As MPs return to Westminster today to face the music on their expenses, here's some light relief on the subject from Monty Python:
An important but elusive asset for British political party leaders
Yesterday’s video clip of Jo Grimond, under whose leadership the Liberals doubled their number of MPs from ‘hardly any’ to ‘a few’, reminded me of an important but all too rare asset for party leaders in a country where elections are decided by a few floating voters.
Although my mother was a Tory, she was by no means the only one I knew who liked Jo Grimond and regarded him as a 'thoroughly good egg.'
Thousands of others from different parties thought much the same of Margaret Thatcher, Paddy Ashdown and Tony Blair, all of whom enjoyed high levels of respect, however grudging, from voters who were not their party’s ‘natural’ supporters.
When Gordon Brown took over from Tony Blair, I started trying out this idea that some politicians have an indefinable appeal to voters across party lines on (an admittedly non-random sample of) people – and was amazed to discover how many ‘natural’ Tories said things like “I liked Blair and was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I don’t feel the same about Brown. "
Which brings me to another question prompted by yesterday’s vintage interview, namely which other party leaders have had the benefit of the ‘je ne sais quoi’ factor enjoyed by Grimond, Thatcher, Ashdown and Blair?
I don’t think Heath, Callaghan, Major, Kinnock, Smith, Kennedy or Campbell had it (Vince Cable almost certainly has it, but can't be counted because he was only a temporary leader).
Nor, as far as I can see, do I think that any of the three party leaders currently getting up steam for the next election have it either.
But it would be interesting to know whether others have the same impression - and, if so, why?
Who were represented by the UK's political parties 50 years ago?
In 1959, the Liberal Party only had 6 members of parliament, compared with the Labour party's 277 MPs and the Conservative Party's 344.
In this clip from the run-up to the 1959 election, the then Liberal leader, Jo Grimond, tries to define a place for his party between the employers/Conservatives and the workers/Labour.
The wording of the question by interviewer Robert Harris reminds us just how clear and simple politics were 50 years ago.
In this clip from the run-up to the 1959 election, the then Liberal leader, Jo Grimond, tries to define a place for his party between the employers/Conservatives and the workers/Labour.
The wording of the question by interviewer Robert Harris reminds us just how clear and simple politics were 50 years ago.
As for where we are today, three questions spring to mind:
- Was Grimond's answer merely wishful thinking (given that the Liberals still had only 6 MPs after the 1959 election), or a perceptive forecast of where politics was going?
- Are the Conservative and Labour parties still closer to the employer/worker divide than either of them is willing to admit.
- Now that the Liberal Democrats have 10 times more MPs than 50 years ago, does this mean that Grimond's 'new class' has indeed grown - only much more slowly than he was hoping for?
Surfing applause was Cameron's high spot too!
David Cameron has just put a post on the Conservative Party's 'Blue Blog' saying that the high spot for him in his speech yesterday was the same one as I discussed earlier today, in which he so successfully 'surfed' applause:
"I will remember for a very long time that moment when the Party got to its feet and showed how much we want to beat poverty" - David Cameron.
"I will remember for a very long time that moment when the Party got to its feet and showed how much we want to beat poverty" - David Cameron.
Now he's discovered how to surf applause and what it feels like to get such an enthusiastic audience response, maybe he'll do it more often (as I recommended last year).
Cameron's conference speech high spot: standing ovation for 'surfing applause'
For me (and many in the media), the high spot of David Cameron's speech yesterday was the sequence in which he demononstrated that he can indeed 'surf' applause.
Commentators singled it out as evidence of 'passion', and it was widely replayed on prime-time television news programmes.
The reason why I was pleased to see the technique working so well for him was that, in one of the first posts on this blog, I'd suggested that he was a talented enough speaker to take a step further and have a go at using this important technique from the repertoire of great orators.
Although I hadn't then come across the word 'surfing' to describe the practice of carrying on speaking through applause, I'd discussed it 25 years ago in Our Masters' Voices, on which my blog post of 27 September 2008 was based.
Although I hadn't then come across the word 'surfing' to describe the practice of carrying on speaking through applause, I'd discussed it 25 years ago in Our Masters' Voices, on which my blog post of 27 September 2008 was based.
As the odds are that you weren't one of the tiny handful of readers a year ago, here's what I wrote about surfing before David Cameron spoke at last year's Conservative Party conference:
TIME FOR CAMERON TO SURF APPLAUSE?
