have sent a strong message of the UK government’s commitment to building a stronger, more diversified Zambian economy. Equally, it has been my pleasure to learn more about the steps being taken by the Zambian government to deliver free education to all, and discuss how the UK continues to actively support better futures for all Zambian children.
The speech made by Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, in Blackpool on 19 March 2022.
As we meet here in Blackpool, we face a different world from the one we have known over the past decades.
Putin’s illegal, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has shattered the notion that freedom is free.
It’s shattered our post-Cold War complacency.
It’s shattered our collective security.
I am proud that at this moment of peril, the Prime Minister and this Conservative government have stepped up to lead.
We’ve stepped up by providing lethal aid to Ukraine – the first European nation to do so – supporting with NLAW anti-tank weapons, and now anti-aircraft weapons.
We’ve stepped up, by leading the global effort on sanctions.
Hitting banks and oligarchs
Targeting mansions, yachts, and aircraft
Cutting Russia out of SWIFT
And leading the calls for Nord Stream 2 to be cancelled.
Our sanctions are crippling the Russian economy that funds Putin’s war machine.
And we’ve stepped up our leadership on humanitarian aid.
We’re the second largest aid donor – providing everything from generators to blankets to food.
And British people across the country are offering their homes to support Ukrainian people in need.
This is exactly what British foreign policy is.
We stand up to bullies.
We fight for freedom.
We galvanise allies around the world.
As Conservatives we have a deep responsibility to protect our historic liberties and our democracy.
We have a history of standing up to dictators.
We’re proud that it was a Conservative government that helped to end the Cold War and bring down the Berlin Wall.
We signed the Budapest Memorandum in 1994, protecting Ukraine’s sovereignty.
We cannot stand by and see these precious freedoms eroded and the clock turned back to the horrific oppression of the Soviet era.
We cannot and will not rest until Ukraine’s sovereignty is restored.
In our belief in freedom and democracy, we are joined by our friends from Ukraine.
We have been inspired by the incredible leadership of President Zelensky and the bravery of the Ukrainian people.
I am delighted we are joined today by their fantastic Ambassador Prystaiko.
Your country and your President have the admiration and respect of everyone here in Britain.
Our two nations understand how precious freedom is, and what it means to fight for it.
Our friends in Ukraine see and understand the strength of our support.
I hear some people in Ukraine sing God Save The Queen as they use British equipment – well – everyone in the UK is saying Slava Ukraini.
Our foreign policy is about standing up for freedom and democracy and Britain’s national interest.
That’s why we’ve worked so hard to secure the release of our citizens, Nazanin and Anoosheh from Iran.
I was delighted to welcome them back home to Britain in the early hours of Thursday morning.
And it’s also why we are determined to fix the Northern Ireland Protocol, and restore the balance of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement.
We need more flexibility from the EU.
We are prepared to do what it takes to protect the United Kingdom and ensure that all communities in Northern Ireland are treated fairly.
Now is the time to value what we have here.
This crisis has shown the strength of the free world.
It has shown the strength of democratic, free societies acting decisively in unison.
They are more powerful and determined.
Contrast the motivated Ukrainian freedom fighters with Putin’s demoralised, misled soldiers.
Contrast the decisive, crippling sanctions imposed by the G7 – from the UK to Japan to the EU to the US – with the weak Russian economy and the scant support they are getting internationally.
Contrast the spontaneous outburst of solidarity with Ukraine spreading across the world, with the tired lies emanating from Putin’s propaganda machine.
When we are free to speak out.
When we can choose our own government.
When we can control our own money.
It makes our nations stronger.
When people are free to choose – they choose freedom.
This strength is being shown right across the world, from South Korea to Canada to Germany.
This is what Conservatives stand for.
This is what is important.
This is what matters.
We should be proud of our country, and our long standing commitment to freedom and democracy.
Now is the time to end the culture of self-doubt.
The constant self-questioning and introspection.
The ludicrous debates about language, statues and pronouns.
Our history – warts and all – makes us what we are today.
We live in a great country, a great democracy and we should be proud of it.
When we’re facing a tyrant like Vladimir Putin, the only thing he understands is strength.
We need to defend our societies and never let down our guard again.
Our new trade and security deals are with our allies, not our opponents.
This is why AUKUS is so important – helping our Australian friends acquire the nuclear submarines to defend their territory.
This is why NATO is so important – and we are strengthening it for a new era.
The UK is the biggest European contributor to NATO.
We are increasing the numbers of UK troops in Estonia and Poland.
The United Kingdom needs to be strong economically as well as militarily.
We’re going to drive economic growth by delivering supply-side reform.
We’re using our Brexit freedoms to strike new trade deals, slash red tape and create new freeports.
We’re ending our dependency on authoritarian regimes.
The West focused on cheap goods at the expense of freedom and security.
Never again.
We’re banning Russian oil from our markets, we’ve ripped Huawei out of our phone networks and we have new vigilance on our critical supply chains.
We are seeing the most horrible scenes in Ukraine.
A war in Europe for the first time in decades.
We are seeing incredible bravery from the Ukrainians – and deeds of valour that will be written about for generations to come.
Britain has stepped up – now we must do even more.
Putin must lose in Ukraine. With Britain at the forefront, we will ensure he does.
The comments made by Ronald Reagan, the then President of the United States, at the White House in Washington DC on 16 November 1988.
Prime Minister Thatcher, here is a story from our Old West. It’s said that a cowboy went out riding one day and suddenly stumbled into the Grand Canyon. And he’s supposed to have said, “Wow, something sure has happened here!” [Laughter] Well, Prime Minister Thatcher, when we contemplate the world as it is today and how it was when we first met here 8 years ago, we too have a right to say: Something sure has happened.
