Speech of the Month, November 2024 - Kim Leadbeater

I’ll always remember where I was when the vote of on the Private Members’ bill on Assisted Dying was announced: crouched down on my kitchen floor, picking damp tissue bits from a dark load of washing. Don’t you hate it when a rogue tissue sneaks in the drum? Still, this annoyance didn’t distract me from the relief I felt when the aye voters refrained from cheering and the nays failed to boo following the historic announcement.  

It was a huge day for Kim Leadbeater, the MP behind the bill. Rather than looking jubilant that the vote had gone her way, she looked relieved and exhausted. And no doubt she was. It’s not every day a person instigates massive social change. Her speech that opened the debate on assisted dying will be watched by people down the decades - that’s why it’s November 2024’s Speech of the Month. So, if you haven’t seen it, do check it out. I’m going to outline what worked, and what needed a little more work. 

Powerful stories to illustrate the need for assisted dying

I’ll remember Leadbeater’s stories about the man who couldn’t bring himself to smoother his terminally ill wife because he couldn’t bear that being her last memory of him and the mother who tried to take her own life in her bed using broken glass without realising that her toddler had got into the bed beside her for months to come. They’re incredibly emotive and powerful. 

I appreciate that, unless we're family lawyers or charity directors, few of us can appropriately weave equally heartbreaking stories into our work presentations, but we should all look for the human-interest stories more than we probably do. Humans enjoy being told stories, and a problem is often understood better if, rather than talking about it, we talk about a human who has to overcome it. Suddenly we can visualise the problem and we engage with it.   

A pre-told story is still a useable story

In several pre-debate interviews, I heard Leadbeater tell the very same stories. Now I know many of us would feel awkward telling a story that others have already heard. Get over it. As long as the bulk of your current audience hasn’t already heard the story, then don’t feel a bore retelling it. Leadbeater knew her speech would be broadcast on the evening news and that millions would see it, so why would she ditch good material because she’d already delivered it to thousands on the 'Leading' podcast? She wouldn’t, and she didn't.

She looked the part

Hands up, when I first saw her stand to deliver her speech, I thought, ‘Blinkin’ heck Kim, couldn’t you have got your roots done!’ But actually, I think the fact that she didn’t look too groomed added to the potency of her message. She looked wrung out, like she’d better things to do than to nip to the hairdressers and give her nails a lick of paint. And yet, her jacket and dress had a simple, funereal tone which captured the mood of her bill perfectly.

Her pace could’ve been better

Leadbeater was nervous making her speech. It’s bad enough addressing a full house, but when the world’s media is looking at you as you do so, and the outcome is so potentially momentous, then you can see why adrenaline might be pumping. And when adrenaline’s coursing around our bodies, many of us speed up our speech. This is a pity because it means the audience has to work to hear every word and it also means that some great lines aren’t done justice. Her line, “Stop praying for a miracle and start praying for mercy,” was a blinder, but it didn’t get the pay off it deserved because it was delivered too quickly. 

She clung to her paper too much

Again, understandable. And I wouldn’t have advised her to ditch the paper and work from bullets, not with such an important speech. However, with sightreading, she could have given better, prolonged eye-contact instead of the little-and-often flicker she delivered. Eye-contact is so important when persuading. By looking directly into your audience, people understand how genuine you are and they perceive you to be confident.