Figs and kippers

The British Journal of Politics and International Relations

This article draws attention to how the ethics of democratic representation operates as a discreet factor in a crisis of representation afflicting Western democracies by identifying the ways a disregard for truthfulness can harm democratic representation. We argue that such a disregard undermines democratic representation by (a) reducing freedom and equality, (b) weakening accountability, (c) undermining citizens' trust in democratic institutions, and (d) jeopardising the ability to compromise. We illustrate the processes that produce these effects by analysing examples of untruthful communication about Brexit by senior British politicians in the post-referendum debates. We show how all four of these effects were triggered by the ways they misled the public by (1) making claims about overwhelming popular support for their policy, (2) misrepresenting the power relations between the EU and the national government, and (3) seriously downplaying the complexity of negotiations involved in leaving the EU and reaching trade deals thereafter.

It is important to study language as a tool used by politicians to persuade the public with their assertion of power. In fact language is ideological as speakers can speak in a way that supports their interests. What are the mechanisms of power inherent in language? Language is a powerful instrument employed by political leaders. They use linguistic strategies including linguistic manipulation as an influential instrument of political rhetoric to persuade audiences for a specific political action. To argue in favour of their political ideologies and goals, political leaders deploy a broad range of manipulative and rhetorical devices at the phonological, syntactic, lexical, semantic, pragmatic and textual levels in their political discourse. In this paper examples will be taken from a number of world leaders, past and present, dead or alive, who have used such strategies to persuade their audience of the correctness of their stance in order to provide the reader with information about the most widely used political rhetoric devices.

In: Speaking of Europe. Approaches to complexity in European political discourse (Edited by Kjersti Fløttum, University of Bergen, Norway).

This article examines the rhetorical language and behaviour of Prime Minister Tony Blair in a complex communication situation in which he speaks not only to the physically present audience in the European Parliament, but simultaneously to different countries and groups in Europe. It argues that theoretically the fragmentation and complexity of contemporary society and communication require a triangular research approach. We need a study of political discourse that not only deals with speaker and text, but also with reception. Methodologically, such an approach is illustrated through a combination of a textual-contextual analysis with an investigation of the press coverage in five countries. Empirically, we learn that the press coverage focuses on both the narrative of the speaker and the response within the Parliament, but that it is framed differently in each country. We also learn that complex circumstances do not necessarily lead to complex language use.

Critical Quarterly, 48 (2). pp. 85-90. ISSN 0011-1562 , 2007

Broad questions of political deception and trust in public figures are examined in this article, with reference to a momentary but explosive interlude in British political life: a series of calls for the resignation of Home Secretary Charles Clarke in April 2006 following allegations that he had misled the public during a BBC2 'Newsnight' interview about the release of foreign nationals from UK prisons. Wider issues concerning accuracy in public communication are drawn out from the example discussed, and a notion of public ‘meaning troublespots’ is outlined (as developed further in the author's 'Meaning in the media: discourse, controversy and debate', CUP, 2010).

This article discusses the utility and fecundity promised for British political studies by the study of speech and rhetoric. It is argued that the systematic investigation of speech in British politics can shed light on political institutions, ideologies and strategies. After exploring these areas in some detail the article goes on to discuss the last party conference speech Tony Blair delivered as Prime Minister. This discussion is demonstrative and synoptic in nature, surveying a broad territory and showing the kinds of questions that a rhetorical political analysis can ask and what, in response, might be done to answer these questions.

In this article we demonstrate the application of rhetorical political analysis in the study of political communication and political ideas and ideologies. Taking the rhetorical use of anecdotes as a case study, we find that their use by mainstream party leaders in Britain has proliferated markedly since the mid-1990s. Drawing on examples from speeches by leaders of all three main parties,we show how these stories are employed as a form of argumentative proof that relies significantly on the elevation of ‘everyday’ experience and knowledge above expert or technical knowledge. We argue that this reflects a more general ‘valorisation of lay knowledge’ and, moreover, that it is indicative of a form of populist ideology.

This brief paper is based on an interview with Freddie Hayward for Reuters. It asks the question: What -- if anything -- is special about the language use of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's language use? The response propose that his language use is not unique but typical of political acts in their desire to have their version of the world accepted and to gain the sympathy and agreement of listeners. This involves tapping into cultural stereotypes and conceptual frames, evading explicit truth assertions, and lying. The potentially serious impact of such linguistic behaviour is also touched on, and related to discourse ethics and critical analysis.

Technium, 2020

Nigel Farage's speeches and rhetoric have been instrumental and effective in the British voters' decision to withdraw from the European Union. This paper aims to study rhetorical devices in the speeches of Nigel Farage at the European Parliament: list constructions, contrastive pairs etc. Having identified and classified the rhetorical devices, I proceed to perform a frequency analysis with the purpose of determining the number of times each device occurs. Thus the research questions are: (a) what rhetorical devices permeate the speeches? and (b) what is their frequency of occurrence? In order to achieve these objectives, I have studied twenty speeches Farage delivered at the European Parliament during the period from 2010 to 2017. I examine rhetorical devices that were previously treated as nonessential in Farage's speeches (cf. Hädicke 2012) and I present arguments against the claim that the three-part list is the most common strategy in political speeches

The ability of skillful and persuasive use of language is a politician’s most powerful weapon. Throughout history, the most successful political leaders have been considered great orators, for they knew how to captivate their audience. This is not always easy to achieve; rhetoric has thus played an important part in public speaking since the beginning of civilization. Many authors have introduced a number of rhetorical devices and have tried to advise orators on how to speak in public. The thesis attempts to illustrate how rhetoric and political language have developed throughout the years, with special attention paid to rhetorical devices used in present day political discourse in the United States of America and the United Kingdom. I present the results of my short discourse analysis that show that both classical and modern rhetorical devices are present in modern political discourse, that British politicians use rhetorical devices more often than American politicians, and that conservatives are more skilled orators than liberals.

Journal of the Austrian Association for American Studies, 2020

Reviews ommend this book to anyone interested in autobiography, life writing, and literature. Marcus's "short introduction" is best read alongside works the author suggests in her list of further readings and Hermione Lee's Biography: A Very Short Introduction in the same series (Oxford University Press, 2009), as this growing and fascinating field becomes ever more challenging and difficult to survey.