Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson took the stage at the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas, on Friday for a speech on Western civilization, the Iranian threat, and the war in Ukraine.
The event, hosted by the Young America’s Foundation, drew a packed crowd that was moved to applause and laughter by Johnson’s quick quips and cadence. Johnson opened with a nod to his complicated relationship with America, recounting how he once walked with a “heavy heart” to Grosvenor Square – the site of the former U.S. Embassy in London – to formally renounce his American citizenship after running afoul of the IRS over a property tax liability in England.
“I genuinely feared that U.S. Navy SEALs would come crashing through my window,” he joked.
The evening’s tone would turn more serious. Johnson delivered an urgent warning centered around the Strait of Hormuz, condemning the dangerous complacency of Western allies in dealing with Iran in the crucial waterway. At the heart of the threat, he argued, stands the Islamic Republic anchoring an alliance of global adversaries: Russia, China, and North Korea, which he called an “axis of tyranny” united by a shared desire to see Western democracies fail.
“They are the mutually reinforcing coalition of autocracies,” Johnson said, “and they are part of the same ball of wax.”
Johnson was particularly vocal about Iran’s domestic brutality, describing a regime that “executes women for wearing the wrong head coverings” and ordered the killing of some 30,000 protesters who took to the streets of Tehran demanding freedom.
Johnson spoke on his personal experience, when he worked on the case of a British national held captive in Tehran, an anecdote that ended with the former prime minister calling Iranian authorities “absolute liars.”
Time and again, Johnson circled back to the Strait of Hormuz – that narrow, critical chokepoint – and called out other Western nations for acting as if the threat from Iran was “someone else’s problem.”
He recalled that the United Kingdom lowered its flag in the Gulf in 1972, “relinquishing” its responsibilities in the region. He argued that history made it all the more absurd for European leaders to now claim the conflict is not their concern.
“This is not a European war? – What rubbish,” he said flatly.
Johnson reserved some of his sharpest criticism for what he described as a kind of self-induced confusion among Western European leaders, suggesting many have succumbed to what he called “Trump derangement syndrome,” allowing their frustration with the American president to cloud their strategic judgment.
He also acknowledged ongoing tensions within the NATO alliance but insisted the transatlantic partnership remains the most consequential geopolitical force of the past two centuries. “There is absolutely no power on earth that can prevail against us,” Johnson said, if the West remains united.
Ukraine dominated the latter portion of his speech. Johnson called Ukrainians “brave as lions,” insisting they are on the right side of an irreversible tide. “Putin is up against something absolutely irresistible – the love of liberty.”
Johnson made the case that increased support for Kyiv was both a moral duty and a strategic necessity. He voiced optimism that Ukraine could deliver a decisive result this year, even suggesting tapping into frozen Russian assets to help finance the war effort.
Johnson then lashed out at Western campus protest culture, expressing bewilderment at liberal students who demonstrate in solidarity with Hamas or the Iranian government. “Do they know what Hamas actually does?” he asked.
He illustrated the point with a story about a water park in Gaza – “Crazy Water Park” – which Hamas militants reportedly burned to the ground, objecting to what they described as the “undressed human form.”
“Whose side are you on tonight, here in Dallas?” Johnson asked the crowd. “Are you on the side of Hamas, or Crazy Water Park?”
During the question-and-answer session, Johnson fielded queries from students in the audience on topics ranging from Islam in America to free speech in the United Kingdom. On the former, he noted that his own great-great-grandfather was Muslim, and said that no religion is inherently threatening to Western values. Rather, Johnson claims, it is political extremism, not faith, that poses the danger.
On free speech, he acknowledged that both Britain and the United States have developed a troubling intolerance for opposing viewpoints, though he expressed optimism that British police, after a period of arresting people over “social media posts,” are beginning to correct course.
“We need to grow up,” he said, and develop “thicker skin.”
Asked to identify the single greatest threat to the West, Johnson answered by focusing on a failure of moral clarity. “Not being clear on who our friends are, who our enemies are – and not being clear on our values,” he said.
Johnson called on Washington to plainly articulate the difference between Ukraine and Russia, in the tradition of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, who he said were masters at clearly outlining who their enemies were to the world.
Johnson closed the evening with a recitation from Homer’s Iliad – delivered entirely from memory, at great length, and to a great applause – before wrapping with a final call for confidence in the West.
