Mastering the Political Interview

We all know the tired, meaningless buzzwords. 

‘Go viral’. ‘Cut through the noise’. Yawn. 

‘Ramp up’. ‘Level-up’. Double yawn.

If I have one word of advice for Burnham’s new No. 10 comms operation as they prepare to take the reins, it’s this: ditch all the annoying jargon and pointless phrases.

‘Delivering for the British people’. ‘Let’s be clear’. Where’s the off button?

In mastering the political interview, be human in your tone and delivery.

Capitalise on Burnham’s unique ability to connect. 

His more off-the-cuff social media game, from picking his favourite tunes to a funny ‘bin day’ take on the Farage by-election to easily chatting with punters on the street, is already winning him new fans. And yes, I totally agree on The Stone Roses album front! He likes his music, and this rendition of ‘Wonderwall’ will surely get a few more outings if the England team win the World Cup.

The Day One narrative should be about change, communication and connection.

Shake things up and stack that first 100-day news grid with change, change, change. Communicating that change and a compelling vision will be central to his pitch to the voters.

In policy terms, they’ve made a strong start (and good headlines!) with the new ‘No 10 North’ plan, which will change the optics and force the Whitehall machine out of its Westminster comfort zone. His full apology for the party’s slow response in calling for a ceasefire in Gaza is another policy gear change that sets him apart from his predecessor and suggests a new direction of travel.

Starmer and some of his Cabinet picks weren’t always the strongest communicators, and Burnham will do well to get a team in place that can bring energy and a strong sense of forward momentum.

Mastering the Political Interview

It was probably the political interview of the nineties.

“Did you threaten to overrule him?“

Newsnight bruiser Jeremy Paxman asked Michael Howard, the then Home Secretary, the question 12 times. 

The story behind the famous question was Howard’s management of the UK Prison Service and his account of the controversial dismissal of its head, Derek Lewis. 

Howard’s repeated insistence that he did not actually overrule Lewis, while carefully evading the “threat” part of the question, is the stuff of TV legend. It also ushered in a new era of more confrontational, hard-ball political interviews.

Addressing tricky questions in the media is a staple for any politician, and failing to answer them always tops viewer/listener complaints. To this day, Nick Robinson pointedly and quite rightly asks politicians to answer the question: “Simple yes or no”.

Of course, not every question can be answered. Deflecting or bridging is a common way to get out of trouble. “Let’s be clear”, a phrase first coined in the political lexicon by Tony Blair, is often a way into the bridge and is now used all too often. Before that, it was a parody term from Yes Minister, with the ubiquitous Jim Hacker line: ‘let us be abundantly clear…’ which was always anything but. 

The MO is for the politician to answer the question they want, and even if it’s off-topic, in the hope that the interviewer doesn’t nail them on it. 

It’s a big turn-off for listeners – and erodes public trust. Johnson would deflect with humour, pivot to a totally unrelated government slogan or a token ruffle of the hair when he was in deep do-do. And not just in media interviews. Even at PMQs, the Commons Speaker had to butt in to remind Boris to answer the questions.

Regardless of party colours, answering a simple yes-or-no question is routinely sidestepped. Be as direct, relatable and plain-speaking as possible. Use real-world examples of how government action is helping people in their everyday lives. Make it about people and not numbers. 

Always play it safe if you don’t know the answer to a question, and state that clearly, but the default setting is too often not to answer the question and fall into a doom loop of “let’s be clears”.

Prepwork is the Legwork 

Preparing for the worst is the name of the game when it comes to political interviews. 

Every eventuality. Every curveball. 

Mastering the brief is all important. Be across the policy detail. Drill down. 

Diane Abbot came famously unstuck when Nick Ferrari pushed her on the costings of her new policing policy. She got the maths wrong live on air, and it cost her the job of Home Secretary.

