Narrating One Nation: The Ideology and Rhetoric of the Miliband Labour Party

Abstract

Speaking at the 2012 Labour Party Conference, Ed Miliband set out his vision of ‘One Nation’. This article maps the core concepts of Labour's ideology and identifies the narratives used to argue for One Nation social security reform. It locates these narratives within Labour's traditions and demonstrates that they coalesce in the leadership persona of Miliband himself. Though an attempt to respond to a populist ‘rhetorical culture’, the article contends that this strategy has created a self‐enclosed ideology that cannot conceive of an audience beyond itself. Labour therefore needs to overcome this solipsism if it is to secure victory in 2015.

Thickening Rhetorical Political Analysis with a Theory of Distance: Negotiating the Greek Episode of the Eurozone Crisis

“…The ability to persuade other political actors and the public has always been a crucial skill for leaders in seeking to gain, use and hold on to power on a day-to-day basis (Grube, 2013; Tulis, 1987), and in parliamentary debate (Reid, 2014). Rhetorical techniques contribute to the persuasive power of ideologies, relevant for both public sphere debates and within party organisations (Atkins, 2015; Dommett, 2014). They aim for persuasion as discourse that makes arguments and defends against criticisms (Finlayson, 2012: 758), both before and after decisions have been taken (Atkins, 2011).…”

The rhetoric of Alex Salmond and the 2014 Scottish independence referendum

“…As Richard Toye notes, there are few 'explicitly conceived rhetorical analyses' in the field (Toye, 2011, p. 177 (Gaffney and Lahel, 2013). More broadly, other analyses have drawn out the rhetorical construction of morality, party renewal (Atkins 2014), and/or leadership (Crines and Theakston, 2015;Lawrence, 2008). However none of these examples have explored political rhetoric in the context of Scottish politics or the independence movement in Scotland, a gap we seek to address.…”

“Doing God” in Number 10: British Prime Ministers, Religion, and Political Rhetoric

“…Thatcher's premiership represented a sea-change moment in British political discourses that prompted her successors to follow a similar style of ethical conviction. The move toward the politics and rhetoric of conviction and individual moral belief has been accompanied by an expectation among the electorate for moral credibility in British prime ministers and party leaders, particularly concerning social welfare (Crines 2015; Hayton and Crines 2015; Atkins 2014). This expectation had not been as prevalent before moral rhetoric came to “inform suspicion of any politics unregulated by a higher-order discourse (be it religious, moral or scientific)” (Finlayson 2012, 751).…”