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$'-28510(17 42 Speechwriting Simon Lancaster 44 Book review Sir Alan Beith 46 PPC interview David Nuttall 49 Competitions Speech Bubble and Guess the Year quiz The iron fist in the velvet glove Political rhetoric Simon Lancaster offers a Shakespearean masterclass in parliamentary speechwriting Members and Quentin Letts. Parliamentary speaking calls for a far more subtle and sophisticated approach, which is what Marc Antony serves up. His speech represents the pinnacle of the art of persuasion and has rarely been bettered, in life or in art. From it, five principles emerge which are relevant for parliamentary speechwriting. First, respect your audience. Instead of ramming his opinions home, Antony weaves All of the greatest his suggestions around the audience’s existing beliefs parliamentary and opinions, leading them to speeches place the believe they are reaching their Commons, not the own conclusions about Caesar’s execution, rather than having speaker, as the Antony’s views thrust upon them. chief protagonist This gives them a crucial in the drama. By feeling of control, although it pivoting the speech is clearly only an illusion, as Antony himself acknowledges on the audience, with the wicked aside: ‘Mischief the speaker gains thou art afoot!’ the leverage to All of the greatest parliamentary speeches place shift their opinions the Commons, not the speaker, as the chief protagonist in the drama. By pivoting the speech on the audience, the speaker gains the leverage to shift their opinions. This is what Tony Blair did in his extraordinary speech on the eve of the Iraq war, when he made himself a mere pawn in the hands of the mighty Commons. Second, don’t be proud. Whereas Brutus’ speech effectively invites the audience to bathe in the glow of his own magnificence, Antony “ S hakespeare was a master in the art of political rhetoric. And the forum scene of Julius Caesar (Act 3, Scene 2) is its apogee, with the eulogies of Brutus and Marc Antony presenting textbook models of the perfect party conference and parliamentary speech respectively. Brutus’ speech is vain, proud and glorious. It is stuffed with crowdpleasing tropes, including the sky-scraping ‘Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more’. And it is built almost entirely on value statements, without any concern for detail. In fact, Brutus makes it through the whole speech without once touching on the rather pertinent and killer fact – namely, who murdered Julius Caesar. Such techniques can and would lift the roof of any party conference – and indeed they did this year, in the speeches of Gordon Brown, Peter Mandelson and David Cameron. But this kind of pomposity and flourish would not do at all in the chamber: not under the merciless glare of Mr Speaker, honourable t5IF)PVTF.BHB[JOFt9 NOVEMBER 2009 $'-28510(1763((&+:5,7,1* humbly says: ‘I am no orator like Brutus... you all know me as a plain, blunt man.’ Such modesty is very British and very effective. We all know that pride comes before a fall: Parliament has witnessed this on many occasions, as seen recently in the roaring laughter when Gordon Brown got his words in a twist and claimed to have ‘saved the world’. A little humility improves the speaker’s credibility and enhances the persuasive strategy. Third, respect your opponents. It is a sign of Antony’s adroitness that he never once sinks to overtly insulting Brutus, even though his argument fundamentally requires him to impugn his rival’s honour. Instead, Antony deliberately inflates Brutus’ stature with the refrain: ‘And Brutus is an honourable man’, allowing the puncture to be inflicted via piercing logic. ‘Attack dog’ speeches are easy to write and can serve a purpose, successfully uniting fragmented party conferences. But in the House, such viciousness invariably leads to a ‘murder-suicide’ outcome where both sides come out worse, as some of the Commons’ more fractious pairings (e.g. Ed Balls and Michael Gove) demonstrate. Parliament requires dignity and respect; or, as Bishop Russell said at the opening of Edward V’s first Parliament in 1484, Members should always ‘hearken amiably to one another’. Fourth, get the argument right. It is ultimately the force of logic which makes Antony’s argument prevail. As one of the crowd mutters: ‘Methinks there is much reason in what he is saying.’ In conference speeches, logic can be an afterthought: they are often stuffed to the brim with false premises, sweeping generalisations and loaded language – and no-one either notices or cares. Not so in parliamentary speeches, where the audience is more sceptical. Fellow Members can and will pounce on any fallacy. Speeches must be deeply researched to minimise the risk of loose planks in the argument. Fifth, in extremis, use rhetorical figures. If the attention of Members is slipping away, rhetorical figures can bring them back to life. Speechwriting do’s and don’ts Do t%FNPOTUSBUFUIFVUNPTUSFTQFDUUPZPVSGFMMPX parliamentarians t#FHFOFSPVTJOQSBJTFFWFOUPZPVSPQQPOFOUT t0GGFSIVNJMJUZJOZPVSPXOBTTFSUJPOT t3FTFBSDIZPVSTQFFDIDBSFGVMMZBOEFOTVSFUIFMPHJDJT strong t6TFSIFUPSJDBMEFWJDFToJONPEFSBUJPO Don’t t(SBOETUBOE t#FPWFSFNPUJPOBM t#FUPPTJOHMFNJOEFEBOEBTTFSUJWF t0GGFSVQBIBMGCBLFEBSHVNFOU t6TFSIFUPSJDUPDPODFBMJHOPSBODF Charlton Heston as Roman general Marc Antony in a 1969 film version of Julius Caesar. Marc Antony’s eulogy to Caesar provides a perfect template for a parliamentary speech, says Simon Lancaster Shakespeare demonstrated the three most powerful rhetorical figures in the opening, unforgettable 16 words of Antony’s speech. ‘Friends, Romans, Countrymen’, is a sublime example of the ‘rule of three’. ‘Lend me your ears’ is an exquisite example of ‘imagery’. And ‘I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him’, is a terrific example of ‘contrast’. More recent parliamentary examples of these same tricks include ‘Education, Education, Education’, ‘Roadblock to reform’ and ‘From Stalin to Mr Bean’. These tricks make your messages rise above the crowd. They can, should and will give your messages a bang, not a whimper. Mario Cuomo, the ex-Governor of New York, once lamented that politicians campaign in poetry but govern in prose. Yet, by crafting Antony’s speech in poetry and leaving Brutus’ in prose, Shakespeare clearly showed us the superior persuasive powers of poetry. Maybe the final lesson, from this one great national institution to another, is that the political can be enhanced by the poetical. . Simon Lancaster runs Bespoke Speechwriting Services, a specialist speechwriting consultancy [email protected] www.bespokespeeches.com 9 NOVEMBER 2009t5IF)PVTF.BHB[JOFt 43