Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union The Bloomberg speech was an address on Britain's membership of the European Union, given in January 2013 by David Cameron, the then Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
This was the first major Eurosceptic speech to be given by a serving Prime Minister since Margaret Thatcher's Bruges speech 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 Brexit (the United Kingdom leaving the European Union) seven years later in 2020, thereby ending 47 years of EU membership.
The speech was drafted by Edward Llewellyn, the Downing Street Chief of Staff, along with John Casson, Tim Kiddell, and Helen Bower-Easton, with the opening few pages written by Clare Foges.
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.
Support for the UK Independence Party (UKIP) dropped substantially and the Conservatives won an unexpected small overall majority; the referendum was held in June 2016.