{"id":22761,"date":"2026-04-27T01:20:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T01:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/22761\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T01:20:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T01:20:16","slug":"former-british-prime-minister-boris-johnson-to-speak-at-cornell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/22761\/","title":{"rendered":"Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to Speak at Cornell"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boris Johnson, former<\/a> prime minister of the United Kingdom, will deliver<\/a> a lecture in Call Auditorium at 7 p.m. Monday titled \u201cThe West is Worth Saving.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The event, hosted by the Cornell Republicans<\/a> and sponsored by the Young America\u2019s Foundation<\/a>, will bring one of Britain\u2019s most prominent and divisive<\/a> political figures to campus.<\/p>\n

Cornell Republicans wrote in a press release that \u201cat a moment when the future of the West is actively being shaped,\u201d Johnson will be able to offer \u201ca perspective grounded in experience and optimism.\u201d The group attributed this to Johnson \u201chaving led the United Kingdom through a period of global uncertainty,\u201d allowing him to bring \u201ca firsthand understanding of the modern challenges facing Western democracies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson was prime minister of the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2022, leading Britain through Brexit<\/a>, COVID-19<\/a> and Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/a> He resigned<\/a> from the office of prime minister in July 2022 following a series of ethics scandals<\/a> \u2014 most notably, accounts<\/a> of social gatherings attended by Johnson and held<\/a> at his residence that violated lockdown rules, commonly known as \u201cPartygate<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s upcoming campus visit reflects the Cornell Republicans\u2019 ongoing effort to bring high-profile conservative speakers to campus, a mission that Whalen said is centered on \u201cbringing the most consequential voices to campus when their perspectives matter the very most,\u201d according to the press release.<\/p>\n

Obi Uchegbu \u201929, a student from Sheffield, England, told The Sun he \u201cfound it a bit weird\u201d when he first learned Johnson would speak at Cornell, pointing to the backlash he faced in Britain for \u201cbreaking all of his COVID rules at home while preaching them to the news.\u201d That scandal, he added, was \u201ca really big thing back home,\u201d but is \u201cnot very known\u201d in America.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite his controversies, some still view<\/a> Johnson favorably compared to other U.K. prime ministers, according to YouGov.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wyatt Sell \u201927, an opinion columnist for The Sun, from the Cotswolds, England, remarked that even among the British people who dislike Johnson, the former prime minister has an \u201cair of affability\u201d and comes across as a \u201cpretty likeable guy,\u201d despite being, according to Sell, \u201csomewhat unscrupulous in other areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson has previously given lectures at several other American universities, including Georgetown<\/a> in 2024, Yale<\/a> in 2025 and most recently, the University of Miami<\/a>, the University of Wisconsin-Madison<\/a> and the University of Dallas<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At Georgetown, his talk made a case for democracy and Brexit, emphasizing the importance of protecting democratic institutions worldwide.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocracy \u2013 the ability to run your own country \u2013 is absolutely fundamental,\u201d Johnson said<\/a> at the Georgetown event. \u201cAnd that is also what Brexit is about.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Yale, his talk was titled \u201cThe U.S. & U.K.: A Special Alliance that Must Work Together to Save the West.\u201d There, Johnson defended academic freedom, praised President Donald Trump, condemned pro-Palestinian protests and urged Western students to advocate for intellectual freedom.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Johnson was hosted by the Wisconsin local chapter of Young Americans for Freedom<\/a>. He spoke on \u201cwhy the West is worth saving,\u201d discussing global conflicts with Iran, Russia, China and North Korea. \u201cThe west will prevail when we stand together, when we correctly identify who are our friends and who are our foes,\u201d Johnson said<\/a> at the event, according to The Badger Herald.<\/p>\n

In recent years, Cornell Republicans have hosted conservative figures such as Ben Shapiro<\/a>, Michael Knowles<\/a> and Ann Coulter<\/a>, often in partnership with conservative youth group YAF. Their appearances have drawn campus-wide protest<\/a> and criticism<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Regardless of political disagreements, British Cornell students commented on the significance of the event.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBoris Johnson does not come every day,\u201d Uchegbu said. \u201cI\u2019m not too fond of the guy, but it will be interesting to see him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sell echoed that sentiment, calling Johnson \u201ca very polarizing figure, but one of the most important political figures in the past 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty neat,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Admission is free and open to the public. At the time of publication, general admission tickets are sold out, but standby tickets are free to reserve. Doors will open at 6 p.m. and standby admission will begin at 6:45 p.m. <\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boris Johnson, former prime minister of the United Kingdom, will deliver a lecture in Call Auditorium at 7…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-22761","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"tag-uk","9":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116474047536997946","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}