Expert to study politician-speak

Could today's politician's match Churchill's "Iron curtain" speech?

A political expert has been awarded more than £100,000 to fund research looking into the way politicians speak.

Swansea University's Dr Alan Finlayson will analyse speeches by the UK's main party leaders over the past century.

He suspects TV news demands and a desire for a snappy headline mean modern politicians opt for "sound bites" over argument.

He also questions if the utterings of a Brown or Cameron have the impact of their predecessors such as Churchill.

YOUR FAVOURITE SPEECH?

When Great Britain stood alone amid the challange of approaching war, Sir Winston Churchill's speech that included...This was their finest hour...became one of my favourite pieces of 20th century literature. Its cadences still ring in my 82-year old brain

John P. Eaton, Cold Spring, NY, USA

Dr Finlayson, of the university's department of politics and international relations will spend three years analysing what political leaders have said to their party conferences over the past century.

His research will track the rise of the popular press and mass media, beginning in the late 19th Century with the speeches of Balfour, Asquith and Campbell-Bannerman.

It will examine whether politicians' ability to sustain a sophisticated argument has been eroded by the ever growing demands of the media.

"My guess is that over time politicians have had to adapt more to the demands of the media - newspapers, radio and TV," he said.

He said part of his hypothesis was that today's speeches were carefully constructed so they could not be misconstrued when reported and were no longer primarily aimed at the live audience in front of the speaker.

Dr Finlayson contrasted the way today's politicians speak with Winston Churchill's memorable description of an "iron curtain" falling across Europe at the start of Cold War.

ONCE SAID... May 1789 William Wilberforce on slavery "A trade founded in iniquity..must be abolished." November 1863 Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address - "Government of the people, by the people, for the people." June 1940 Winston Churchill - "We shall fight them on the beaches" June 1963 John F Kennedy - "Ich bin ein Berliner" August 1963 Martin Luther King - "I have a dream" August 1974 Richard Nixon's resignation speech - "I have never been a quitter" October 1980 Margaret Thatcher - "The lady's not for turning" October 1981 David Steel - "Go back to your constituencies, and prepare for government" October 1985 Neil Kinnock to Liverpool council leaders - "You can't play politics with people's jobs." November 1990 Sir Geoffrey Howe's resignation speech Your views - what speech has inspired you?

"That's not a sound bite - it's a powerful image summing up the point he was making in a speech."

On the other hand, Tony Blair's desire to emphasise his government's priorities with the words "Education, education, education" was an example of a contemporary political orator.

"I don't think we get so many memorable phrases (these days) - not ones that will be remembered in time."

Most of his funding, awarded by the Leverhulme Trust, will cover the cost of a research fellow who will help compile and digitise all the speeches.

They will be made available to other researchers on a website for historians, political scientists, linguists and rhetoricians.

Dr Finlayson said the art of great political speeches was not dead but suggested political leaders in the UK could do worse than listen to some of the candidates in America's presidential race.

"In the United States they are very conscious of their history and tradition of great speech-making," he added.

He said Democrat hopeful Barack Obama was drawing comparisons with some of their great orators of the past such Lincoln or Washington.