When it comes to speech-making, David Cameron has enjoyed more success than most British politicians of his generation. His short unscripted pitch for the party leadership in 2005 was enough to transform him from rank outsider to eventual winner. And his speech at last year’s conference was so effective that it was arguably one of the factors that helped to deter Gordon Brown from calling an election at a time when Labour were still safely ahead in the polls.
If Mr Cameron has already mastered most of the key techniques that set a good orator apart from an average one, the question arises as to whether there’s anything else he could be doing to take the next step into the premier league? And one thing he might like to consider is the art of surfing applause, a technique that’s only to be found among those at the top of their trade. Past maestros include Martin Luther King and Tony Benn, and today’s most prominent exponents are Nicholas Sarkozy and Barack Obama.
Unlike most speakers, surfers don’t just stop whenever the audience applauds and wait until they’ve finished. What surfers do is to carry on speaking after the applause has started, which creates a number of positive impressions. It makes it look as though you hadn’t been seeking applause at all, and are really quite surprised that the audience has interrupted you with an unexpected display of approval.
Then, if you keep trying to go on while the audience is still clapping, it’s as if you’re telling them that, unlike less passionate politicians, you’re the kind of person who regards getting your message across as much more important than waiting around to savour the applause. If you’re really lucky, and the broadcasters want to put this particular extract on prime time news programmes, the lack of any clean break between your speech and the applause makes it difficult for them to edit without including the adulation of the crowd as well – so that the various positive impressions are transmitted beyond the hall to the much bigger numbers viewing or listening at home.
On the plus side, Mr Cameron is already exhibiting the first signs of surfing in some of his speeches, but needs to carry through with a bit further if he’s to make the most of it. A sign that he was almost ready for fully-fledged surfing came in his 2005 conference speech, when he said:
“That is a stain on this country and this government [applause starts] and what is – [applause stops] -- and what is the government’s answer?”
This was all right as far as it went, but he didn’t have to stop after only a single attempt at carrying on and then wait for the applause to subside before speaking again. More experienced surfers don’t just make one aborted attempt to speak during the applause, but do it several times in a row, as in this example from Barack Obama:
“.. that threatens my civil liberties. [applause starts] It is that fundamental belief – [applause continues] -- It is that fundamental belief -- [applause starts to fade] It is that fundamental belief that I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper, that makes this country work.”
The important thing is to make sure that you don’t say anything that really matters while the noise of the applause might still drown it out, because there’s no point in developing the message until you’re sure it will be audible.
Repeating the first few words, as Obama did in the above example, is probably the easiest and safest way of doing it, but it’s not the only option. Another is to keep adding a few more words each time until the applause has died down enough for people to be able to hear the fully formed sentence you want them to hear. Really experienced surfers develop a finely-tuned ear for the volume of applause that enables them to know exactly when it’s become quiet enough for it to be safe to carry on.
Tony Benn often used to do this three or four times before carrying on with his point, as in this example from the 1980s:
[Applause starts] “My resent – my resentment – my resentment about the - uh- [applause fades] my resentment about the exclusion of the House of Lords …”
Nearly 30 years later, he's still at it
"That's the [applause starts] real distinction that we have to face -- and it's not just -- actually - [applause stops] you can't even give Karl Marx the credit for that."
It might seem, of course that the Conservative Party’s annual conference is far too important and exposed a platform for Mr Cameron to start having a go at surfing the applause. But he has already been showing a natural inclination to do it, and taking it a small step further might not be any bigger risk than his daring departure from the lectern in 2005 –which yielded such a handsome dividend .
When it comes to speech-making, David Cameron has enjoyed more success than most British politicians of his generation. His short unscripted pitch for the party leadership in 2005 was enough to transform him from rank outsider to eventual winner. And his speech at last year’s conference was so effective that it was arguably one of the factors that helped to deter Gordon Brown from calling an election at a time when Labour were still safely ahead in the polls.
If Mr Cameron has already mastered most of the key techniques that set a good orator apart from an average one, the question arises as to whether there’s anything else he could be doing to take the next step into the premier league? And one thing he might like to consider is the art of surfing applause, a technique that’s only to be found among those at the top of their trade. Past maestros include Martin Luther King and Tony Benn, and today’s most prominent exponents are Nicholas Sarkozy and Barack Obama.
