Judi Atkins

‘... A 40-Year-Old Black Man Made the Point to Me’: Everyday Knowledge and the Performance of Leadership in Contemporary British Politics

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.

Rhetoric in British Politics and Society

The art of rhetoric is central to the practice of politics. It also, however, plays an important role in civic and private life, where it is employed to persuade, negotiate and resolve disputes on a daily basis. Using the Aristotelian categories of ethos (appeals based on the character of the speaker), pathos (appeals to the emotions of an audience) and logos (appeals to reason), the contributors to this collection explore topics ranging from Prime Ministers Questions and Welsh devolution to political satire and the rhetoric of cultural racism. This collection provides a highly accessible and engaging discussion of a variety of issues, while casting new light on the place and function of rhetoric in contemporary Britain. As such, it will appeal to a wide audience, including scholars and students of rhetoric, political communication, British politics, cultural studies and sociology.

‘As Shakespeare so Memorably Said…’: Quotation, Rhetoric, and the Performance of Politics

This article examines the use of quotation in British political rhetoric since 1945. It argues that quotations are not only a source of authority, but a way of claiming authorisation. The article also shows how, through quotations, party leaders try to establish connections between themselves and the common cultural resources of their audience, and how they attempt to show fidelity to a tradition even as they try to redirect it. The conclusion is that rhetorical analysis exposes the symbolic, ritualised aspect of contemporary political and ideological practices, the understanding of which requires the integration of rhetorical and performance theories.

'Together in the National Interest’: The Rhetoric of Unity and the Formation of the Cameron–Clegg Government

Following the formation of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat government in May 2010, David Cameron and Nick Clegg sought to persuade party members, the electorate and a sceptical media that their partnership would hold together for the duration of the parliament. Taking as its starting point Kenneth Burke’s theory of rhetoric as identification, this article explores the strategies employed by senior Coalition figures to construct and present an image of unity to these different audiences. Of particular concern are appeals to the parties’ shared values and to the ‘national interest’, as well as the narrative of Britain’s ‘debt crisis’. This narrative served to minimise inter-party divisions by inviting MPs and supporters to unite behind the cause of deficit reduction, in opposition to the ‘fiscally irresponsible’ Labour Party that had allegedly wrecked the economy. The article concludes by reflecting on the lessons for the partners in a future UK coalition government.

Narrating One Nation: The Ideology and Rhetoric of the Miliband Labour Party

Speaking at the 2012 Labour Party Conference, Ed Miliband set out his vision of ‘One Nation’. This article maps the core concepts of Labours ideology and identifies the narratives used to argue for One Nation social security reform. It locates these narratives within Labours traditions and demonstrates that they coalesce in the leadership persona of Miliband himself. Though an attempt to respond to a populist ‘rhetorical culture’, the article contends that this strategy has created a self-enclosed ideology that cannot conceive of an audience beyond itself. Labour therefore needs to overcome this solipsism if it is to secure victory in 2015.

Introduction: Conflict, Cooperation and the Cameron–Clegg Government

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Atkins, Judi / Introduction: Conflict, Cooperation and the Cameron–Clegg Government. In: Political Quarterly, Vol. 86, No. 1, 2015, p. 81–84., which has been published in final form at https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.12149 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.

Conclusion: Rhetoric, British Identity and Interdisciplinarity

British society is going through a sustained period of change, which has been accompanied by controversy and debate. This change was stimulated by major economic shifts, the transformation to a multicultural society, and closer integration with the European Union. In such times of transition, rhetoric comes to the fore as a way for social actors to articulate the shape of problems and to search for solutions by integrating the new with the old. Rhetoric allows individuals to symbolically frame these changes, to adapt to change and to preserve tradition, but always with a political slant because the linguistic representation of the world is a powerful way to define reality and shape conceptions of a possible future. The chapters in this book reveal much about the nature of rhetorical power and how it is used in British politics and society. Through rhetoric, individuals — whether the prime minister, public commentators, journalists or ordinary Britons — cope with change and stake their own claims about what it is to be British, about who should be praised and who vilified, about what makes British culture and about what we should do politically to adapt to social change. The very idea of Britishness is negotiated through rhetoric, although never with a single voice. Rhetoric is a language of multiplicity, of metaphors and metonymy, a world created through implied meaning in which it is necessary for the audience to interpret who is included in the vision of the nation, a vision which is always contested.

The Legacy of the Coalition and Its Lessons for the Future

This concluding chapter summarizes the main findings of the book. It then examines the strategies of identification and division employed by the post-2015 Cameron government in the policy areas of higher education and Europe. Of particular concern are the case for introducing a Teaching Excellence Framework and the debate that took place during the 2016 referendum campaign over whether Britain should leave or remain in the EU. Next, the chapter discusses the rhetoric of identification employed by the Conservative minority government and the Democratic Unionist Party following their confidence and supply agreement in the aftermath of the inconclusive 2017 general election. After identifying lessons for future multi-party governments in the UK, it finally considers some productive avenues for further research on coalition politics.

The Formation of the Coalition

This chapter examines the strategies of unity and distinctiveness employed by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats during the bargaining stage and shortly after the formation of the Coalition. The first section outlines the parties’ manifesto pledges in the areas of higher education, constitutional reform, Europe and foreign policy. In doing so it highlights the points of overlap and division, and considers how these were resolved in the Coalition’s Programme for Government. The chapter then analyses the rhetoric of senior Coalition politicians, showing that they mobilized the principles of freedom, fairness and responsibility to foster ideological identification. The partners also appealed to the ‘national interest’ to quell intra-party dissent, and they employed identification through antithesis to unite their audience against the ‘fiscally irresponsible’ Labour Party.

Coalition Termination: The 2015 General Election Campaign

This chapter argues that the Liberal Democrats struggled to differentiate themselves in the run-up to the 2015 general election. The campaign was dominated by the economy, and Cameron used the storyline of the deficit to remind the public of how far the country had come since 2010. He also sought to foster instrumental identification by appealing to the individual and the national interest. The Liberal Democrats based their campaign on the concept of fairness, which had served them well in 2010 but lacked conviction after five years of austerity. As they could no longer be a ‘party of protest’, the Liberal Democrats sought to demonstrate governing competence through a strategy of equidistance. This decision cost them their electoral distinctiveness, and so further diminished their appeal.