It’s good to be here at this global gathering—actually, a global gathering against globalization—of thinkers and leaders in favour of strong and independent sovereign states that work together when that accords with their interests and values.

The last time the free world was in deep trouble, it was conservatives who saved it. The first Cold War was won, and Soviet communism was overthrown, thanks to the political and military strength-and-leadership of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. And thanks to the cultural and spiritual strength-and-leadership of Pope John Paul II.

Reagan and Thatcher revitalized their economies by cutting tax and red tape, and fostered national pride by dwelling on their countries’ undoubted achievements. Reagan saw the United States as a ‘shining city on a hill’, the ‘last best hope of mankind’. Thatcher cherished Britain’s leadership in gifting the modern world its common language, the mother of parliaments, the Industrial Revolution and the emancipation of minorities. And the Pope was a charismatic exemplar and teacher of those higher things beckoning everyone who wishes to live truly free.

But now there’s a second Cold War, this time with communist China, a far stronger adversary than the old Soviet Union, because it’s a first rate economy with a rapidly developing military to match. And Beijing has allies of convenience in a new axis of autocracy—communist Beijing, fascist Moscow, and Islamist Tehran—united only in their hatred of the free West and a desire to remake the world in their own image.

Putin wants to recreate the Russia of Peter the Great. Xi wants to recreate the Middle Kingdom, with China the world’s number one power, to which others pay tribute. Their patriotism, if you like, is at odds with ours. And the ayatollahs want to create a new caliphate of death to the infidels, starting with the two Satans, as they call them, Israel and the United States.

‘Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan are now the frontiers of freedom and deserve the support and encouragement of free people everywhere’

So whatever mistakes their governments might make, whatever their national failings, Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan are now the frontiers of freedom and deserve the support and encouragement of free people everywhere.

We all want peace, and a ceasefire in Ukraine; but we have to be honest about the war. If Russia stops fighting, the war ends; but if Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine ends. Which is why, if you’re a Ukrainian patriot, you won’t stop fighting until Russia does. Likewise, we all want an end to the devastation of Gaza; and if Hamas surrenders its hostages and acknowledges Israel’s right to exist, the rebuilding could start tomorrow.

But even before this strategic challenge, there was a cultural one; a pervasive sense of stagnation, even decay, in most Western countries. For a couple of decades now, governments have come and gone without much change for the better, either because elected leaders turned out to lack conviction; or because elected leaders were thwarted by the administrative state.

Politics has became performative rather than performing; with the EU perhaps the paradigm case of governmental structures that are suffocating but not effective; because no one is really in charge; certainly no one’s in charge in Brussels who’s elected and accountable.

Trump 1.0 and Brexit were popular revolts that couldn’t quite drain the swamp. We have to hope that Trump 2.0 will be more successful, lest resistance to moral vanity projects be further discredited.

President Trump has indeed checked the chaos on the borders, declared there’s only two genders, and resolved to ‘drill, baby, drill’. It’s easy to see what he’s trying to do with his tariff wars: to isolate China and to rebuild America’s industrial base; but it’s harder to see a coherent plan, while America loses friends in the process.

There is actually a higher achieving parallel role model right here in Hungary.

Viktor Orbán has run a government that gets things done and has been elected four times, despite defying the EU’s predilections for open borders, trans activism, and green zealotry. As well as running the only country in Europe that’s stopped a wave of illegal migration—or peaceful invasion—, he’s also pioneered policies to foster the greatest possible declaration of hope in the future, namely having more children.

‘Viktor Orbán has run a government that gets things done and has been elected four times, despite defying the EU’s predilections for open borders, trans activism, and green zealotry’

Back in 1938, after Czechoslovakia was dismembered, by people preferring peace through appeasement to peace through strength, Churchill warned a fearful and escapist public that Britain had sustained a defeat without a war. ‘This is but the first foretaste’ he said, ‘of a bitter cup that will be proffered to us year by year until, by a supreme recovery of our moral health and martial vigour, we take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.’

Something like that is needed now, a rediscovered national purpose, plus a readiness to fight for it.

Obviously, there’s a military dimension to winning this new Cold War. Free countries will need strong armed forces that can work with allies, with the robust economies and the self-belief needed to sustain them. That means ending the self-harm of bloated government and cultural self-loathing.

Government should be no bigger than absolutely necessary for national security; and for the infrastructure and services that individuals, businesses and communities can’t readily provide for themselves.

That means regulatory systems that function more like rules of the road—enabling people to make progress—rather than as behavioral and intellectual straitjackets. It also means freer trade, at least with like-minded allies.

And it means the cultural self-confidence to know what’s good and to resist what’s not. Like the politics of climate and identity, and the false doctrine of multiculturalism.

To reject open borders, because countries owe it to their citizens to keep their character.

To shun any notion that people should be judged by the colour of their skin rather than the content of their character; or that people’s rights should depend on their particular beliefs rather the equal dignity of each and every human being.

To doubt that the world’s most pressing challenge is a possible degree or two of warming, some decades hence, to avoid which all our endeavours must be directed, even if that means destroying our industries and impoverishing our people.

It’s conservatives who are best placed to meet this challenge because we respect the lessons of history.

Conservatives don’t believe that we’re morally superior to our grandparents. Conservatives cherish all that’s made us: our families, our faith, our nations and the best that’s been thought and said. Conservatives count the cost of change, as well as its benefits, and want change to reflect what’s best in us, so we can come closer to being our best selves as individuals and as peoples.

What’s needed in this new Cold War is conviction and courage, but also decency and character.

Not everyone who disagrees is our foe. People can be wrong in small things but right in big ones; and the reverse also can be true. Truth and understanding come more often from discussion than dogmatism. We have to remember that triumphalism is a species of pride; and, as the Bible reminds us, that’s what comes before a fall.

‘The line between good and evil runs through every human heart; but for all of us there’s hope of redemption’

Yes, let’s make Western Civilization great: a civilization ultimately founded on the two Gospel insights that every human is made in the image and likeness of God, and that we should love our neighbour as we love ourselves. That’s actually the foundation of patriotism. Plus the humbling consciousness that the line between good and evil runs through every human heart; but for all of us there’s hope of redemption.

In every great struggle for what’s really worthwhile, enemies are inevitable. Success means avoiding unnecessary enemies; and our great challenge right now is having the character and the judgment to know which are the fights that must be had.

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