Unlike most speakers, surfers don’t just stop whenever the audience applauds and wait until they’ve finished. What surfers do is to carry on speaking after the applause has started, which creates a number of positive impressions. It makes it look as though you hadn’t been seeking applause at all, and are really quite surprised that the audience has interrupted you with an unexpected display of approval.
Then, if you keep trying to go on while the audience is still clapping, it’s as if you’re telling them that, unlike less passionate politicians, you’re the kind of person who regards getting your message across as much more important than waiting around to savour the applause. If you’re really lucky, and the broadcasters want to put this particular extract on prime time news programmes, the lack of any clean break between your speech and the applause makes it difficult for them to edit without including the adulation of the crowd as well – so that the various positive impressions are transmitted beyond the hall to the much bigger numbers viewing or listening at home.
On the plus side, Mr Cameron is already exhibiting the first signs of surfing in some of his speeches, but needs to carry through with a bit further if he’s to make the most of it. A sign that he was almost ready for fully-fledged surfing came in his 2005 conference speech, when he said:
“That is a stain on this country and this government [applause starts] and what is – [applause stops] -- and what is the government’s answer?”
This was all right as far as it went, but he didn’t have to stop after only a single attempt at carrying on and then wait for the applause to subside before speaking again. More experienced surfers don’t just make one aborted attempt to speak during the applause, but do it several times in a row, as in this example from Barack Obama:
“.. that threatens my civil liberties. [applause starts] It is that fundamental belief – [applause continues] -- It is that fundamental belief -- [applause starts to fade] It is that fundamental belief that I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper, that makes this country work.”
The important thing is to make sure that you don’t say anything that really matters while the noise of the applause might still drown it out, because there’s no point in developing the message until you’re sure it will be audible.
Repeating the first few words, as Obama did in the above example, is probably the easiest and safest way of doing it, but it’s not the only option. Another is to keep adding a few more words each time until the applause has died down enough for people to be able to hear the fully formed sentence you want them to hear. Really experienced surfers develop a finely-tuned ear for the volume of applause that enables them to know exactly when it’s become quiet enough for it to be safe to carry on.
Tony Benn often used to do this three or four times before carrying on with his point, as in this example from the 1980s:
[Applause starts] “My resent – my resentment – my resentment about the - uh- [applause fades] my resentment about the exclusion of the House of Lords …”
Nearly 30 years later, he's still at it
"That's the [applause starts] real distinction that we have to face -- and it's not just -- actually - [applause stops] you can't even give Karl Marx the credit for that."
It might seem, of course that the Conservative Party’s annual conference is far too important and exposed a platform for Mr Cameron to start having a go at surfing the applause. But he has already been showing a natural inclination to do it, and taking it a small step further might not be any bigger risk than his daring departure from the lectern in 2005 –which yielded such a handsome dividend .
2009: CAMERON SURFS APPLAUSE TO WIN AN EARLY STANDING OVATION
A year later, here he is cranking out three rhetorical questions and a powerful contrast between the Tories and Labour - but, unlike in the example HERE, he doesn't back off as soon as the applause gets under way.
CAMERON:
Do you know what Labour called it?
“Callous.”
Excuse me?
Who has made the poorest poorer?
Who left youth unemployment higher?
Who made inequality greater?
No, not the wicked Tories
You, Labour: you are the ones who have done it to this society.
Don’t you dare lecture us on poverty.
You have failed and it (applause starts) falls the modern Conservative Party to help the poorest in our country today (applause continues and develops into standing ovation).
.
POSTSCRIPT
This year's party conference season was also the first time I'd ever seen Gordon Brown surfing applause, which won him a similarly positive response from media commentators - even though it was so extreme and 'out of character') that it arguably come across as rather contrived (discuss on which HERE):
Cameron's conference sound bite: 'compassionate Conservativism'
Immediately after David Cameron's leader's speech at the Tory Party conference this afternoon, Andrew Neil interviewed William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary and former party leader, on BBC's Daily Politics show.
Within a minute or two, Hague not only singled out the following line from Mr Cameron's speech, but managed to quote it twice - from which it's difficult not to conclude that this summary of 'compassionate Conservatism', expressed as a simple contrast, was the most important point that the party leadership wanted the wider public to take away from the speech:
"If you take responsibility we will reward you, and if you cannot, we will look after you."
