Bloomberg speech


The Bloomberg speech was a party political address on Europe given in 2013 by the then Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron. Although during the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition, it was given without the support of the then Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats.

Composition

The speech was drafted by Edward Llewellyn, the Downing Street Chief of Staff, along with John Casson, Tim Kiddell and Helen Bower, with the opening few pages written by Clare Foges.

Content

The speech on 23 January 2013 at Bloomberg London covered the UK’s future relationship with Europe. The Prime Minister called for fundamental reform of the European Union and called for an in–out referendum to be held on the UK's membership:
Simply asking the British people to carry on accepting a European settlement over which they have had little choice is a path to ensuring that when the question is finally put – and at some stage it will have to be – it is much more likely that the British people will reject the EU.
That is why I am in favour of a referendum. I believe in confronting this issue – shaping it, leading the debate. Not simply hoping a difficult situation will go away.

Subsequent events

The Conservative Party included the referendum in their manifesto for the 2015 general election and it was then held in 2016.