Communicating Hope

The sun is shining, hope is in the air…. OK, so England sadly didn’t win the World Cup. But Spain did, and in my book, that’s the next best thing!

Team Burnham is already starting to communicate differently, and in more human tones.

His first act as PM was the highly symbolic ditching of the mandatory Downing Street lectern. 

Week One has been blanket Burnham on Instagram and TikTok, with him jogging with Mo Farah, driving buses and climbing ladders with content creators. In purely PR terms, he is a fluid communicator who knows how to communicate his wins.

It’s silly season, of course, so much of the political competition right now on social media is coming from an intergalactic bin in Clacton. 

Communicating hope was big on the media rounds this week, and it was refreshing to hear a government minister give a direct and honest assessment of the new £2 cap on bus fares.

When asked on Today if the price cap would really change people’s lives, Heidi Alexander, the Transport Secretary, didn’t oversell it but said:

“It’s not the whole solution, and I’m going to admit that, but actually giving people a little bit of hope that help is on the way is, I think, the right thing to be doing.”

If communicating hope is the end goal, he’s certainly made a strong start with a slew of new cost-of-living policies, setting up No 10 North and going big on social media … while steering away from the conventional big set-piece speech or press conference.

Decency is Still a Thing in Politics

Keeping the good vibes going, it was good to see party leaders and sworn enemies come together to pay tribute to the departing Labour leader, Keir Starmer, at his last PMQs. 

Kemi Badenoch thanked Starmer’s family for supporting him through his time in office; Ed Davey praised him as a ‘true patriot’, and Richard Tice made nice.

As warm applause rippled through the usually raucous Commons, it was a decent send-off for an honourable man who is a class act and, even at this, his lowest moment, thanked the Tory leader for the private support she gave him when his brother died, and an attempted arson attack on his family home. 

For an instant, we were transported to a nicer, kinder, more civilised era before normal service resumes and the Bash Street Kids return with Burnham as the new boy to spar with. Soon enough, Parliament will be back to the usual childish antics, in scenes a bit like that Inbetweeners episode when the really mouthy one jumps up on the car shouting ‘Oooooh, Friend’. 

Love, Hope and Bonhomie

There was a similar love-in of sorts between Neil Kinnock and John Major in a rather wonderful R4 programme on the ‘lost’ art of decency. Radio at its best, it was a timely reminder that political interviews in a more conversational, less hostile format can heal divisions in these fractured times. 

Kinnock reflected that decency is often wrongly seen as a weakness in politics, and he attributed his 1992 election defeat precisely because Major was decent. And, in his opinion, that’s what the public wanted after the Thatcher years.

Major was moved when he heard Kinnock’s clip – and it was a bit of a moment: 

“I had no idea he felt like this. Neil and I were opponents, not enemies, and I think what he says speaks very well of him and is what I would expect from him.” 

This is all very much in tune with the new PM’s messaging on changing the political culture and injecting more inclusivity and kindness into the national conversation. 

While I’m not holding my breath, no matter what side of the political fence you’re on, I think that’s one aspiration we can all hopefully agree on.

‘Hope’ is the political word du jour, and it’s on that positive note that I’ll end this week’s post.

Check out my previous post on the tough communication challenges that lie ahead for the new PM and a post on how Team Burham is communicating the hard sells here.

Thanks for reading. It’s much appreciated.