Mike Johnson to address UK Parliament ahead of US 250th anniversary [View all]
Source: USA Today
Jan. 8, 2026, 5:57 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON — On Jan. 20, House Speaker Mike Johnson will become the first sitting U.S. Speaker to address the United Kingdom's Parliament, in recognition of America’s 250th anniversary.
“As America begins its Semiquincentennial celebration, I will be happy to visit one of the great shrines of democracy itself, where the principles that launched the long struggle for American liberty were debated and refined,” Johnson said in a statement.
The United States declared its independence from Great Britain in 1776 and formally broke from the British Empire at the end of the American Revolutionary War in 1783. Many U.S. Founding Fathers were born in North America, which was controlled by European monarchies at the time, but were heavily influenced by the writings of English Enlightenment thinker John Locke when crafting the country’s government.
Although Johnson will be the first sitting U.S. House leader to speak in front of Parliament, his speech follows a tradition of Congressional visits to the London body.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/01/08/mike-johnson-uk-parliament-us-250/88089714007/
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