Audience

Boris Johnson's speech on the EU referendum was delivered on the 9th of May 2016 as a press statement at the British Parliament. Consequently, the target audience of his speech is the general British public, whom he tries to persuade to vote Leave.

Part of his speech is structured as an answer to his political opponents in the EU referendum campaign, those in the Remain camp: “Of course the Remain campaign dismisses this UK contribution as a mere bagatelle – even though you could otherwise use it to pay for a new British hospital every week.” (ll. 65-68)

However, the general target audience of the speaker are British voters, whom he addresses directly and whom he tries to persuade to join the Leave camp: “Look at that list of Lisbon competences – with 45 new fields of policy where Britain can be outvoted by a qualified majority…...