Speaker Johnson seeks to ‘calm the waters’ in address to U.K. Parliament

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s Tuesday address to the U.K. Parliament was planned long before the growing rift between the U.S. and its European allies over the future of Greenland, but he decided to use it to help “calm the waters.”

That was the message that the Louisiana Republican said he delivered to President Trump on Monday ahead of the address and what he tried to reinforce throughout the speech.

“We didn’t know how the events would develop over the last few days, but I told the president that I felt that my mission here [Tuesday] was to encourage our friends and help to calm the waters, so to speak,” Mr. Johnson said. “And I hope to do so.”

While Mr. Johnson never specifically named Greenland in his address to Parliament, he referenced the U.S. interest in the territory as he described adversaries such as China, Russia and Iran growing more aggressive and emboldened in their efforts to exert economic, political and military influence around the world. 

“Clearly, President Trump is taking seriously the modern and dynamic threats that China and Russia posed to our global security, especially and in focus the last few days as it relates to the Arctic,” he said. “And while we can have thoughtful debate among our friends about how best to counter these threats, we all certainly agree they must be countered. We ignore these threats at our peril.”

It was the first time a U.S. speaker has addressed the U.K. Parliament. The invitation Speaker of the U.K. House of Commons Lindsay Hoyle extended to Mr. Johnson last fall was about honoring the nations’ alliance as America celebrates its 250th anniversary of independence from Britain.

But the address fell at a time when the U.S. is straining that alliance with Mr. Trump’s insistence on acquiring Greenland, a self-governing island owned and controlled by Denmark, a NATO ally. 

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivered remarks on Monday, saying Mr. Trump’s threat to use tariffs to get his way on the matter is “completely wrong.” 

“The right way to approach an issue of this seriousness is through calm discussion between allies,” he said.

Mr. Starmer said the U.K. stands ready to contribute to the full defense of the Arctic region but that “any decision about the future status of Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark alone.”

Mr. Johnson referenced Mr. Starmer’s remarks in his address to the Parliament, praising his focus on the U.K. and U.S. maintaining their strong, constructive partnership as setting the “right tone.”

“We’ve always been able to work through our differences calmly as friends, and we will continue to do that,” the speaker said. “I want to assure you this morning that that is still the case.” 

Mr. Johnson did not mention Mr. Trump’s social media rant that landed just a few hours before his address, in which the president criticized the U.K. for “planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital U.S. Military Base, to Mauritius.”

“There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness,” he said. “The UK giving away extremely important land is an act of GREAT STUPIDITY, and is another in a very long line of National Security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired.”

That post came after Mr. Johnson talked to Mr. Trump on Monday about his goal to “calm the waters.”

The bulk of Mr. Johnson’s speech was focused on America confronting “a crisis of self-doubt” and using the country’s 250th anniversary as an invitation to come together and fortify “the blessings of liberty and opportunity and security that we enjoy today, and frankly, sometimes too often take for granted.” 

“As we chart our renewal, America has no intention of walking alone. In fact, to do so would be self-defeating,” the speaker said. “More than ever before, we need the British people to be great and proud and patriotic, and you are, to work in close concert with us as partners and friends and to defend the security of the western world.”