Andy Burnham declares his candidacy for the Labour leadership

Political blogger Guido Fawkes has posted a video with the 'Guy News' take on last week's failed plot against Gordon Brown, the full version of which can be seen HERE.

Given my recent posts about the significance of speakers delaying before starting to speak (e.g. Jeremy Paxman) and pre-delicate hitches (e.g. Gordon Brown), the high spot for me was hearing Andy Burnham, Secretary of State for Health, more or less admitting that he's a candidate for the party leadership.

Suddenly confronted with the choice of saying "Yes" or "No" to the question "You don't want to be prime minister?", he goes for the standard politician's response of saying something other than a straight answer to the question.

But note the delay of one second, and the hitches before starting off again - with a blink and a smile that seem to imply "I know what you're up to but you won't catch me out on that one."

BURNHAM: We've got to get on with the job now of taking the fight to the Tories.

QUESTION: You don't want to be prime minister?

[1 second delay]

BURNHAM: I've got a great job as- (I've the uh-*) - Being health secretary is uh- the best privilege ...

(*Approximate transcription of inaudible words).

'Let there be love' - a case of mistaken identity

Official statement for the benefit of anyone who might have stumbled across the above on YouTube:

1. I am not the artiste.
2. I've never heard of him before.
3. I can't sing either.

Gravity Calling:

However, I do admit, with some considerable pride, that one of my sons is a professional musician, who can be seen and heard here playing keyboards on Flipron's latest album:

... more of which can be enjoyed HERE.

Two more straight answers from Mandelson - about failed coups and the PM's rages

Following up on the recent post about Lord Mandelson's two straight answers to Paxman's questions in the Newsnight interview after the failed coup, I've noticed two more - the meanings of which are quite revealing:

1. Yes, this was another attempted coup and I've saved him again (without having to do a great deal), and
2. yes, the prime minister does go into rages, but not on this occasion.

Brown & Harman: cabinet makers!

Checking on claims in some of the media that Harriet Harman might have been involved in the latest failed coup against Gordon Brown's leadership, I typed "Brown Harman" into Google - and made the astonishing discovery that they are in fact cabinet makers!

Mandelson gives two straight answers to two of Paxman's questions!

Only six months after posting a rare video clip in which a politician (Charles Clarke) gave a straight answer to an interviewer's question, I was amazed to see yet another example last night- twice in quick succession - of the same thing happening in Jeremy Paxman's interview with Lord Mandelson on Newsnight.

Interestingly, both Clarke and Mandelson were both answering questions about Gordon Brown - in marked contrast with Clarke's comments on Brown after the loss of the Norwich North by-election and the day when Mandelson's response to a similar question about Brown was to walk out of the interview altogether.

Evidence that a straight answer surprises interviewers?

Apart from being please to add another exception to my small collection of politicians actually answering questions, I was also struck by the delays before Paxman managed to come up with each of his next questions.

As you'll see, Mandelson's "Yes" came instantly after the end of the first question, but there was a gap of more than a second before Paxman asked his next one, to which Mandelson instantly came up with another straight answer - followed by a delay of about half a second before Paxman carried on.

These might seem slight pauses, but we know from research into conversation that silences as long as one fifth of a second are not only rare, but also tend to be noticed by other participants (and/or observers).

A blast from Mandelson's past?

This particular sequence reminded me of Brian Walden's interview with Nigel Lawson, just after the former chancellor had resigned from the Thatcher government in 1989.

When Lawson gave remarkably straight answers to the first few questions, Walden looked visibly perplexed and, perhaps for the only time, seemed to be struggling to keep the interview going long enough to fill the scheduled slot.

Before going into politics, Mandelson used to work for LWT as a producer on Walden's Weekend World programme - which is, perhaps, where he learned that even top interviewers can find straight answers to questions quite disconcerting.

RELATED POSTS:

· A Tory leader's three evasive answers to the same question

• Gordon Brown's interview technique: the tip of a tedious iceberg

• A prime minister who openly refused to answer an interviewer’s questions

• Why it's so easy for politicians not to answer interviewers' questions - and what should be done about it

• Why has Gordon Brown become a regular on the Today programme?

• Interview techniques, politicians and how we judge them