Within the party, William Hague is regarded as 'deputy leader in all but name', and he was at the meeting where Mr Cameron was filmed working with colleagues on the speech (and put on YouTube by webcameronuk). No mention of this particular line in that rather staged piece of footage, but it's highly unlikely that it was merely coincidental that Hague mentioned it twice in quick succession at the first possible opportunity after the speech was over.
The complete sequence was actually a puzzle with a solution in the form of a contrast:
PUZZLE
Within a minute or two, Hague not only singled out the following line from Mr Cameron's speech, but managed to quote it twice - from which it's difficult not to conclude that this summary of 'compassionate Conservatism', expressed as a simple contrast, was the most important point that the party leadership wanted the wider public to take away from the speech:
"If you take responsibility we will reward you, and if you cannot, we will look after you."
Within the party, William Hague is regarded as 'deputy leader in all but name', and he was at the meeting where Mr Cameron was filmed working with colleagues on the speech (and put on YouTube by webcameronuk). No mention of this particular line in that rather staged piece of footage, but it's highly unlikely that it was merely coincidental that Hague mentioned it twice in quick succession at the first possible opportunity after the speech was over.
The complete sequence was actually a puzzle with a solution in the form of a contrast:
PUZZLE
Ask me what a Conservative government will stand for and it is this.
SOLUTION
[A] If you take responsibility we will reward you,
[B] and if you cannot, we will look after you.
[A] If you take responsibility we will reward you,
[B] and if you cannot, we will look after you.
I was wrong about Cameron looking at screens
A few days ago, I was recommending that David Cameron ought to do something to improve the way he uses the autocue/teleprompter, and stop looking at one screen for too long before looking towards the other one.
However, having watched his speech today, I realise that I've probably been wrong all along and that it's time to revise my opinion (and to apologise for my obsessive twittering on the subject).
However, having watched his speech today, I realise that I've probably been wrong all along and that it's time to revise my opinion (and to apologise for my obsessive twittering on the subject).
This isn't because he'd resolved the problem, though it wasn't quite as noticeable as usual, but because, on closer examination, I'm pretty sure that he wasn't looking at any screens at all. In other words, he was was almost certainly relying on the paper script in front of him, had probably more or less memorised the whole thing in advance and only needed occasional glances down to keep himself on track.
If you watch the clip below, you'll not only see his eyes looking down at the lectern, but, when the camera pulls back to show us a wider angle, you won't see any sign at all of any autocue screens on poles (that are normally all too clearly visible). This was also true in some of the shots from behind Mr Cameron during the speech (examples of which I'll post as soon as I have them available).
What this suggests is that, like many speakers (including Margaret Thatcher and, I confess, myself), he suffers from what I've referred to in my books as 'skewed eye contact' - i.e. a natural and unconscious tendency to look at one side of the audience for far longer than at the other - an obvious disadvantage of which is that it can easily make a lot of people feel as though they're being left out.
I suppose that the reason for my mistake is that we've become so used to politicians using teleprompters that we assume they all do it, and that Mr Cameron's 'naturally' skewed eye contact gave the impression that he was doing it too.
However, although I may have been wrong about autocue screens being the cause of the problem, I still think that that he does have a problem that would be easy enough to solve - and that spreading his gaze more frequently in different directions would help him to become an even more effective orator than he already is.
If you watch the clip below, you'll not only see his eyes looking down at the lectern, but, when the camera pulls back to show us a wider angle, you won't see any sign at all of any autocue screens on poles (that are normally all too clearly visible). This was also true in some of the shots from behind Mr Cameron during the speech (examples of which I'll post as soon as I have them available).
What this suggests is that, like many speakers (including Margaret Thatcher and, I confess, myself), he suffers from what I've referred to in my books as 'skewed eye contact' - i.e. a natural and unconscious tendency to look at one side of the audience for far longer than at the other - an obvious disadvantage of which is that it can easily make a lot of people feel as though they're being left out.
I suppose that the reason for my mistake is that we've become so used to politicians using teleprompters that we assume they all do it, and that Mr Cameron's 'naturally' skewed eye contact gave the impression that he was doing it too.
However, although I may have been wrong about autocue screens being the cause of the problem, I still think that that he does have a problem that would be easy enough to solve - and that spreading his gaze more frequently in different directions would help him to become an even more effective orator than he already is.
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