Explore how a British politician uses rhetoric

Rhetoric is described within the Oxford dictionary as “the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing” (“Rhetoric”, n.d) and it plays a key role within British politics. One of the ways in which rhetoric is most commonly used is through speeches, which can be effectively broken down with three questions. How does the context affect the use of rhetoric? What is the aim of the speech? And what lasting impact does the style of rhetoric leave? I have picked Nigel Farage’s 2024 speech to the Reform party conference as my target of this analysis, aiming to explore and break down the rhetorical styles used. Farage’s style of speech touches upon all three of Aristotle's rhetorical styles, those being: logos “appeals to logic”, ethos, “appeals of persuader credibility”, and pathos, "appeals to emotion” (McCormack, 2014, p. 135-140). These styles provide a good lens through which to see how Farage balances these aspects within this speech, driving emotions as the main factor, but also taking advantage of character and argument in order to both embolden his party membership base, as well as appeal to a more general voter base in an attempt to grow Reform UK.

Firstly, it is important to look at who is making the speech and why. Farage is a well known figure within UK politics, being a former MEP and a champion of Euroscepticism (BBC, 2024). He is also the founder of the Reform UK party, linking directly to the rhetorical styles with which he approached this speech, as it occurs within the context of his own party conference. His position as leader and therefore the respect of those in the room gives him ethos (character), this is his conference and as a result he knows he can leverage this to rally the support of his party members, with high levels of internal support for him due to the party’s recent rise and success (Mayes et al., 2024). This has a clear impact when we look at what is said, “We represent the silent, decent majority of this great country that we live in” (Reform TV, 2024, 13:00). This emboldens his supporters, in order to maintain their level of support for him and Reform UK as a whole, touching on their emotions as passionate party members, in order to have a basis with which to move Reform to the next level (an overarching theme of this speech). However, this speech also has a wider context, as it is not just about those in the room but those outside of it. The speech targets aims for the growth of the party, so it is important to know that elements of the rhetoric will be more broadly aimed, not just at those who support the party, but also those outside the room who may not be convinced. Farage cannot not just leverage his ethos within the party, as wider views on his character are not as generous, with only 39% popularity UK-wide (YouGov, n.d.) and therefore, throughout this speech has to maintain a strong level of argument (logos) as well as tap into the emotions of people (pathos) in order to gain increased support for the long-term party aims of sustained growth, therefore this speech has two main goals; to embolden his party members in order to have a campaigning base, as well as acting as a “personal appeal to the man who is judging the case” (Aristotle, 2000, p. 1), that being neutral voters.

This therefore leads into the second and most substantial portion of analysis, how does the target audience affect the rhetorical approach? As mentioned above, this speech aimed to embolden Reform UK supporters, but also had to be digestible by a UK-wide audience, requiring a balanced approach. An interesting insight with which to look at the approach of Farage comes from Finlayson when highlighting a speech by David Cameron in a similar setting (the conservative national convention). “Cameron’s speech was intended primarily to create moments which the staff of broadcasting organisations could be persuaded to use and secondarily to induce casual viewers and listeners to think more positively of him than of other party leaders” (Finlayson, 2015, p. 430). This idea of a speech being more about key clippable moments, as well as attempts by Farage to effectively sell himself to the public over other political leaders is apparent from the opening, where he almost immediately throws criticism upon Keir Starmer over donation controversy, namely pointing fun at free glasses he had received (Khan, 2024). By doing this, Farage appealed to the ethos, improving his character through saying “but guess what I brought them myself” (Reform TV, 2024, 1:10) in relation to his glasses. This also shows the use of pathos, as many had been angry with this scandal, with this mention giving them a more positive view of Farage as he was critical of it, showing a clear ability to tap into and read public perception towards issues in order to leverage feelings of emotion, a crucial rhetorical skill within this political landscape which lacks trust for politicians, as by creating this ethos of being a trustworthy politician, “political trust shapes social trust” (Bargsted et al., 2022, p. 1404) which in this context makes the party more appealing than others Farage criticised, due to it creating a feeling of mutual trust between party members and those in charge. This ability to tap into public perception through rhetoric was something he had previously shown through his work on the Brexit campaign, for example “Farage played a central role in turning hostility to the EU from a cranky obsession into one of the great themes of our national life” (Ellis, 2022, p. 683) showing his ability to take mild grievances and through a mix of pathos (tapping into emotion) and logos (using logic) push them into the forefront of UK politics and therefore better his own position. Examples of this rhetorical approach are scattered throughout the speech, through jabs at all the other major parties and other short moments that emphasise the parties goals and aims, for example “sky's the limit” (Reform TV, 2024, 23:04) in relation to the parties aims, highlighting a clear use of all three of Aristotle's rhetorical styles, with a focus towards leveraging emotion from his supporters as the basis.

