Vice President Mike Pence
November 19, 2025
Well, thank you for that introduction. You read it just the way I wrote it. It genuinely is an honor for my wife Karen and I to be back in Great Britain. We are rounding out a week of travel that’s taken us from Newcastle to the North and Oxford and Cambridge. But I was very much looking forward to the opportunity to walk in these historic halls and speak into this moment here at Chatham House – an institution that for more than a century has stood as one of the world’s leading forums for thoughtful debate and principled dialogue on international affairs.
While it wasn’t in my introduction, I hail from a heartland state. I spent more than a decade on the International Relations Committee in the House of Representatives. And as a governor I traveled the world. Because in Indiana we do two things well: we make things and we grow things. And we sell them to the world.
And then as vice president of the United States, I had the privilege of representing our country in many venues with many world leaders. And so, I cherish the great tradition here at the Chatham House, and I’m humbled by the invitation.
The truth is, Chatham House has helped nations turn the lessons of war into the practice of peace. And in every generation your work has reminded us that ideas shape destiny and the future of freedom. Join me in thanking the leadership here at Chatham House for the work that you continue to do. (applause)
Now, while I no longer speak on behalf of the United States, I do speak with confidence as an everyday American who travels our country continuously. And I came here to speak with confidence on behalf of millions of Americans who cherish the enduring friendship between the United States of America and the United Kingdom.
As I learned in my 20 years in public office, our bond is like no other. The special relationship, as Winston Churchill called it, was not declared by a treaty or born of convenience. It was forged in the fires of World War I and World War II. Together, we faced the great trials of the last century.
The eyes of the world turned to us when the hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere. We fought side by side to defeat Nazi Germany when American and British troops landed on the beaches of Normandy. In the years that followed, we stood united to vanquish communism and build alliances that anchored the world with stability. And just as America came to Britain’s aid in the Second World War, I was in Washington, DC on September the 11th, 2001, as a new member of Congress, and I witnessed Britain come to our aid after 9/11.
The only time Article five has ever been initiated under the NATO treaty, thousands of British troops fought and bled beside ours in Afghanistan and in Iraq, and in the global war on terror. Many never came home, as I said in my visit to the territorial military base in Newcastle last Friday, meeting with men and women in uniform. I said, during all my years in Congress, I made a point to visit our troops down range every year for 10 years following the launch of hostilities in Afghanistan and Iraq. And as I told those British soldiers just last week, I never visited a forward deployed base without seeing the union jack flying beside old glory.
The Bible says, if you owe debts, pay debts, if honor then honor, if respect, then respect. So allow me to join voices of remembrance that gathered in this great country just last week. The American people will never forget or fail to honor your heroic fallen who came to our aid these past 20 years. Now, today, we also stand shoulder to shoulder in defense of Ukraine following the brutal and unprovoked Russian invasion three years ago.
Since the outbreak of the war, you Brits have done your part leading the coalition of the willing, 22 billion pounds to Ukraine’s enduring fight for freedom, training 58,000 Ukrainian military and personnel, and committing to maintain the peace.
If and when peace comes. The truth is, ours is not merely an alliance of interest or random chance. It is an alliance of ideals. We are connected by those ideals. Our country will celebrate those ideals at the 250th anniversary of the American founding. And while we were separated by war for a time, the simple truth is that it was the institutions – the traditions of democracy and the west – that were born here and carried there.
As Churchill also said, and the American people know Great Britain is Greece to America’s Rome, and we’ll never see it otherwise. As Churchill also said, and the American people know, Great Britain is the Greece to America’s Rome, and we’ll never see it otherwise.
But the truth is, those ideals, those shared principles in this still young century are once again being tested. We’re living in an age of rapid change and rising peril. Authoritarianism is on the march. A fallen empire labors to rise from the grave in Eastern Europe. China continues its military provocations in the Asia Pacific. And at home, both in the United States and here in Britain, we are confronted a rising chorus of voices urging retreat from the world.
On the populous right in America, some argue that we should turn inward, abandon our allies, trade leadership for isolation. on the populous right in America. Some argue that we should turn inward, abandon our allies, trade isolation, trade leadership for isolation. They argue that America can’t take care of our domestic issues while remaining the leader of the free world. Well, to them, I say, anyone who thinks that America cannot solve our problems at home and be the leader of the free world has a pretty small view of the greatest nation on earth. We have done both for more than 75 years, and we will continue to do more than both in the days ahead.
