Both interviewees were reflective of the Blair administration and the leadership of Gordon Brown. Interviewee A referred to British politics and the emphasis upon a presidential style of government:
“I think it’s – I think it’s something which is changing. I think people now talk when they talk about the prime minister they talk about and ask questions about whether we’ve got now a presidential form of government. In other words are people more interested in the person, that person and their characteristics, their character, their competencies rather may be than they are in individual policies”.
Question: And has that changed over time? “I think it probably has. I think it’s too simple to say it’s kind of following the American model.
But even in my lifetime I’ve seen quite significant shift towards kind of presidential character based system”.
Interviewee A also referred to the role of spin in relation to the Blair administration and the ways in which confidence was lost in Blair:
“I think the other thing you can’t kind of ignore where he’s [Tony Blair] concerned is the effect of what became his spin. You know people’s confidence in him and their ability to believe him. So what started out as informal regular guy who will engage and speak to people, kind of people then became to start questioning that I think, you know. Can we believe what we see? Can we believe what we hear? Is it actually to some extent, artificial? Is it a charade because you know the spin appears to be capturing the person? So even before Iraq I think people had begun to kind of out, but it was the Iraq policy that did it for him”.
On the personalisation of politics, interviewee A stated
“I think we are just becoming a more obsessed with – well image and character are different things. I mean I think one would hope that character always has played a part in elections. I think the fact
that people are under such scrutiny during the election period, means that their character is under huge kind of investigation”.
On the mediation of leadership, interviewee B stated that
“the publics relationship with political leaders I think is mediated through the print and televisual media to be honest so er, I I I don’t I don’t think people feel a greater sense of connection with the politicians now. In fact in some ways I think they feel slightly more alienated”
and went on to note that the electorate’s alienation from politics is manifested through declining levels of political trust. Perhaps even more important than this, interviewee B elaborated on the image management and staging of political actors:
“I think this sort of image management of politicians identity, of their personality, character whatever er I think it’s a real problem because it prevents people, prevents people getting some sense of who this person really is er, but er, but also makes it very difficult for people to identify with them”.
5.7 Conclusion
In conclusion to this chapter which has described the interviews conducted with a range of practitioners integral to contemporary British politics, aspects summarising the Westminster cultural and institutional context within which the case studies operate are outlined. This is then related to contemporary leadership performance,
character and persona. The following aspects constitute the Westminster context:
• A cultural shift within the polity in which a “leadership-centred kind of political culture” has emerged (Political leader B). The emphasis upon political leadership has highlighted the role of character, the ‘person’ and the
‘persona’. For example, “where David Cameron goes, where he is seen, what he is seen wearing, what he is seen talking about, what his interests are, all serve to define the character” (Speechwriter C) and “if you’re not naturally
good at performing in modern politics its unlikely you’ll succeed” (Political magazine editor C).
• An institutional shift is evident in the ways in which politicians are portrayed in the media. The age of 24 hour news has intensified coverage of political leaders; in some cases the ferocity of media coverage can offer positive opportunities for performance as well as negative constraints. The media are thus semi-political actors who are embedded in the political process;
contemporary British politics cannot be seen in isolation to the media.
• A highly influential media operates within Westminster, which, at times, operates as a “pack mentality” (Political correspondent A) and can significantly affect political status, authority and outcomes. Political leaders are thus not in control of their publicly perceived character and persona.
• The value judgements of PSB editors are significant to the political process and the representation of political actors in the public realm; PSB editors are semi-political practitioners who can help or hinder political careers. The often close relationship between politicians and PSB editors/journalist can blur objectivity and can determine value-free judgements which consequentially can cause damage to the credibility of PSB.
• Political correspondents were committed to the principle of objective political reporting; however, in practice, the value judgements of political correspondents and editors can feature in political reporting.
• The rise of New Media e.g. the Internet, has lessened the influence of newspapers or news broadcasts and has increased the competitiveness between correspondents in terms of gaining access to politicians and news stories. The role of spin doctors is a feature of contemporary British politics.
• The way in which political actors are received by caricaturists is important in the representation of politicians. The nature of political caricature depends upon several factors, including the actions, utterances, image, style, character, performances of politicians, events and circumstances, and the actions of political peers and opponents.
• Speeches are part of the political process, and one of the ways in which the perceived character of politicians is imagined by audiences. “Speeches are an important act of leadership. It’s a very effective form of leading because you’re gathering you’re tribe because they’re all watching, not necessarily there in the hall paying keen attention, all 300 MPs you got and they then start to pick that up it’s a lot more efficient than writing to them all or having them all in for a meeting and you’re doing it all the time. So it’s a very important act of leadership… its honing the argument and pushing it forward”.
(Speechwriter A). Moreover, the emphasis upon party conference speeches by the media illustrates not only the role of language in politics but political performance.
• British politics has undergone a shift towards a highly personalised/semi-presidential system in terms of contemporary styles of leadership and the emphasis placed upon political actors:
“I think people now talk when they talk about the prime minister they talk about and ask questions about whether we’ve got now a presidential form of government, in other words are people more interested in the person, that person and their characteristics, their character, their competencies rather may be than they are in individual policies”. “I think it probably has. I think it’s too simple to say it’s kind of following the American model. But even in my lifetime I’ve seen quite significant shift towards kind of presidential character basis system” (Leader of quango B).
