Matthew Parris on this year's conference speeches
And I think the Conservative party may have won Britain over. The reason? David Cameron is making good speeches. The excellence of his speeches is not the cause of his new popularity. His new popularity is the cause of his good speeches. We rate them because we rate him: not the other way round.
Ever since I started attending party conferences 30 years ago I’ve been puzzled by the violence with which press and public opinion seem to swing for or against key platform performances by important politicians. One speech is declared a triumph, another a disaster; one interview is lauded as masterly, another a toe-curling flop; a self-deprecating remark from one speaker is wit; from another an embarrassing gaffe. Yet for me such speeches, interviews or remarks have rarely seemed exceptional.
In Brighton this year at the Liberal Democrat conference, Sandi Toksvig bantered with Sir Menzies Campbell, who had told her that he was always nervous before any big performance. Sandi replied that she usually was too, but that Sir Menzies didn’t make her nervous. ‘Gosh, I’m a failure,’ he replied — a light, quick-witted response, I thought. But GAFFE! yelled the media, ‘Ming admits he’s a failure.’
Imagine Tony Blair at the height of his popularity giving the same response. Would we have called it an embarrassing stumble? Not at all. In fact Mr Blair had a particularly winning way with jokey self-deprecation and everybody called it cool. Sir Menzies wasn’t considered accident-prone because he dropped a clanger; he was said to have dropped a clanger because he was considered accident-prone.
Then at Bournemouth the following week came Gordon Brown’s big speech. You cannot expect me to swoon over a speech by the (in my view) hugely oversold Mr Brown; but I was there and tried to listen objectively; and the fact is that this was one of the best speeches he has ever made. It was not a very good speech — I doubt Brown will ever make one — but it was a tremendous improvement on his dreary, table-banging performances of the past. He spoke pleasantly, with an engaging tone and more light and shade than I’ve heard him command before. He was coherent and fluent and managed to smile. The speech had a statist flavour, but then that’s Brown: he has always been a fidgeting improver of mankind. We knew that — didn’t we?
More articles from: Matthew Parris | this section
Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
Advertisement
The present Queen succeeded to the throne 60 years ago…
The City is used to ignoring MPs, because they don’t matter. Or at least they didn’t
It’s not strange that bankers have so much more money…
Ancient and modern: Call that a spectacle?
The Grand Olympic Opening Ceremony will apparently inform us ‘who…
I write this having just returned from the BBC, where…
The Wiki Man: The best thing since wheeled suitcases
I had a Land Rover Discovery once. It was expensive…
1 Terry shouldn’t be captain, but that should be Capello’s decision to make - Rod Liddle
2 Snow? What snow? - Rod Liddle
3 JFK: The Nastiest President of the Twentieth Century? - Alex Massie
4 Do we really need to know more about Gary Speed’s death? - Rod Liddle
5 Scottish Labour Embrace the Logic of Independence - Alex Massie
1,700 Unusual Christmas Presents Request Catalogue 01935 815 195 Quote SPEC10 for 10% discount www.presentfinder.co.uk
Pimilco based Florist with online ordering Web: www.olivebranch.net Tel: 020 7630 1868 Fax: 020 7233 8844
62 Shore Road, Warsash, Southampton, SO31 9FT Telephone: 01489 578867 Web site: www.ruffs.co.uk
Apollo Magazine | Corporate | Advertising | Privacy | Terms
Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H 9HP
All Articles and Content Copyright ©2012 by The Spectator | All Rights Reserved
C.Gatenby
October 12th, 2007 3:12am Report this commentI would disagree that Cameron’s popularity is the catalyst for his ‘good’ speeches. We rate Cameron because he, unlike Brown, has the capacity to inspire. The line 'Call that Election. We will fight, Britain will win' will forever give the British people a reverend flutter to what is quintessentially the lions heart.Could he be the one to now give it it's roar? Britain is listening - and it likes what it hears.
Michael Gorman
October 15th, 2007 8:01pm Report this commentAgreed absolutely. I was there in 2005 for the Tory leadership speeches. Cameron, competent but a little nervous since he was without notes; Davies, competent; Fox, good but unlikely to win; Clarke, brilliant, by far the best, but outclassed by the Cameron PR machine. (P) I write as a former President of the Guildford Speaking Club, accustomed to judging speeches.
Purple Scorpion
October 15th, 2007 8:28pm Report this commentThere are two different phenomena here. Cameron was in trouble before the Tory conference, so his outriders (including your editor) were saying he would have to make the speech of his life ... in preparation for saying afterwards that he had. While the Cameron narrative was sketched out beforehand, the narrative about Brown seems to have been changed after the event. At the time the speech was not bad, but with hindsight it became dull. This is just scribblers desperate for a striking angle.
David Moss
October 15th, 2007 9:50pm Report this commentI see your "epiphenomenalism" and raise you "the intentionality of perception".
Back to top