On the progressive Left in my country, we hear similar calls to withdraw from the world under the banner of pacifism – as if Beijing, Moscow, and Tehran’s tyranny will be disarmed by good intentions, handshakes and smiles. The truth is both are deeply wrong, and both are dangerous. And both, if followed, I believe, would invite catastrophe not just for the American people, but for the world. For weakness, arouses evil and history is not kind to nations that abandon their friends or their principles.
Peace is not preserved with empty wishes and catchy slogans. Peace is preserved by strength and vigilance and sacrifice. As Margaret Thatcher once reminded this very institution, “History teaches us that wars tend to break out, not when there is an equal balance of military strength between potential adversaries, but rather when there is an imbalance. It’s military weakness that tempts the tyrant and leads to war.” The Iron Lady’s words ring as true today as they did in her time in this place.
I believe when America leads, the world grows safer. And when America falters, chaos advances. And the same is true for Britain, whose moral authority and clarity have long given courage to free peoples everywhere. And it goes without saying. When our NATO allies live up to their obligation to provide for our common defense, our nations in the free world are safer still.
Despite the criticisms by some, our transatlantic alliance is not an artifact of the past. It’s a foundation of today and a cornerstone of the future. The values we share, faith, family freedom, democracy, and the rule of law are not relics of a fading age. They are the very fruits of ordered liberty and the foundations of Western civilization that must be defended in an ever turbulent world.
Now, gathering here today as Karen and I prepare to return home later to pay our respects at the funeral of predecessor Vice President Dick Cheney, I’d be less than candid if I didn’t acknowledge that in recent days, the special relationship between our countries has begun to feel, at times like an especially difficult relationship.
Now, I acknowledge that some of our president’s recent actions imposing unilateral tariffs on friend and foe alike have strained relations with the UK, at least for a time. But some of the choices, I say with great respect, made in London, have given ammunition to angry voices in my country that argue our allies no longer share our values and no longer deserve our trust.
When British courts and prison citizens for what they say or pray or where they pray, when your government announces plans to withhold intelligence because it distrusts American actions against narco terrorists, or when it embraces the same open border policies that are undermining sovereignty across the west, those decisions echo far beyond these shores.
They’re noticed across America, not just in Washington, DC. And they are exploited by those who would say that the UK is not our friend who would like nothing more than to see the Atlantic Alliance crumble. But let me assure you, the American people know that the United Kingdom is our friend. And the United States will always be a friend to the United Kingdom.
So I say as a friend, the surest way to strengthen our alliance is to live out the freedoms that made it possible. Free speech, secure borders, moral courage to call evil by its name. These are not uniquely American virtues. They’re the shared inheritance of free people. We’d do well to repair them.
So I came to say today, now more than ever, the United States and the United Kingdom must stand together as the twin pillars of the free world. And nowhere is that calling clearer than in the war raging in Eastern Europe.
My wife and I have traveled into Ukraine since Russia’s brutal and unprovoked invasion. Three years ago, just a few short months after the initial invasion, we crossed the border of Poland to a relief center and saw a sight. I never thought I’d see outside of black and white films from World War II. Literally throngs of women and children of every age, carrying all the possessions they could on their backs into a relief center fleeing from the onslaught of the Russian invasion. And in 2023, I traveled to the very sites just outside Kiev, where Ukrainian troops turned back the initial invasion on that capital city bravely in the woods at great cost.
Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is the most blatant act of aggression in Europe since 1939. But it’s not merely an attack on one nation.It’s a very assault on the right of free people to determine their own destiny. And it’s an assault on the principle that we will not allow powers to redraw international lines by force.
And the truth is, I have no doubt that if Vladimir Putin, who I have met and spoken to and told things that he didn’t want to hear – I have no doubt that if Vladimir Putin overruns Ukraine, it’s only a matter of time before he crosses a border where our men and women in uniform will have to deal with him.
Now, I want to commend the United Kingdom for its steadfast leadership, sending weapons,
training troops, rallying Europe. But we must do more. Putin will not stop until he is stopped. That’s why, in my country, I have called on our administration and on the Congress of the United States to pass strong secondary sanctions against any nation that is propping up Russia’s war machine through the purchase of its energy.
Russia’s war efforts are being maintained and sustained by oil, money from the rest of the world, and much of it comes from nations who claim to share our values. More than a trillion dollars’ worth of Russian oil and gas has been purchased on world markets funding Putin’s brutal war machine.
The passage of strong secondary sanctions by the United States and our allies I believe will bring enormous economic pressure on Russia. Any nation that heats its homes with Russian oil fuels Putin’s war machine. Any nation that helps Putin should share in his isolation. And in fact, I’m happy to report the United States has lots of oil and natural gas. And by the way, the United Kingdom has significant undeveloped reserves in the North Sea. I submit to you that it’s time for America and the UK to fuel freedom like never before.
