Laughing at Griffin

by Graham Davies

The three most powerful presentational weapons for fighting extremism are accuracy, moderation and a sense of humour. They were used with varying degrees of success against Nick Griffin on Question Time.

Griffin clearly wanted to seem as reasonable and mainstream as possible, insisting at a very early stage that his views had been widely exaggerated and misquoted. David Dimbleby nicely punctured that false balloon by reading out a sequence of quotes that Griffin simply could not refute.

It was the mainstream politicians that let the Anti-Fascist side down, especially Jack Straw and Chris Huhne. They were determined to shout their way through pre-prepared rants, no matter what questions were asked. They turned the programme into a "How Outraged Can I Get?" competition. Their staged emotion made me feel nauseous.

Bobby Greer, the playwrite, had exactly the right presentational attitude to Griffin: she treated him as an object of simultaneous tragedy and comedy. She laughed at him and felt sorry for him....but without coming across as hating him.

Of course, this is far too clever an approach for any politician to understand.

Cameron Bores for Britain

by Graham Davies

In the space of 57 tedious minutes, David Cameron managed to change the Party Faithful to the Party Doubtful. I spoke to many otherwise enthuisiastic Tories who were stunned by the pedestrian plod they had just witnessed.

If this speech was an aircraft, not only did it not take off from the runway, it never got out of the hangar. If it has been any more low-key, it would have been subterranean. This was certainly the poorest Public Speaking performance I have seen from a Leader of any British Political Party. He was even worse than Ian Duncan-Smith.

There was nothing new in this speech. We have heard the trite generalities about family, country and community many times before. He didn't announce a single new policy. It is hard to get excited about a future with Dave at the helm because he cannot articulate specifically how he is going to create it.

And the next prime Minister must surely have the courtesy to learn how to use a tele-prompt. He is at his presentational poorest when his nose is buried in his notes.

He clearly wanted to play the speaking game very safely yesterday. But if this was all he could manage, it was hardly worth him turning up on the pitch.

Advice to Dave

by Graham Davies

Remember that the real secret of how to make a really boring speech is to try and include absolutely everything. You did a super job of that in your 72 minute marathon last year. Just maybe a 50 minute sprint would go down better with the punters.

Don't repeat any of theses phrases from your speech on Monday:

We can't afford complacency.
There are tough times ahead.
We must not let Britain down.
It's time for a New Broom.

You have to avoid another torrent of cliches like these. And no more badly-told, dated gags about Ken Clarke's Hush Puppies. The Faithful were clearly embarassed when that one fell flat.

Please come up with some memorable phrases that are as good as Michael Gove's ....or Peter Mandelson's. It's just possible that it was your deliberate decision to ensure that nearly all the speeches this week were boring.....so that the Tories are no longer seen as merely the Party of Shiny Marketing.

But remember that, just because you want to emphasize your substance, it doesn't mean that you should present it in a dull, flat and boring way.

Osborne Matures

by Graham Davies

He will never be a British Obama, but George Osborne has now become the Tories' best teleprompt performer. He seems to be able to look past the glass, rather than at it.

Yesterday marked Osborne's Coming of Age as a political presenter. He has managed to get rid of that annoying air of Deputy-Head-Boy smugness. When he has something specific to announce, he manages to strike just the right note of earnestness without being too lofty. He was like someone who was confiding with some close friends at a rather important dinner-party.

He even presented a couple of gags nicely: playing them as though they were serious lines and so letting the words do the work.

This is the first time that I have seen him in front of a large audience coming across as a decently concerned human being, rather than a pompous toff politician who wants to show us how jolly clever he is.

But I do hope that he drops We are All in this Together, before We all Puke Together.

Tory Tedium

by Graham Davies

Many congratualtions to the Conservative Party for reaching a new peak in boring presentation. They have discovered perhaps the most tedious mass presentational technique to hit British Politics: seven Shadow Cabinet members standing in line on stage behind seven seperate lecterns.

Apparently, it is designed to be a display of teamwork in action. Sadly, they look like 7 awkward statues, only with not as much life.

This sort of set-up exacerbates a politician's tendency towards Podium Disease: the habit of...only saying...three or four words....at a time....even if it is.....very stilted....indeed.

I was deeply disappointed to see even Michael Gove being infected. If a star like Gove is made to look pedestrian, the Tories have a long way to go before their presentational is good enough to guarantee the boost in the polls that the Conference must deliver for them.

TV Debate Desperation

by Graham Davies

I am delighted to have been proved wrong: Gordon Brown will take part in a series of televised pre-election debates. Perhaps I underestimated his level of desperation.

This will be the first time in British Politics that the viewing public will be able to see genuinely spontaneous reaction by Party Leaders to views which have just been expressed by their opposite numbers. Deliciously, they will not have the chance to have their immediate responses sanitised by their PR/Spin departments.

We might actually see Cameron, Brown and Clegg blurting out stuff that they really believe.

Whatever the format, they will each have to avoid the Politician's tendency to make their points by going into over-complex depth on a given issue....something which is often unfaily characterised as avoidance by the typical viewer.

Instead, they will have to get into the knack of immediately encapsulating and crystallising their views in such a way that is both memorable and compelling.....and keeping this up for an hour at a time.

Political presentation could actually become rather exciting.

Gordon the Adequate

by Graham Davies

It was certainly the most upbeat, energetic and engaging performance that I have ever seen from him. By his standards, it wasn't just a speech: it was a cabaret.

He told a couple of early gags rather well. He even smiled...something which he has traditionally found difficult and frightening. There was a real danger that he was actually enjoying himself up there.

But all the old tedious presentational trademarks were still there. He has only one pace: Attack, Attack, Attack. Every phrase was hammered out as if it were just as damned vital as every phrase before it.

Stangely, he spent 80% of his time with his body and head pointed well towards the left, with only the occasional glance to the right...perhaps as an unconscious metaphor of his entire political carreer.

This was as good as Brown is ever going to get in a set-piece speech. He is always going to be an artisan rather than an artiste.

And I suspect that, even as the obligatory standing ovation reached its peak, Gordon was thinking, "Maybe one day I will be as good as Peter Mandelson himself."