Speech of the Month, October 2022 - Mark Drakeford

I’ve sometimes wondered where Keir Starmer stops and Mark Drakeford, the First Secretary of Wales, starts. Both come across as bright, considered, decent and a little bit boring. What would either of them bring to a stag do, say? Course there are worse things to be than boring but when a person that we’ve decided is a tad on the dull side suddenly presents in technicolour, it’s an unexpected delight. And this is exactly what Mark Drakeford did in the Senedd this month when he responded to the Conservative leader in Wales’ questions. If you didn’t see the moment, here it is…

'Speech of the Month' almost always looks at a great speech and picks out what less famous mortals like us can learn from the speech. In this instance, it’s difficult to pass on those sorts of tips because it won’t do for most of us to lose our rag in a work setting. Imagine an architect screaming at his client because her ideas for the new-build are primitive garbage or the NHS finance director roaring at a group of surgeons because they’re still buying the priciest false knee joints. They’d be taken to a disciplinary before anyone could say ‘calm down, dear.’ But for some reason, such heated discourse is perfectly fine in the world of politics. 

Nonetheless, I’ve reflected on Drakeford’s performance and I think there are a couple of points it raises that we should consider to help improve our public speaking. 

Is there a side of ourselves we never show?

If Drakeford often loses his temper, then his clash with Andrew RT Davies (not to be confused with Russell T Davies) wouldn’t have made the news. It did because he’d (unintentionally) revealed a new facet of his character, and that’s what made the moment so must-see.

I have a friend who once had a boss who was a dead-ringer, in every way, for Margaret from The Apprentice. Clever, thoughtful and with beautiful manners, this was a woman who never swore. Not so much as a low-level bloody’ or ‘crap’. So when my friend had to apprise her of a team member who’d been sharing internal information with a competitor, and she responded with, “Get the eff-er in here now”, my friend knew she was very angry. Her surprising reaction made him tingle. 

So think about the facets of your character that you tend not to show. What would people least expect of you? This question is probably difficult for you to answer yourself so ask someone who you trust to tell you. And if an opportunity arises where you could show that facet, then do.

Does the climax have a topper?

With every sentence that follows Drakeford’s, “It is shocking, it is shocking to me…” section of his speech, the tempo and the pitch of his voice rise. It could have peaked at “claim some sort of moral high ground” only Drakeford clearly felt that that wasn’t enough of a rhetorical topper, he could up the oratory ante further, so he followed up with, “What sort of world do you belong in?!”

Knowing how to round-off a point in a rousing manner is a skill in itself. There are no rules to follow to arrive at a great topper, but you’ll know when you have. Under-cook it and you’ve missed a trick; over-egg it and you’ve become a windbag. Get it right and you’ve ended on a tantalising note. Tantalisation that’s akin to ‘Dulce et decorum est’ at the end of Wilfred Owen’s poem or the final high-voltage strum at the close of Bowie's Jean Genie. Ye ha!

If you enjoyed this post, then do check out others.