Labour is looking for a leader. But a new book on ‘the language of leadership’ might not be the best place to look. Winning Minds is a reminder for Labour supporters not so much of ‘what it is all about’ but of ‘where it all went wrong’. ‘For leaders’ writes author Simon Lancaster, ‘it’s not enough to make sure the substance of our argument is right, we must also be concerned with the style. It’s not just about the meaning, it’s about the music. It’s not just about the reasoning, it’s about the rhythm’.
And there it is. Alliteration, balance and the rule of three. Throughout the book, Lancaster applies examples of tried, tested and often centuries-old techniques based on a seductive combination of behavioural economics, neuroscience and classics. He explains how Aristotle’s principles of ethos, pathos and logos engage the rhetoric of credibility, emotion and logic with the three distinctive parts of our brain.
It is an easy and engaging read. And for the political geeks among us, it provides more that its fair share of drinking games. Like the BBC Question Time drinking game, where all you need to do is spot the politician using the ‘empathy – values – balance’ technique: ‘I understand you’re angry (empathy), but we all want the best for the NHS (values), that is why we have promised not just to match the government but to increase spending by a reasonable and affordable amount (balance)’.
For Lancaster, much like Morecambe and Wise with Andre Previn, it is not just about playing the right notes but about playing them in the right order. ‘The most important thing’, he tells us, ‘is that you win over the instinctive and emotional brain before even trying to come in with the logic’. No, seriously. Just listen to those Labour leadership candidates.
Lancaster’s book tells us that third way politics was ‘all about balance – both rhetorically and politically’ and reminds us of some of the classic 1990s sound-bites combining the rule of three. But he also points out some of the noughties tribute band’s greatest hits: ‘A modern compassionate Conservatism is right for our times, right for our party and right for our country’. And he remixes it with some neo-retro, anti-austerity, non-alternatives: ‘I’m not voting out of absolute indifference, weariness and exhaustion from the lies, treachery and deceit of the political class … we have a disenfranchised, disillusioned, despondent underclass that are not being represented by the political system’. Yes, folks, the search for authenticity in modern politics continues.
We all know it is a good idea for politicians to campaign in poetry but to govern in prose, and yet, Labour seem occasionally to forget ourselves. Much criticised for his Natalie Bennett-style brain fade during his final party conference speech, Ed Miliband might eventually be remembered as the Labour leader who tried too hard to empathise – just ask Gareth. Miliband the younger was the Labour leader for whom authenticity was a blessing during his selection, only for his political geek-chic to curse him at the general election. Lancaster claims that ‘people decide in one-tenth of a second whether or not to trust a leader’. As Labour seek a new leader, let us hope the public give the winning candidate a little longer to win over our instinctive, emotional and, eventually, our rational brains.
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Richard Darlington was a special adviser at the Deparment for International Development and the Department for Education
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Winning minds: Secrets from the language of leadership
By Simon Lancaster
Palgrave Macmillan | 240pp | £19.99