Coffee House Shots: Keir Starmer and the lost art of political oratory

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4.4 • 785 Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2025

⏱️ 31 minutes

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Summary

From Churchill to Thatcher to Blair to Farage, Parliament has seen some truly fantastic rhetoricians over the years. But last week came the news that – in a bid to improve his own oratorical skill – Keir Starmer employed a voice coach: former actress Leonie Mellinger. Mellinger has been at the centre of a fresh COVID-19 row, as the Prime Minister considered her to be so important that she qualified as a ‘key worker’ in 2020, visiting Labour headquarters in a mask on Christmas Eve 2020 to advise Starmer.

It is not an unusual practice to employ a voice coach to improve a politician’s public speaking, and on the podcast Michael Gove is joined by his own former coach Graham Davies, to recover the lost art of political rhetoric. They discuss what makes a great political speech, share some of their favourite examples and ask: has Mellinger actually improved Starmer’s delivery?

Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Megan McElroy.

Transcript

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0:00.0	We are very pleased to announce the full line-up for our Coffee House Shots live event on the 26th
0:04.8	February at the Emanuel Centre in Westminster. Join Coffee House Shots regulars, Michael Gove,
0:10.1	Casey Balls, Kate Andrews, as well as very special guests, Robert Jenrick and Jonathan Ashworth
0:15.0	for a look to the year ahead. They will be tackling such questions as, can the Chancellor
0:19.9	reframe the budget in her first spring statement?
0:22.1	What will Trump's first 100 days look like? And will reform cause an upset at the local elections?
0:27.3	So that's Emmanuel Centre, 7.30, 26th of February. And for tickets, go to spectator.com.com.
0:33.2	We look forward to seeing you there.
0:40.2	Hello, I'm Michael Gove and this is Coffee House Shots.
0:45.3	Kirstonger has been in the news for hiring a voice coach, Leonie Mellinger,
0:50.5	in order to ensure that rather than just sounding like an adenoidal insurance salesman from Surrey,
0:56.0	he sounds like an authoritative adenoidal insurance salesman from Surrey.
1:01.3	And Leonia Mellinger's support for Kea Stama as a coach in encouraging him to present himself better
1:09.0	has raised two questions.
1:12.7	One, were the COVID rules broken, but two, how much do our politicians now rely on external help in getting
1:20.7	their message across? I'm joined today by Graham Davis, who's coached a variety of politicians,
1:27.2	most of them conservative,
1:28.5	at various different stages in their career, helping them to get their message across,
1:33.0	whether it's from the podium or on broadcast.
1:36.2	Graham, very good to see you.
1:38.3	Thinking about Kirstama and the impact of the only Mellinger,
1:42.8	why do you think Kirstama felt that he needed a voice coach?
	...

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