Beyond Europe lies what I think is the greatest challenge to our securities and economies in the free world in the 21st century – and that is the rise of communist China.
While continuing to engage in trade abuses, military provocations and human rights violations, Beijing inches closer to Taiwan each passing day. And, of late, President Xi has continued the communist long-running war on Christianity.
Just a few weeks ago, they arrested the pastor of one of the largest underground churches in China, Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri, along with dozens of other church leaders. I would submit to you that in support of our shared commitment to religious freedom, our nations must continue to call on the CCP to immediately release the detained church leaders. And in support of our commitment to democracy and free press, the time has come for Hong Kong to free Jimmy Lai.
What China doesn’t know is that communism will never defeat Christianity. People who know me well know the introduction I prefer is, “I’m a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican in that order.” The truth is, you can pay 10 pounds and visit the grave of Karl Marx here in London.
But if you try to visit the grave of Jesus of Nazareth, he isn’t there. He’s risen, and his church is on the move.
Beijing makes no secret of its desire, not just to expand its influence in the Asia Pacific, but to remake the world in its own image. More totalitarian, less prosperous, more antagonistic, less concerned with human rights, and a world in which we’re all less free.
Xi Jinping, who I’ve also met and spoken with, believes history is bending in China’s favor, that the West is decadent – divided, too exhausted to defend our interests. And sadly, America’s rising isolationists agree. But I say with confidence, President Xi is wrong. And together we will meet China’s challenge with unity, defending freedom, navigation in the Pacific, standing with free people of Taiwan, securing our critical supply lines and ensuring the technology of tomorrow are shaped by liberty, not by tyranny. The future does not belong to the Chinese Communist Party. The future belongs to freedom.
That’s the dividing line of our time – more than ever before in my lifetime. Free nations on one side and those hostile to freedom on the other in Europe, Asia, and especially in the Middle East.
You know, I’m proud to reflect on the shared deep historical bond that the United States and the United Kingdom share with Israel. Here in Britain, the tradition of Christian Zionism helped inspire the Balfour declaration, which in turn paved the way for the rebirth of the Jewish state of Israel. And America was proud to be the first nation on earth to recognize that nation in 1948.
It is a legacy worth defending and preserving in our time, fulfilling the hopes of generations, both of our countries, and of the proud Jewish people through the millennia.
Make no mistake about it, Israel’s survivor survival has never depended on charity. It’s dependent on partnership. That partnership has made the world safer. As America’s B-2 bombers buried the Iranian nuclear program under tons of rubble, it was the Israeli Air Force that cleared the way to a safer world.
And as we stand with our cherished ally Israel, I submit to you, with great respect, that we must also, with renewed vigilance, confront a growing evil that has reemerged in the West – old hatreds, dressed up in new rhetoric on the Right and on the Left, represent a vile and dangerous trend in the western world. And whether it is whispered in the back rooms or shouted on social media, antisemitism has no place in a free society anywhere in the world and must be universally condemned.
So those then are our challenges. And I look forward to our conversation and your impressions. And I know there are some who say that America is weary and losing interest in the world. We’ve lost our appetite for leadership. But that’s not the America I know.
Outside of social media echo chambers, I can assure you, the American people still believe in the ideals of our founding and still embrace America’s unique role as leader of the free world.
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in 2024 did a national survey, and found that 57% of Americans, a record high, believed, quote, ‘the US should be more engaged and take the lead in international affairs.’ Even a majority of those who identified themselves as MAGA Republicans embrace that principle. And I believe they still do.
The American people are rejecting the siren song of populism. And I believe they always will. Because America’s core character does not change with one leader – one season in our history.
Our nation has weathered populists and progressives, isolationists and realists, every shade in between. And our country may get off message from time to time, but America will always be defined not so much by our government as by the enduring and indomitable spirit of the American people, a belief in freedom, free markets and government by and for the people.
So as I close, let me say to all who are gathered here straight from the heart. Now don’t give up on these principles or the important relationship between our two free nations – on the alliances that make us strong. Don’t give into pessimism, don’t lose faith in your countrymen. And never, never doubt the goodness, decency, and resolve of the American people. And I know with God’s help, America will continue to lead the free world.
And as the United Kingdom and our allies stand with us, we will stand firm for freedom, against this rising tide of tyranny and aggression. And we will forge a future of liberty, security, and prosperity for all mankind. So help us God.
Watch the full speech here.