Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of a “disingenuous” keynote speech at the Labour Party conference today in Liverpool, as his address to supporters was torn apart by a body language expert.
Speaking to party members today, Starmer outlined his plans for Britain as he admitted he “hasn’t got everything right” in his first three months in office.
He told the crowd: “Service does not mean we’ll get everything right, it doesn’t mean everyone will agree.
“But it does mean we understand that every decision we take, we take together and that it is our duty to the British people to face up to necessary decisions in their interests.”
The Labour leader has been branded ‘disingenuous’ for his speech to party members today in Liverpool
PA
Analysing the first major speech for the PM since winning his landslide victory in the General Election, body language expert Darren Stanton said Starmer’s confidence was “not where he wanted it to be” and he appeared “nervous”.
Stanton claimed: “The first thing that struck within the first ten seconds of the speech was the fact that he had what we call a masking smile, and that’s almost like a disingenuous smile, which is masking nerves and lack of confidence.
“We’re looking for something called crow’s feet or laugh lines, and they’re engaged when someone’s actually displaying a genuine emotion. So in my mind, straight off the bat, he wasn’t feeling that confident straight away in his delivery.”
When asked by host Martin Daubney if he believed the content of the speech was “lacklustre”, Stanton agreed, telling GB News: “That’s actually a word I used to describe the speech earlier on. This is a man who was never going to have the charisma of somebody like Barack Obama, for example. He was a great orator.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer delivered his keynote speech during the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool
PA
“So I think he started off relatively in a good place, but for me, it went downhill quite rapidly.”
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In criticism of the promises made by Starmer in the speech, Stanton noted that the Prime Minister is “using the same old phrases”, stressing we have “already heard it before”.
Stanton explained: “I think a lot of the ways he phrases things, it’s the same old phrases – like ‘we’re all in it together’ and ‘country first’ – we’ve already heard it all before.
“The other thing I noticed is, one of the most genuine parts of what he said was when he spoke about family, and he went from looking at the audience to looking down. He went off a tangent and that was kind of quite emotive for him.
“But I think everything else for me didn’t really hit what it needed to hit. He may have got four standing ovations, but I don’t think the electorate have been sold on it personally.”
Darren Stanton said the PM’s speech ‘went downhill rapidly’
GB News
Offering his thoughts on the speech, Martin said Starmer was “relying on those usual soundbites” to “get him through to the next point”.
Martin said: “How many times are we going to hear about fixing the foundations, party first, country second, populism is a politics of easy answers, we’ve got a long-term plan – all of these are props for when people are nervous, they’re forgetting their way.
“And so they rely on these crutches to get them through to the next point.”
Stanton agreed, concluding: “They’re default safety steps. I’ve assessed every head-to-head debate since 2010. And I know we’ve seen certain details and gestures from other politicians, but I think certainly with the speech today, I think it’s probably one of the worst I’ve seen.”