Prime Ministers Office 10 Downing Street
My Lord Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
These are deeply challenging times for our world.
Events far beyond our shores echo here at home with implications for our security, our economy, and our very social fabric.
It falls to us to do everything we can to shape these events.
And so, weve delivered one of the most significant years for British foreign policy in recent times.
Thats due in no small part to James Cleverly.
I know hell bring the same vigour to the equally vital job of Home Secretary.
And Im pleased to have appointed a new Foreign Secretary who will build on everything weve achieved in the last year
A year in which weve gone further than ever to support Ukraine as the first G7 nation to move on sending tanks first to send long-range weapons and first to step up on training pilots.
In the last few weeks, Ive travelled to Cyprus, Jerusalem, Riyadh and Cairo, to respond to the crisis in the Middle East and Im in constant contact with leaders across the region.
Since we last gathered here a year ago, weve secured the Windsor Framework with the EU launched AUKUS with the US and Australia, building one of the most advanced submarines the world has ever known
signed the Hiroshima Accord with Japan, and the Atlantic Declaration with the US
secured membership of the CPTPP, which will drive global growth
delivered returns agreements to tackle illegal migration an approach now being followed by many others
and brokered the first international statement on the risks of Artificial Intelligence including the US and China, something many thought impossible.
But these treaties and alliances speak to something deeper:
Our willingness to act
to shape the world, not be shaped by it
wherever theres a challenge, wherever theres a threat, wherever we can promote peace and security.
Thats why weve deployed troops to Kosovo, supporting stability in the Balkans.
20,000 servicemen and women are on their way to protect NATOs eastern flank and the high north.
Royal Navy vessels are in the Middle East to deter further escalation.
And vital humanitarian aid is reaching civilians in Gaza, and across the Horn of Africa funded by the British people.
This is who we are.
The difference we make, every single day, across the world, should make each and every one of us here tonight enormously proud.
Were hard-headed about our interests and our security.
But Britains realism has always had values, and this is a moment for moral clarity.
My Lord Mayor,
The past is trying to stop the future being born.
What motivated Hamas to launch their horrific attack on Israel?
It wasnt just hatred it was also their fear that a new Middle East was being born
one that would see Israel normalising relations with its neighbours, and which gave hope for a better, more secure, more prosperous way forward.
Why did Russia invade Ukraine?
Because Putin feared the emergence of a modern, reforming, thriving democracy on his doorstep and wanted to pull it back into some imperialist fantasy of the past.
So, we must keep alive the promise of a better future, bolster those striving for it and stand up for the innocents who Russia see as targets and Hamas see as human shields.
I recall those lines from Yeats:
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere, the ceremony of innocence is drowned the best lack all conviction, while the worst, are full of passionate intensity.
Thats what our adversaries believe.
So, we will outmatch them with our conviction and intensity.
We must and we will prove them wrong.
Let me set out what that means in Ukraine, in how we help the most vulnerable around the world and in the Middle East a region whose tragedy and heartbreak hang heavy on us all.
In Israel, I met the families of British victims.
I sat with them, held their hands, and saw the profound pain in their eyes.
I heard the existential fear that Israelis are feeling.
Their country was founded to ensure that what happened in the Holocaust could never happen again.
Hamas poses a fundamental challenge to that idea.
Hamas have stated clearly: We will repeat the October 7 attack time and time again until Israel is annihilated.
Last week was the 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht.
And as we see hatred rising, we all have a responsibility to meet the promise of the words that in recent days have lit up the Brandenburg Gate:
Never again is now.
So, Israel must be able to defend itself against terror, restore its security and bring the hostages home.
But there are things that Israel must do as part of its response.
Weve been clear they must act within international law.
They must take all possible measures to protect innocent civilians, including at hospitals, stop extremist violence in the West Bank and allow more aid into Gaza.
Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, described to me the terrible suffering of the Palestinian people.
Too many civilians are losing their lives.
Thats why Ive doubled our aid to Gaza and why we continue to press both at the UN and directly with Israel for unhindered humanitarian access and urgent and substantive humanitarian pauses.
We want aid coming in by land, air and sea and were ready to use our bases in Cyprus as a staging post.
Alleviating the suffering is our foremost priority.
But we need to do more to create a new political horizon.
We must unite around the only answer that can come close to creating peace in those troubled lands.
The only answer that can acknowledge the history and hurt of both peoples.
The only answer that can allow a new future to be born and that is a two-state solution.
The UK wrote the original UN resolutions setting this out.
Weve argued the case for decades.
But now we must help make it a reality.
So, to the UKs friends across the region, like Jordan, Egypt, UAE, and Saudi Arabia, who support normalisation and peaceful co-existence and to our communities at home
I pledge to redouble efforts to this end.
That means providing the serious, practical and enduring support needed to bolster the Palestinian Authority because they are the best route to sweep away the terrible scourge of Hamas and all it has wrought.
As hard as it may be, no matter the obstacles, we must put the region on the path to a genuine peace.
Were also supporting a better future for Ukraine.
And let me tell you this: the last year has shown that Russia cannot win.
They tried to blockade Ukrainian shipping routes and they failed.
Ukraine has pushed back the Black Sea Fleet and made Crimea a vulnerability for Putin rather than a strength.
Russia is mounting its third wave of attacks on Avdiivka and again they continue to fail, at horrendous cost.
Since their invasion, Russia has suffered over a quarter of a million casualties
Half of the territory they seized has been taken back
And Putin has faced a more united response than he ever imagined.
Hes ensured defence spending is rising across Europe, led by the UK
Hes fast-tracked Finland into NATO, with Sweden close behind
And hes seen an armed rebellion marching on Moscow.
Its a self-inflicted strategic calamity.
Putins vain hope is that we lose patience but, friends, we never will.
Instead, were providing more air defence to protect Ukraines cities and infrastructure, more help for the long, hard winter and were going further.
In February at the Munich Security Conference, I argued Ukraine needs long-term security assurances.
And in July, allies delivered.
Following the NATO summit, over 30 other leaders joined us in agreeing to put assurances in place.
Together well strengthen Ukraines defence and boost their economy so they can thrive even while they fight to regain their territory.
And, to do so, Ukraine needs the City of London.
It needs all of you, it needs expertise and capital and war risk insurance to support trade and investment and keep the ships moving.
I know youll deliver.
And so will the government building Ukraines navy, training their pilots, and training their soldiers.
Weve now trained over 50,000 Ukrainian troops.
President Zelenskyy and I went to meet some of them earlier this year.
I recall sitting together on a Chinook flying to the south coast.
Over the din of the rotors, we chatted and shared family photos.
It was a moment of normality in an abnormal setting and a reminder of what unites us.
In the face of aggression, we will always protect our values and all we hold dear.
We will stand with Ukraine until they prevail.
Finally, to deliver a better future, we must lead not just with strength, but with compassion, helping the poorest and tackling global problems.
So, while Russia seeks to starve the world by choking off food supplies were helping Ukraine get their food to those who need it most.
And next week were hosting an international conference on alleviating global hunger.
While some load the poorest nations with unsustainable debt, the UK is driving fundamental reforms of development finance, including a capital increase for the World Bank.
While some talk do