Speech of the Month, July 2025 - Rachel's Tears

Usually, I’m content to listen to Prime Minister’s Questions on the radio. And this was my chosen method of reception on 2 July. However, before the questions began, Hugo Rifkind and Ayesha Hazarika on Times Radio were exchanging phrases like, ‘My God, Rachel Reeves looks dreadful!’ and ‘She looks like she hasn’t slept for days,’ so, before you could say, ‘Fire up the box,’ I’d charged into the living room and put the telly on.

So I witnessed Rachel’s battle with the boo-hoos in real time. I have to say, it was painful to watch, and yet, watch it I did. Rachel’s tears stole the show. Could you look away from this?

Rachel’s tears were allegedly sparked by a personal matter (a matter that must have cleared up remarkably quickly because the following morning she was at a press conference all smiles and breezy manner) and had nothing to do with the fact that the night before her party had made concessions to its backbenchers to get a benefits bill through, which now means that Reeves has no choice but to go back on her pre-election promise about not increasing taxes, and therefore being loathed by the public. No, it was a personal matter. Talk about insulting our intelligence!

Still, what interests me most about this episode, and why I’m writing about it, is that Rachel’s Tears show us how easy a non-speaker can upstage the speaker, especially when the speaker is performing on camera. So here are a few do’s and don’ts if you’re ever in shot when a person near to you is giving a speech:

Do

• Be aware that the camera might pick you up and consider how far the footage might travel. 
• Focus on the speaker. Listen to them. Support them. Nod at their assertions. Laugh at their jokes (even if they’re not especially funny) and emit disgust when they do. 
• Be still. Animated gestures or fidgety handwringing are going to pull the focus because they’re irritating. 
• Dress appropriately. Don’t pull the focus because your top is too low-cut or the print is too busy or because you're wearing a joke tie. And don’t wear anything that doesn’t fit you properly and / or isn’t secure. Now is not the time for a wardrobe malfunction. 

Don’t

• Go on camera if you know you might cry. I really feel for Reeves here. Even though she felt dreadful, she still turned up to PMQs because she felt she had a duty to and knew that if she didn’t, there’d be rumours about why she wasn’t there. But after the event, I’m sure she’d have rather dealt with rumours that couldn’t have been proven instead of having to pretend she had a personal matter. I mean, now we're thinking her husband might be having it off with someone else.  
• Use your phone. Okay, you might be tweeting about something the speaker is saying, but viewers don’t know that. How do they know you’re not sexting Rachel Reeves's husband or making a dinner reservation? Things they don’t feel should be happening on their dime. 
• Doodle.  
• Forget about the camera. Now’s not the time to eye-roll, pull incredulous faces or raise a sceptical eyebrow. Well, not if you want to come across as a team player. 
• Pick your nose! 

Get in touch if you or your team need to hone their video performances.