The Bloomberg speech was an address on Britain's membership of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

, given in January 2013 by the then (

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

)

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As moder ...

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

. Although presented while the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government was in office, it was given as a party political speech rather than one given on behalf of the

UK Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_est ...

, without the support of the Liberal Democrats. This was the first major

Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek refor ...

speech to be given by a serving Prime Minister since

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

Bruges speech The Bruges speech was given by British prime minister Margaret Thatcher to the College of Europe at the Belfry of Bruges, Belgium, on 20 September 1988. Thatcher was opposed to any moves to transition the European Economic Community (EEC) into ...

in 1988, and would mark the beginning of a series of events starting with the 2015–2016 United Kingdom renegotiation of European Union membership that would ultimately lead to the United Kingdom leaving the European Union seven years later in 2020, thereby ending 47 years of EU membership.

Composition

The speech was drafted by Edward Llewellyn, the

Downing Street Chief of Staff The office of Downing Street Chief of Staff is the most senior political appointee in the Office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, acting as a senior aide to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The holder of the office retains ...

, along with John Casson, Tim Kiddell and

Helen Bower Helen Bower (born 1985) is a British-born violinist and sound artist. She is known for her experimentation with violin and loop station, particularly through her "...the Looping Glass" series. Whilst living in Melbourne, Australia, she was Presid ...

, with the opening few pages written by Clare Foges.

Content

The speech on 23 January 2013 at

Bloomberg London Bloomberg London is an office building in London, which was opened in 2017. It is owned by Bloomberg L.P. and functions as their European headquarters. It is at 3 Queen Victoria Street, to the west of Walbrook, on the site previously occupied by ...

covered the UK's future relationship with Europe. The Prime Minister called for fundamental reform of the

and called for an in–out referendum to be held on the UK's membership:

Outcome

Initially the speech had little impact politically as at the time polls were suggesting that the subsequent general election would result in a '

hung parliament A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition (also known as an alliance or bloc) has an absolute majority of legisl ...

'. With both Labour and the Liberal Democrats being opposed to an 'in/out' referendum, it was expected that the Conservatives would ultimately have to renege on any promise to hold a referendum if they were to remain in government. The Conservative Party included the referendum in their manifesto for the

2015 general election This national electoral calendar for 2015 lists the national/Federation, federal elections held in 2015 in all List of sovereign states, sovereign states and their Dependent territory, dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though na ...

. Support for the

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...

dropped substantially and the Conservatives won a unexpected small overall majority: the referendum was held in June 2016.

References

{{2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum David Cameron Brexit 2013 in the United Kingdom 2013 speeches

Composition

Content

Outcome

See also

References