What politicians are really telling us with their body language
The Tory leadership hopefuls have been sending hidden messages – here, Joe Shute and Helen Chandler-wilde decode their tics
The first leadership debate is over, the results are in… and we now know the terrifying extent of the bizarre body language that the new wave of Conservative leadership hopefuls will employ in their bid to persuade us of their suitability to run the country.
If 55 per cent of human communication is non-verbal, then the writhing Uriah Heep hand gestures, cowboy gait and unblinking camera stares on display during Sunday night’s televised debate was one giant silent scream.
With hostilities between the leadership hopefuls set to resume on BBC One tonight, professional speaking coaches Robert Phipps and Peter Botting explain the secrets of the body language on display – and the tics and tricks we should all be on the lookout for.
1. The Tory Power Stance
Legs wider than John Wayne after a 12-mile gallop, wide enough to encircle Barnier and Juncker and crush them between your thighs like the feeble Eurocrats they are. This fabled posture – popularised at Tory party conferences past by the likes of David Cameron and George Osborne – was taken to new extremes last week by Rory Stewart during an interview with the BBC’S Laura Kuenssberg. Perhaps Stewart’s generous new swagger was a way to emphasise his broad, centrist credentials… or was he just easing the chafing from his walking tour of marginal constituencies?
Either way, Robert Phipps, the body language expert, calls it “the most ridiculous bit of body language to come out of politics in 20 years”.
According to Peter Botting, who has worked with a third of current sitting Conservative MPS to improve their body language, the impetus for striking the power pose is most likely not to be overconfidence, but fear. “You need to tell your body that everything is calm, so you don’t hyperventilate and talk in a silly little breathless voice,” he says.
Another contender, Sajid Javid, has been known to strike the pose, and Theresa May is a fan, too – but the master was Cameron. According to Botting, the former prime minister would take things one step further, rolling forward on to the balls of his feet to appear even more alluring to voters. “He also didn’t go to the loo before because he needed that pressure on him,” says Botting.
2. Talk to the hands
On Sunday night, we were treated to a masterclass. There was Michael Gove with his perma-linked fingers, channelling Mr Burns and every Bond villain since 1953. Rory Stewart preferred one palm splayed in the manner of an officious lollipop lady, while Dominic Raab opted for the Alan Shearer single finger-point.
Jeremy Hunt employed a onehanded judo chop; as he told an official delegation to China last July, his wife is Japanese, after all…
But when it comes to hand gestures, the winner of the first leadership debate was Sajid Javid for the breadth of his display.
Prior to the event, he had debuted an index-knuckle point in his campaign video. According to Phipps: “It rams the point home, but it’s less threatening and aggressive than the finger-point.”
Javid wins extra points for a seamless use, mid-debate, of the “precision grip”: a loose fist where the index finger and thumb come together, a move favoured by President Donald Trump. “It’s how you hold something if you’re writing or sculpting,” explains Phipps. “What they’re trying to do is make people aware that this point is important. They are saying: ‘I am being precise about this.’”
On the question of precision, The Saj also employed a new move that we can only hope we see more of during the second TV debate: palms spread far apart, rueful expression. Perhaps the ultimate political gesture for the Brexit era.
3. The eyes have it
Enter Dominic Raab, who offers no compromise when it comes to a no-deal Brexit – and no blinking, either. Former colleagues and frenemies of the erstwhile Brexit secretary have warned of his “tunnel vision” and, on Sunday night, viewers were transfixed by his stare. Raab was particularly stark-eyed when lambasting Michael Gove over his Brexit credentials, leaving viewers concerned as to whether the karate black belt had misunderstood what was meant by the “knockout” stage of the contest.
Javid also merits a mention in dispatches for making it through his entire introductory spiel without a single blink. On the other end of the spectrum was Jeremy Hunt, possibly the blinkiest politician since Ben Swain in The Thick of It. And who says this leadership run-off deprives voters of choice?
4. Direct to camera
The technique first deployed in modern politics during the 2010 TV election debate by former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg – to drastic, poll-upticking effect – has gone rogue. When Michael Gove, in particular, chose to deliver his speeches straight down the barrel of whatever camera was unfortunate enough to focus on him, it prompted collective shivers in living rooms up and down the land.
Breaking the fourth wall, which worked so well for Fleabag, was deemed “seriously creepy” by television viewers on Twitter. Another stated that the Environment Secretary’s asides made them feel “very uncomfortable”.
5. Take your audience with you
Jeremy Hunt, you may have heard, was in business before politics, and he wants everybody in the room to know he understands their everyday concerns. On Sunday night, he did this by moving his head slowly from left to right as he spoke in the manner Robocop might while scanning a room for perps. Occasionally, the Foreign Secretary could also be seen spreading his arms wide in the sort of beatific gesture befitting his benevolent campaign.
“It’s like you are my audience and I want to bring you in,” explains Phipps. “When the hands come to the chest, you want to gather them up to your way of thinking.”
Boris Johnson, who may actually appear behind his lectern this evening, is another arch armspreader. According to Botting, for most candidates this would make them look “unreliable”, but, he insists, “Boris speaks privately to people like that.”
Rory Stewart is one to watch in bringing the audience onside against his rivals. At one point on Sunday evening, he prompted cheers by saying: “The problem here is a competition of machismo. Everybody is saying ‘I’m tougher’.” Oh yes – just like Reservoir Dogs, but with six Mr Blues.
6. To drink or not to drink?
Perhaps the greatest challenge faced by all on Sunday evening, and a conundrum that will no doubt rear its head again tonight, was knowing when to reach for their glass of water. With every studiously slow sip, viewers could practically see those on stage remembering their body coach training and giving themselves extra microseconds to wrack their brains.
Those natural everymen Jeremy Hunt and Michael Gove got it spectacularly wrong by each unwittingly reaching for their glass and drinking at exactly the same time… and looking like a pair of Freemasons delivering some secret code in the process.
Resist the temptation to use your water glass as a distraction, says Botting, and only reach for a drink when you’re feeling dry. “If you’re doing stuff that your wife and friends would think weird, you’re doing it wrong,” he says. “If you want to help other humans as prime minister, act like you’re part of the human race yourself.”