Another approach to rhetoric which also played a key role within this speech comes in the form of using speech as “the strategic re-appropriation of a situation” (Martin, 2013), taking criticism and using reason to explain why certain acts were taken and events occurred, demonstrating his use of logos. Within this example, it came in the form of explaining away the criticisms faced during the election of the party's poorly-vetted candidates, whose racist comments caused criticism of the party (Wright, 2024). Use of this rhetorical style was crucial for Farage to appeal to a wider audience, reframing controversy as the result of a short time frame in an attempt to reassure the public that Reform UK had finished “growing up” (Reform TV, 2024, 14:00) and therefore giving listeners the sense that Reform was moving in the right direction. This was then reinforced by tapping into his supporters' emotion once again, through announcing a shift in the way the party is run, giving the members a feeling of greater emotional connection due to them gaining more of a stake in how the party is organised. Farage also taps into ethos through the use of rhetoric, targeting “ideological ‘traditions’ upon which individuals draw to frame their encounters” (Martin, 2013). This comes in the form of the values he outlines that underline the party Family, Community, Country (Reform TV, 2024, 26:00). Highlighting another example of short clippable statements as mentioned before, as well as further reinforcing the ethos heavy approach used, to give wider audience and party member appeal.

Thirdly, the final aspect to highlight is the lasting impact this speech had. As shown in the graphic below, there has been a rise in Reform UK polling since the conference. This can be argued as a result of Farage’s approach to tap into the pathos of a voter base which is becoming increasingly disillusioned with the major parties as voter confidence is low, as seen through the aforementioned criticisms of Starmer, as well as offering hope that Reform UK has a future and aims to grow. “If Britain is broken then logically Britain needs reform” (Reform TV, 2024, 5:54). Farage’s style of rhetoric clearly was aimed to give the sense of a united party moving in the right direction. Highlighting pathos once again through attempting to gain voters by offering a party for those who are angry with Labour and the Conservatives, through the “arousing of prejudice, pity, anger, and similar emotions” (Aristotle, 2000, p. 1).

(Singh, 2024)

However, to have a lasting impact and be viewed favourably in the longer term, the party will have to stay within the lines this speech set out, building the party based on their “three main values”. It can be argued that “ideas are themselves instances of action” (Martin, 2013), which means the impact the rhetoric will have can be judged in future on how well he rallied his supporters to tackle the ideas for the parties longer-term aims through his use of ethos and pathos, as well as how he sold those same ideas to a wider voter base using pathos and logos. Overall, highlighting the approach to rhetoric used by Farage within this speech was built upon drawing emotion out of both supporters and neutrals to gain support and tapping into his ethos to rally his party into action. The success of which can be seen in the shorter term, however longer term success can only be evaluated in future based on whether the party meets its domestic aims of growth set out within this speech.

Final word count: 1648

Bibliography

Aristotle. (2000). Rhetoric. Infomotions Inc. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/portsmouth-ebooks/detail.action?docID=3314386#

Bargsted, M., Ortiz, C., Cáceres, I., & Somma, N. (2022). Social and Political Trust in a Low Trust Society. Political Behavior, 45(4), 1401–1420. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-021-09762-2

Ellis, C. (2022). A Narrowing of the British Conservative Mind? Society, 59(6), 682–690. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-022-00687-y

Finlayson, A. (2015). Proving, Pleasing and Persuading? Rhetoric in Contemporary British Politics. The Political Quarterly, 85(4), 428-436. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.12122

Khan, S. (2024, September 18). Even some Labour MPs say Starmer’s free glasses aren’t a good look. Hyphen. https://hyphenonline.com/2024/09/18/keir-starmer-free-glasses-donation-row-labour-waheed-alli/

Martin, J. (2013). Situating Speech: A Rhetorical Approach to Political Strategy .Political Studies Association, 63(1), 25-42. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9248.12039

Mayes, J., & Ryan, J. (2024, May 7). Nigel Farage Wins Commons Seat Amid Reform UK Election Surge. Bloomberg . https://research.ebsco.com/c/qgabbp/viewer/html/qacjfoznnr

Mccormack, K. (2014). NOTE: ethos, pathos, and logos: The Benefits of Aristotelian Rhetoric in the Courtroom. Washington University Jurisprudence Review, 7(131), 135-140. https://advance.lexis.com/api/document?collection=analytical-materials&id=urn:contentItem:5K4B-SGR0-02D1-30XM-00000-00&context=1519360

Reform TV. (2024, September 22). Nigel Farage Full Speech | Reform UK 2024 National Conference [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTumn0SXBD4.

“Rhetoric”. (n.d.). In Oxford Languages. Retrieved October 15th, 2024, from https://www.google.com/search?q=rhetoric&rlz=1C1OPNX_en-GBGB937GB937&oq=rhetoric&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyDAgAEEUYORixAxiABDIKCAEQABixAxiABDIKCAIQABixAxiABDIKCAMQABixAxiABDIKCAQQABixAxiABDIGCAUQRRg9MgYIBhBFGD0yBggHEEUYPdIBCDIxODNqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Singh, A. (2024, October 5). Reform poll surge continues in warning to Tories and Labour. I news. https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/reform-poll-surge-continues-warning-tories-labour-3309571?srsltid=AfmBOoo2Ld7M6ucT56WNATaUr3eFy5Q9-2b5BeTNvuICKyuosHXBR1e_

Who is Reform leader Nigel Farage?. (2024, June 4). BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c722409n17wo

Wright, C. (2024, September 20). Reform UK council candidates to be vetted - Farage. BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp39zvnx9p3o

YouGov. (n.d.). Nigel Farage. YouGov. https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/Nigel_Farage