Have these top politicians had speech coaching? (and how you can tell)

This week I was featured in an article in the Daily Telegraph, (paywall) one of the UK's main national newspapers, to talk about politicians' voices.

Specifically, the voice of Keir Starmer, the leader of the UK's Labour party. According to the journalist, after some impressive recent speeches, rumours are circulating among political observers that Starmer may have been working with a public speaking coach.

The former barrister had previously been mocked for being boring, having no charisma, and a grating nasal voice: what the Telegraph calls 'the stilted, lawyerly, unemotional, are-my-dark-shirts-not-enough-to-constitute-a-personality, hey-at-least-I’m-not-Corbyn, OK-kids-you’ve-had-your-fun tone that rendered him the political equivalent of a Volvo V40'.

Perhaps slightly overstating the point, but you get the gist. Have a listen to Starmer's first speech as Labour leader here.

If Labour win the next General Election, Keir Starmer will be the Prime Minister of the UK. Commentators (on the centre ground, at least) are increasingly seeing him as a credible PM, and his increasingly convincing vocal delivery is suggested as part of the reason for this.

I was asked by the Telegraph to comment on the notion that Starmer has been working with someone like me to hone his skills, and to speculate about the oratorical skills of other high-profile figures.

Here's a summary of my thoughts (with YouTube links, for readers unfamiliar with the ringing tones of our current political leaders):

Keir Starmer

The Telegraph describes the 'new' Sir Keir Starmer as 'slightly warmer, slightly more natural, slightly more like a human.' 

If Keir does have a coach, I salute her or him, because getting people sounding 'slightly more like a human' is exactly what most speakers want - and if the speaker is already well-known for their speaking, that 'slightly' matters a lot.

For one thing, we tend to expect people in high-stakes roles to convey an air of effortless brilliance, like their mastery of the art of communication is as natural as breathing. So these speakers don't want the hours of work they put in (and it usually is more than a few hours) to be obvious.

They also don't want the improvement in their skills to be all that noticeable. An overnight transformation from bland and boring to Tony Robbins is going to invite allegations of inauthenticity - putting on a voice or persona for the podium or the camera. In other words, committing the cardinal sin of being fake. (I've written about sounding authentic in previous posts).

When I work with people for the first time, and they try out my introductory techniques to improve the impact their speaking makes, the difference is immediately noticeable. But rarely is it drastic - rarely does it sound like a completely different voice. It sounds like them, on a good day.

This sort of work is gradual and the changes that we make are subtle and steady. Those who know you well and pay close attention to you will notice a change in a matter of weeks, but bosses, clients, and patients tend to come away from conversations with you with a greater sense of satisfaction, and they probably won't be able to put their finger on why...

At any rate, Keir Starmer's delivery does seem more convincing these days, and I think it's a combination of experience (he's been Labour leader for several years now, and give hundreds of speeches), a sense of physical relaxation which means he's speaking on his 'home note' (ie. from his diaphragm, not from his throat) and a greater willingness to take ownership of the emotional dimension of this subject. He's not just saying words, he's embodying the feelings that inspire the words much more successfully.

And possibly (I'm sure he can neither confirm nor deny) it's the result of hours of practice with a really good public speaking coach :)

Rishi Sunak

The Prime Minister has a stereotypically 'nerdy' voice - he speaks from the neck up, and uses the resonance of his skull and nasal passages to amplify his voice.  This suits the image he has cultivated of being a reliably boring technocrat. But he is frequently mocked for the way he speaks. Poor Rishi.

Rachel Reeves

The shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered a powerful speech at the last Labour party conference, and her South London accent was less noticeable than when, say, she's being interviewed on TV.

I don't put this down to a deliberate attempt to suppress her accent; I feel like I can hear a bid to sound authoritative. As I said in the article, it sounds to me like 'she was trying to get ‘Every. Point. To. Land’' and in common with her colleague Keir Starmer, she's speaking from her diaphragm and using more of the resonance of her chest. South London accents have the tongue quite high in the mouth, which is what gives them that nasal quality. So the more she opens her mouth to get more volume, and gravitas, the less 'Sairf Lahndon' it's going to sound.

Penny Mordaunt

Conservative MP Mordaunt has been widely mocked for what the Telegraph calls her 'over-the-top, infinitely meme-able, bizarre attempt at a Churchillian speech at this year’s Tory party conference'.

I cite this as an example of someone who has had speech coaching and is making use of it very visibly, one might say awkwardly. I often work with people on the physical side of speaking and on using gestures effectively - gestures need to come from an authentic impulse, connected to the thought being expressed. In this infamous speech, the arm-spreads , waves and finger-jabs feel contrived, which might account for the stiff way in which she makes them.

The main target for the mockery was her incessant repetition of the phrase 'stand up and fight!' Now, repetition is good: it can help to print a message into your listener's brain. I think what made this rhetorical device feel comical on this occasion was the sheer number of repetitions, coupled with the thunderous semi-shout she uses to deliver it - 'STAND UP and FIGHT!!'

There's only so many times you can bellow the same four-word catchphrase with total sincerity. Mordaunt is pushing too hard.

I hope this is a useful analysis of speaking styles - even if you're not a UK politics dork. Get in touch with me if you want to learn more about how I work with speakers on eliminating bad habits and forming good ones.

And I can promise that with hard work, patience and time, we can get you sounding as 'effortlessly brilliant' as the new-and-improved Keir Starmer...