'We Have the Character of an Island Nation'. A Discourse-Historical Analysis of David Cameron's 'Bloomberg Speech' on the European Union

Abstract

More than three years have passed since former British Prime Minister David Cameron delivered a much acknowledged and controversial speech on 23rd January 2013, in respect to British relationship with European Union. Europe and European Union (EU) are now, of course, facing different challenges than three years ago. The contrasting national and transnational identities which emerge in so-called Bloomberg Speech (BS) imply a nationalistic body politics which constructs United Kingdom and England as separate entities contrasted to the continent, i.e. Europe. Hence, BS oscillates between two extremes, in its attempt to alternatively observe maximum distance to EU and some proximity to its economic policies. Moreover, both topoi of urgency and threat/danger are appealed to – warning EU that it would suffer under loss of United Kingdom; but also warning British voters that Brexit would damage their future and prosperity. This speech can be perceived as starting point for referendum on June 23rd, 2016 – which resulted in a tiny majority wanting to leave EU ('Brexit'). Of course, there is no clear causal connection between BS and Brexit; but many arguments of remain and leave campaigns can be traced to BS; as well as huge ambivalence framing Cameron's position towards EU.