Prep means scanning the papers ahead of a live radio appearance if you’re a new minister for Sport and avoiding this car crash interview, or refusing to answer the simple sum ‘what’s 8×9?’ on live TV because you’re the Schools Minister, promoting your new times tables exam plan and don’t want to look a total fool if you get it wrong!

Another popular political ambush, which is always asked and consistently answered wrongly, is the perennial “How much is a pint of milk?” In classic Boris style, he guessed wrong at 80p and laughed it off, saying he ‘could tell them the price of a bottle of champagne’.

And, in 2022, Rishi Sunak had a standard tin of baked beans at 45p, only to find out his conservative estimate was way off, as the cost-of-living crisis has seen the price almost double. Or David Cameron not using his loaf and revealing he didn’t know the price of bread because he ‘had a Panasonic electronic breadmaker.’ Epic fails all round but shows how important a robust brief that covers all the bases is!

The Big Three Takeaways

A primetime slot on the Today Programme, BBC Breakfast or Sky News gives you the public stage to get your message across to many millions of people. 

Ask yourself: what lasting message do you want your audience to take away? Does it pass the friends-and-family talkability test?

Nail your messaging to three main points. Short, bulleted and easily remembered. Don’t overscript it either. If it’s live, the spokesperson should be able to think on their feet and build rapport with their interviewer early, which means keeping it loose to start with. 

In his short tenure, Starmer frequently struggled to connect and make a message stick. His every move felt too stage-managed and heavy-handed. Whoever the incumbent, it’s an unenviable job being on the Downing Street press team, but his Government’s wins were poorly communicated and too often overshadowed by missteps/ U-turns / scandals.

As we’ve seen, words are important, and the term ‘managed decline’ in regard to the ‘tepid bath’ of the civil service should never have made it out of the building. Its meaning was unclear, unpopular and loaded with negativity. Widely derided and misconstrued, it certainly made headlines but not in a good way.

Surviving Scrutiny

Since becoming PM-in-waiting, Andy has been quiet in the media. Besides one big policy speech and notably not taking journalists’ questions, he’s kept out of the limelight. It’s a wise strategy given the size and complexity of his daunting in-tray. A tough road lies ahead amid a fractured political landscape, a potentially messy Farage by-election (or two!), and a myriad of policy challenges.

From Day One, the media battle will be intense, as he is bound to draw much fire for the lack of political scrutiny or leadership contest surrounding his appointment/coronation. I doubt he’ll have much of a honeymoon period. The probing political interviews will come thick and fast, and so they should, at a time of great political transition in the middle of a Parliament. Everything changes when the man at the top changes, and journalists are right to ask rigorous questions and delve deep. 

Burnham’s new team needs to get ahead of the news cycle and get some early wins to build forward momentum. Bold, big moments will define his premiership. On the home front and on the world stage. And not all of it is under his control.

From AI takeover to climate change to impromptu wars: we live in a world of huge risk, and communicating that risk to the public will become ever more important under his watch. Totally untested on the international front, he will need to learn on the job quickly and react well to fast-moving events if he is to succeed.

Future Focus: Principles, Pride and Passion

Another charismatic mayor across the Atlantic has been making significant gains on the political stage and building a national profile.

Like Burnham, Zohran Mamdani became a big-city mayor on a bold, left-wing platform and connected with voters, helped by his distinctive social media strategy and humorous takes.

Communicating his bold vision for the country and whether the public buys into that vision will determine Burnham’s political future beyond the next election.

Apply the ‘3 P’s’: Principles, Pride and Passion. At ground level, it’s about being authentic and passionate about the principles he most values. A pride in the country – its past, present and future. And, like Mamdani, making tangible improvements to people’s everyday lives that we can all see and connect with.

Being a natural and proactive communicator will help him set out his stall and find a communication strategy that plays to his strengths and taps into his passions.

Ever the optimist, while trying not to tempt fate, let’s hope his term kicks off in winning style with a momentous England World Cup triumph on July 19th! What an epic sporting achievement to bring the country back together again, even if just momentarily…

Check out our previous post on the art of TV interviews.