For a man who has spent years preparing to lead, Keir Starmer still can’t seem to master the most basic skill of leadership: speaking with conviction, without a script.
It’s not a big ask. World leaders do it every day. Yet, time and again, the Labour Prime Minister clings to his notes like a nervous schoolboy giving his first assembly speech. It’s excruciating to watch.
The latest example? His recent address to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. What should have been a moment of gravitas and moral clarity turned into a wooden, lifeless recital of him reading from his notes. GB News presenter Beverley Turner aptly summed it up saying “it’s not like he’s a local councillor speaking about bin day although he makes it seem like it.”
“Why can’t he speak without notes? Why can’t he speak from the heart?”
Why does Starmer always need a script? Why can’t he speak from the heart like most of his international counterparts?
Even former US President Joe Biden, hardly known for verbal dexterity, at least conveyed warmth and passion when addressing serious matters. French President Emmanuel Macron, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and even Starmer’s predecessor Rishi Sunak—none of them needed to clutch printed sheets of paper to get their point across.
GB News hit the nail on the head: ‘Who is handing him these pieces of paper, and why can’t he just speak from the heart?!’ It’s a valid question. If Starmer truly believes in his own words, he shouldn’t need to read them like a nervous solicitor delivering bad news. It makes him look uncertain, robotic, and above all, deeply inauthentic—a quality the British public can sniff out a mile away.
Former Prime Ministers like Boris Johnson, Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and Winston Churchill would make front pages across the globe for their famous and inspiring speeches. Why is it that Keir Starmer can’t speak without looking like a schoolboy?
Let’s not forget that Starmer reportedly hired a lockdown voice coach to make him sound more authoritative. But what’s the point of tweaking his tone if the content still comes across as flat and uninspiring? His next lesson should be on how to deliver a speech without clutching a script for dear life.
If he lacks the confidence to memorise his words, why not use an autocue like so many other modern politicians? That would at least make it appear as though he has internalised what he’s saying, rather than reading it out like a first-time newsreader struggling through an unfamiliar bulletin.
A Prime Minister should be able to speak with passion and authenticity on key issues—without notes. Starmer needs to throw away the script and speak like a real leader, or he risks continuing to embarrass Britain on the world stage. We need a statesman, not a stammering bureaucrat reading aloud from a sheet of A4. It’s time to step up.
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