Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged students at Liberty University in Virginia to defend freedom of speech and expression, calling the Christian university “a bastion of freedom” and expressing hope that its students would become “the next generation of Charlie Kirks.”
Johnson, who led Britain from 2019 to 2022, delivered a convocation address on Wednesday (Oct. 8) to more than 16,000 students at the Lynchburg campus. In his remarks, he warned that freedoms of thought, conscience, and religion that once shaped Western civilization were “under threat in the world today” and needed renewed defense by young people.
Johnson, who was born in New York City, said universities in the West were vital for championing and preserving freedom, according to a Liberty press release.
“This university is a bastion of freedom — freedom of thought, freedom of conscience, freedom of association, religion, and of course, speech,” he said.
“And all of those freedoms are increasingly precious and are under threat in the world today. And there can be no clearer proof of the threat to free speech than the tragic murder, one month ago, of Charlie Kirk — a martyr to our inalienable right as human beings to say what is in our hearts and what we honestly think.
“And I hope, by the way, that I’m looking at the next generation of Charlie Kirks.”
Conservative activist Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot on Sept. 10 during a speaking event at Utah Valley University. He was 31.
Following his assassination, some pastors subsequently reported seeing an increase in church attendance, particularly among young adults, some of whom hadn’t attended a worship service in years.
Johnson has reportedly had a complex relationship with the Christian faith. Baptized as a Catholic as a child, he later received confirmation into the Church of England. However, he married his latest wife Carrie in a Catholic ceremony and his son Wilfred was baptised in Westminster Cathedral.
“Christianity is a superb ethical system and I would count myself as a kind of very, very bad Christian,” he once told The Times newspaper. He referenced Jesus Christ as “the way, the truth and the life” in an Easter message but has a strong affection for the pre-Christian morality system in line with his classical education.
In his Liberty address, Johnson spoke of how current conflicts were the result of a divergence from freedom. He gave an overview of global politics, with a particular explanation of rising conflicts between Israel and its surrounding Muslim nations and the tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
He also highlighted the stark contrast in governance between Western democracies and authoritarian countries like China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia, where he said the media is suppressed and citizens are imprisoned or killed for disagreeing with its leaders.
“I remember in the late 1970s and early 80s, how [Liberty founder] Jerry Falwell mobilized the freedom-loving spirit of the American people to back Ronald Reagan and to win the Cold War, and boy, do we need that spirit today,” he said.
“We need all the strength and clarity and determination that was shown by Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Jerry Falwell, standing up to tyranny because the autocracies of the world are gaining ground every day. And I’m afraid that the West looks ever weaker and more confused.”
Johnson, who also previously served as Foreign Secretary (2016-18) and Mayor of London (2008-16), also expressed his admiration for the US, even giving his support to its secession from England 250 years ago.
“You threw our tea into Boston Harbor,” Johnson told the crowd of 16,000 students, who reportedly erupted in applause.
“I support you because you did not want to be ruled from overseas by bodies you did not control. And I understand those feelings. One of the reasons I was determined to deliver Brexit was because I love that spirit of freedom in this country. And I wanted to bring that spirit of freedom back home.”
Brexit — when the U.K. voted to leave the European Union — became a key and controversial feature of Johnson’s tenure leading the country. He opined to the Liberty students that the moment had seen freedoms restored to his country.
“There is nothing you can do, as a citizen of the EU, to remove from office the people who ultimately make the laws. And I think that is profoundly undemocratic,” he said.
“The EU is a huge experiment in trying to create a single country out of 27 countries, with a single currency, a vast growing body of law, over which individual countries and governments have limited influence.”