• Policy innovations that are responsive to circumstances/events can have some effect upon a leader’s status and authority. Through policy, the publicly perceived political persona can emerge both nationally and internationally.
Circumstance and a leader’s handling of unexpected events through policy can have positive (and negative) effects. The media reception of policy can be decisive in terms of the perceived character of a leader. Political commentator F stated that “positive coverage is very potent”.
Taking into account aspects of the Westminter cultural and institutional context, contemporary British political leadership performance is affected in several ways:
Firstly, political leaders negotiate (whether explicitly or implicitly) their character and image with media institutions. The mediation of leadership is the product of (or struggle with) inherited media institutions which may be politically biased. The media are semi-political actors who are embedded in the political process.
Secondly, the increasing emphasis upon the visual mediation of leadership has emphasised the role of symbolic politics and offered political leaders scope to fashion their political image and style. Furthermore, political action (timing, what is said, done, when, how, by whom) is crucial to the publicly perceived image and character of leaders. Political persona can also be shaped by circumstance and can offer scope for political performance.
Thirdly, political leadership can be reactive, specifically relating to one’s political rivals and adversaries, for example
“in 1991 when John Major’s government ran into the sands, and there was huge disillusionment – Tony Blair was new, and different, what was looked for, in him as a leader was a reaction to what people had become disillusioned with… it is less the product of what people are or what the public think they are; it is more about the product of how we offer an alternative to what is discredited”
(Political leader A).
Political performance cannot be viewed in isolation from political opponents. The ability to outshine or rival political rivals can generate forms of personal capital and enhance a leader’s status and credibility within mainstream political discourse.
Fourthly, the value-judgement of PSB editors is one way in which the mediation of the perceived character of politicians can translate into political success: followership, personal capital, election winning and so on or political failure. The ways in which the character of politicians is reported by the media is based upon some element of truth.
An already established character and image can have negative political ramifications as regards the mediation of political persona e.g. Brown’s dithering over a possible election offered the media scope in which
“quickly they were able to portray a character who was not just dithering but kind of they implied or lots of different... implied lots of different other things for him… awkward or weird or – so I think that does – a misfit” (Political correspondent H). The speed in which the political representations of Brown as the above began was based upon his political actions (albeit exaggerated) and “it does have a slight impact – it feeds through his media, the press he gets, as a slow drip feed effect on the public” (ibid).
Fifthly, the projection of a publicly perceived character and image by a politician that fits ill with circumstances can be damaging, and, very quickly, politicians are no longer in full control of their character and image and are susceptible to negative representations. Even more fatally, once a negative perception gains currency in the media and it can feed into public perception, political status and authority can be damaged. The attempt to recuperate the loss of personal/moral capital can be even more damaging and disingenuous. If it is the case that media representations are exaggerated, then we might say that the role of political reporters is similar to the practice of caricature, as correspondent F pointed out “all we are is a verbal equivalent of a cartoonist”. In addition to the ways that political reporting offers insights into the character of politicians, correspondent F noted the importance of
photographs “photos are the most potent way of getting the image across”. Visual imagery can inform leadership character, image and persona.
Sixthly, political leaders are not in control of their publicly perceived image and persona and are vulnerable (and susceptible) to negative, often very damaging and undermining representations by caricaturists. The frequency of some representations can keep alive a particular image of a political actor and in doing so, can erode and diminish political reputations. Illustrations of politicians are, in part, shaped through the lens of the caricaturist, and the wider prism of caricature as a practice can have negative consequences. Illustrations of politicians in some cases, transcend political time and space e.g. the boundaries of the national polity and exist on an international stage When visual representations transcend the polity, the image and character of political actors is exposed to a wider audience, and the audience reception to such representations can (if positive) permeate its way through cultural boundaries and offer political actors mass exposure. This enhanced international image can then (though not always) permeate back into the national polity with significant effects.
Conversely, the rejection of such representations offers constraints and limited or no opportunities. Therefore, culture outside the polity becomes significant when illustrations of political leaders (or political leaders themselves) transcend national political boundaries.
Seventhly, the effectiveness of a political speech can often be determined by performance and delivery as annual political party conferences have become rally-style events which attract considerable national media attention. A leader’s conference speech is important in terms of establishing or reasserting moral and political authority, enhancing political status and credibility, improving political image, and increasing one’s stock of personal capital. The memory of David Cameron’s 2005 party leadership speech (see chapter 8) was his performance and delivery
party and as opposition leader. If immediate audiences for political speeches (i.e. in the conference hall) are considered as powerful actors able to initiate a snowball effect of opinion, then the relationship between leader and led becomes crucial to the understanding of politics. Devotion and dependency upon a speaker can translate into positive support and emotional availability. It was, however, the general view among speechwriters that the media reception of a speech (coverage and comment) can impact upon the ways in which political actors are mediated.
This chapter has demonstrated the Westminster context within which the leadership case studies operate. The interviews conducted with elite practitioners who were integral to the political process indicated that leadership character, persona and performance are affected, in most part, by the media. The media refraction of political persona projected in the public realm can dramatically affect political status, authority and tenure in office.
The following three chapters, 6, 7 and 8 apply the framework of political performance to the leadership case studies and use the insights from this chapter as partially constitutive of the context within which performance takes place. Chapter 9 has three sub-chapters, 9.1, 9.2 and 9.3 which correspond to each of the three Leaders’
Debates and similarly uses the insights from this chapter as contexts of political performance.