When we first met on these grounds in 1981, economic crisis beset both our countries: Inflation and unemployment were reaching dangerously disruptive levels. The aggressive designs of squalid dictators, large and small, were seen everywhere. Totalitarian expansion was underway on four continents. Terrorism was growing. And in the face of the most massive arms buildup in human history, our own defenses had fallen into disrepair and decline. A new nuclear missile was aimed at Europe and Asia. There was talk of unilateral cutbacks and American withdrawals and nuclear freezes and questions about the alliance. Our alliance, the great alliance built with such difficulty and daring since the last world war, was in grave danger. All of these problems spoke to an even deeper crisis: a crisis of faith, a crisis of will among the democracies. Here in our own nation, there were those who questioned whether our democratic institutions could survive, whether the modern world had made them obsolete.
Well, now it’s changed. Now the excitement and vigor and energy in the world is with the cause of freedom. As the United States and Great Britain and other free nations have prospered, we have seen an almost Newtonian revolution in the science of economics. We are learning that the way to prosperity is not more bureaucracy and redistribution of wealth but less government and more freedom for the entrepreneur and for the creativity of the individual.
Change, extraordinary change has come upon the world. And that’s why at this moment, Prime Minister Thatcher, we’re especially glad to be welcoming you here to our shores and to have this opportunity to acknowledge the special role that you and the people of Great Britain have made in achieving this remarkable change.
It was my privilege, last June, shortly after my return from Moscow, to note in a speech at Guildhall your extraordinary role in the revitalization of freedom. Today, in welcoming you to these shores, I and the American people again restate our gratitude. In the critical hour, Margaret Thatcher and the people of Great Britain stood fast in freedom’s defense and upheld all the noblest of your island nation’s traditions; yours was the part of courage and resolve and vision.
Bismarck reflected once that the supreme fact of the 19th century was that Great Britain and the United States shared the same language. And surely future historians will note that a supreme fact of this century was that Great Britain and the United States shared the same cause: the cause of human freedom. And together we’ve come a long way in striving for that cause. Even in the terrible disappointment following the last world war, when we realized all we had striven for in that great conflict — world peace and freedom — would once again elude us and that we would have to begin again and stand together again in facing the menace of war and totalitarian tyranny, even then we did not lose heart.
And stand together we have. When first you were here, Prime Minister Thatcher, we referred to a “decade fraught with danger.” We can hope today that in meeting those dangers we have transformed this decade into a turning point, a turning point for our age and for all time.
In continuing this work, it is profoundly reassuring to me and to all who care about freedom that you will continue to share with America your vision and your steady hand. And this is especially critical to us at this moment of transition in our government.
So, whatever the future may hold, today the American people express to you our thanks, our affection, and our determination to stand with you until freedom has triumphed. Sir Winston put it very well when he said: “The day may dawn when fairplay, love for one’s fellow men, respect for justice and freedom will enable tormented generations to march forth serene and triumphant. Meanwhile, never flinch, never weary, never despair.”
PRIME MINISTER:
Mr. President, may I thank you most warmly for those kind words of welcome and for this marvelous ceremony, which I shall never forget. It is a great honor to be your last official guest after 8 historic years of your Presidency, one of the greatest in America’s history. It’s an opportunity to affirm anew the deep friendships not only between ourselves but between the British and American peoples, an opportunity to salute all that you have accomplished over these 8 years on behalf of this great nation and of free people everywhere, and an opportunity to look ahead to the bright promise of the future.
Mr. President, when you welcomed me to the White House on my first official visit to Washington under your Presidency, you forecast two things: first, that the decade would be less dangerous if the West maintained the strength required for peace, and second, that Britain and America would stand side by side in that endeavor. Both promises have been honored, and honored handsomely. We thank you for being such a staunch and loyal ally and friend to our country. Together our nations have faced the challenges of our time and have not flinched. We forged ahead with strengthening the peace, spreading prosperity, and safeguarding liberty. Your conviction, Mr. President, that the only sure peace is one founded on a strong defense has enabled us to take a first historic step in the reduction of nuclear arms.
You, sir, have presided over a period of economic expansion unparalleled in peacetime in recent American history. But, above all, Mr. President, you have restored faith in the American dream, a dream of boundless opportunity built in enterprise, individual effort, and personal generosity. As a result, respect for America stands high in the world today.
And thanks to your courage and your leadership, the fire of individual freedom burns more brightly not just in America, not just in the West, but right across the world. We in Britain, Mr. President, have been proud to be your partners in that great adventure. We counted it a privilege to join you in enlarging freedom and furthering the democratic way of life.
Two hundred years ago, Tom Paine told the founders of this great nation: “We have it in our power to begin the world over again.” Mr. President, the office which you hold is the greatest in the world. But it is the man who holds that office, you, sir, who has enabled us to begin the world over again. We salute and thank you for it.
The comments made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 9 April 2022.
It is a privilege to be able to travel to Ukraine and meet President Zelenskyy in person in Kyiv today.
Ukraine has defied the odds and pushed back Russian forces from the gates of Kyiv, achieving the greatest feat of arms of the 21st century.
It is because of President Zelenskyy’s resolute leadership and the invincible heroism and courage of the Ukrainian people that Putin’s monstrous aims are being thwarted.
I made clear today that the United Kingdom stands unwaveringly with them in this ongoing fight, and we are in it for the long run.
We are stepping up our own military and economic support and convening a global alliance to bring this tragedy to an end, and ensure Ukraine survives and thrives as a free and sovereign nation.