One of the Best Political Speeches I’ve Ever Heard

Yesterday Tory MP Danny Kruger addressed the British House of Commons. It was one of the best speeches I've ever heard from a living politician. Almost nobody was in the room to listen. But what he said was noble, true, and needs to be shared.

Three years ago on our school camping trip, somehow we heard the news that the Queen of England had died. That night, we gathered around the campfire to talk about the Queen, and why a classical school is so invested in history, memory, and tradition.

That night, as darkness fell, our faces illuminated only by the fire, we talked about how our school's curriculum is in large part built on English history and literature. Because our culture is rooted in their soil, we read Beowulf, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and G.K. Chesterton.

In this country, we are the heirs of something that happened eight hundred years ago in Runnymede meadow, along the Thames, twenty miles from London. The Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury brokered a peace treaty between King John and his rebellious barons. We now call this treaty the Magna Carta, the Great Charter, for it established that no one is above the law, that even a monarch must obey his own laws and cannot rule by whim, and that his subjects are guaranteed certain liberties.

Reaffirmed by every subsequent English king and queen, the Magna Carta shaped the authors of our own American constitution in the late 18th century. There is no American liberty without our English ancestry.

We need to remind ourselves of this history regularly and often because the modern west confuses democratic government with democratic morality. Perhaps because of our democratic instincts, our American culture is especially vulnerable to this confusion. We sometimes live as if morality and truth change with the wind, as if a leader's whim or a majority vote could change what is right and wrong. We don't seem to know how to restrain ourselves or submit to any limits. 

In reality, law and morality are accountable to something greater than private interpretation or majority opinion. Law and morality come from above, and are received through natural law and the wisdom of our Christian tradition. Sometimes we might find it difficult to agree exactly what right and wrong require in certain situations, and St. Thomas Aquinas himself counseled that sometimes applying natural law in particular circumstances is difficult and requires discernment. But if we occasionally encounter such difficulty, that should evoke our humility and patience, not skepticism and cynicism. That the truth exists and can eventually be discerned, that virtue is real and can be lived - this basic commitment to the reality of Christian metaphysics is fundamental to our national life, our common life together.

Yesterday in the British Parliament, the Tory MP Danny Kruger gave a beautiful, eloquent speech, explaining this perspective, bringing history to bear on contemporary debates about life and "woke" multiculturalism.

Kruger's remarks are the most intelligent, erudite words that I can recall ever hearing from a living politician. The speech is all the more poignant because he delivered it to a nearly empty House of Commons. However, it is somewhat consoling that Kruger's audience appears to be growing online. 

Kruger is an adult convert to Anglicanism, with a doctorate in history. Of course, a Catholic would put a few points differently. But he's deeply right on the most important things. Every citizen in the west would benefit from his reminder of who we are and where we come from. You can watch it here (ten minutes, with a very brief edit) or read it here.

Martin Saints Classical High School shares Kruger's vision. Martin Saints is a classical school because we educate our students in this tradition.

• Students, please watch Kruger's speech, and understand that he is, in large part, offering you a road map for your education, and how a classical education prepares you for life today.

• Teachers, please watch this speech. May it remind us of our vocation, of key themes that integrate our curriculum and give a reason for our work.

• Parents, alumni, friends, and donors, please watch this speech, and be encouraged, for you are part of wider movement. Your investment in Martin Saints is building the school that is so, so necessary for this moment in history.

Later this summer, you will receive the 2025 Martin Saints annual report in the mail. It will invite you to donote and support the school. Thank you for your consideration. It takes all of us to build and sustain this school together. Amen!