diff --git a/django/utils/html.py b/django/utils/html.py
index 4f95522404..724bcc65f2 100644
--- a/django/utils/html.py
+++ b/django/utils/html.py
@@ -228,6 +228,7 @@ def strip_tags(value):
strip_tags_depth += 1
return value
+
_strip_spaces_pattern = _lazy_re_compile(r">\s+<")