As Sir Keir Starmer gave his first conference speech as Prime Minister, Paddy Power Games caught up with body language expert, Judi James to analyse which secret signs his body language conveyed.
Speaking exclusively to Paddy Power Games, Judi James said: “The body language tone and mood music of this speech was surprisingly but emphatically sober and serious. Sir Keir Starmer skipped what must have been an almost irresistible desire to perform any form of personal victory roll to celebrate the election.
“His arrival on stage lacked any symptoms of grandiosity or bombast. He took a few slow, barely-smiling steps to the lectern with some frantic pursing and puckering of his lips suggesting he was resisting the temptation to smile and peacock.
“His greeting head nod was a lowering gesture of submission that led into a delivery that was crafted to sound mature, calm and firm.
“His mood seemed to run through the audience, suggesting it had been broadcast on an internal memo. Ed Milliband’s dour, lugubrious expression made him look like an undertaker, Angela Rayner wore a rather sneering lip expression and Yvette Cooper’s mouth was clamped shut and often turned down at the corners.
“In delivery techniques Starmer showed signs of massive modification and change. He looked like a man who had a leadership glow-up that involved more than a pair of glasses and a new suit. His entire posture had been altered to lose his signature chest splay that will often have his shirt buttons straining.
“His vocal tone was pitched lower (a deeper tone is seen as reflecting authentic power and status) and he had lost his hectoring tonal trait which could often turn into a whine and where his statements suffered from the rising inflection that could often make them sound like questions.
“Starmer has also dropped his trait of puffing air for emphasis, where he tends to huff and expel air on his key words. Here he used a more emphatic tone and a crescendo technique where he slowly built to a shout towards the end of his speech.
“His facial expression has also received what looks like a leadership upgrade. Those designer frames often used to give him the look of a startled Harry Potter, with his steepled brows suggesting a lack of inner power. Here though his eye expression was directed at the audience with a steeliness and leadership strength that he hasn’t used before. His eye-shape was often narrowed to project a much tougher look.
“This was a much stronger form of charisma from the PM, who now seems to have grown into his role and who looks keen to exude signals of power, strength and authority.
“There was more swagger from this new Sir Keir, who often stood with his weight on one foot or leaned forward onto the lectern as though sharing a story over a pint. He even adopted a moment of pure cockiness when he indirectly challenged some of the recent criticism.
“Starting with a non-apologetic statement of ‘Service doesn’t mean we’ll get everything right’ he lowered his head and shook it from side to side in a diminishing gesture of amusement. His lips pursed and puckered as though fighting his true feelings although a tongue-poke gesture hinted at reject or even disgust at the criticism.
“Starmer licked his lips and rolled his tongue around inside his mouth as though relishing his next line, which was ‘Water off a duck’s back’ but then in the only show-boating moment of his speech he became positively Shakespearian, adopting a pose with his right hand raised palm-up and his brows raised in a gesture of superiority. ‘Mere glitter on a shirt cuff’ was his theatrical-sounding line that he delivered as though playing Hamlet and it came followed by an arch-looking pause that suggested we should know the reference.
“Starmer’s tongue was almost snake-like throughout, licking his lips and poking from the front of his mouth and this behaviour can often suggest inner nervousness or stress during a speech, leading to a dry mouth. It was his only non-verbal ‘leakage’ that could suggest nerves though.
“When he spoke of the winter fuel allowance his body language signals look ominous for anyone hoping for a U-turn. He said ‘I get it’ but his hand performed a precision pinch that he banged down on the lectern with a firm head baton to suggest he’s not inclined to shift on this one.
“His audience loved it when he talked tough. Referring to the ‘Violent racist thugs that terrorised out community’ or the ‘Violent thuggery’ he adopted the signals of aggressive arousal, shouting, stabbing with his index finger, shuffling his feet as though squaring for a fight and bristling while his mouth fell into an open pout.
“His ‘softer’ side came during a long story about a cottage in the Lake District and although a heckler ruined his punch line, Starmer actually looked delighted as he clearly had a smart riposte oven-ready to convert the disruption into a new roar and applause from the audience.
“Starmer saved his chest-jutting alpha pose for the ending where he shouted Utopian scenarios over a standing ovation. Like Trump he finished by clapping the audience and shouting ‘Thank you’.
“His greeting with his wife was intimate and tactile. He smiled as she approached and then the pair clung together as though on the deck of the Titanic. Her arms went round his neck and his encircled her torso in what looked like a ritual of congratulation plus survival relief. He pressed his head into her neck before they turned to face the audience. In a very gentlemanly move Starmer asked his wife if he could kiss her and she said ‘alright’. As a result of this careful respect for synchronicity and choreography they managed a closed-eye kiss on the lips that, although it only lasted a second or two, will have provided a romantic shot for the press in a way that previous PMs have often found impossible.”
