Rhetoric: How Brexit won the unwinnable

This New Year promises to be truly new. A new chance, free from the pandemic but also a new place in the world thanks to Brexit. Are you ready? Can I help?

Have you ever lost an argument you really shouldn't have? Do you still wonder why? You gave your audience every possible reason to side with you but they went, against all common sense, for your competitor. Perhaps you blame the competition, even now, for using underhanded tactics or even outright lies to undermine you. Many people still feel the same about the vote to leave the EU. They feel bruised and bitter to this day, still unable to comprehend the ‘stupidity’ of those who chose to vote to leave the European Union. But mainly they feel cheated, defrauded by the lie that was the Brexit campaign’s rhetoric; but here is the thing:

It wasn’t the rhetoric of the Brexiteers that won it, it was the complete absence of rhetoric in the Remain campaign that lost it.

Moreover, if the Remain campaign had used rhetoric, at all, it would have won the vote at a canter. If your pitch, presentation or speech isn’t persuading, it’s probably nothing to do with you or your product; it’s your rhetoric that’s failing you.

Does that mean that the Remain campaign should have lied to win? Of course not, but for 2 reasons:

1.      The Brexiteers did not actually lie

2.      Rhetoric is not lying

Which of those statements feels the least true to you?

The 2 slogans used by the Brexiteers were “Take back control” and “£350m per week for the NHS.” The first is true: we have taken back control of our borders though we may have lost a lot to do so. The second is not a promise; we could spend an extra £350m a week on the NHS, although it seems unlikely that a Conservative government would. Both of those arguments are porous, but they do what rhetoric enables you to do: create simple, memorable and effective messages that even Boris* can’t fumble.

What was the Remain campaign slogan? What was the single, best reason they offered for you to vote remain? No? Me neither. This in a nutshell is the first failure of their rhetoric: they didn’t ever offer clarity.

Their second failure of rhetoric explains why they didn’t think they needed to. They bombarded the nation with ever-changing messages about the potential impact on our economy because they thought their electorate needed reminding of it. The problem was that the part of the electorate they were talking to didn’t need to be reminded; they were always going to vote to remain. They were preaching to the converted because they made the fundamental error of assuming that everyone else thought the same way they did.

Rhetoric is simple. It is based on three principles which help you to be as persuasive as possible: Ethos, Logos, Pathos.

The first principle of rhetoric is to know who you are trying to persuade and what THEY care about. It’s called Ethos and it isn’t to be confused with Ethics. In politics you are trying to persuade those whose minds you can change and not waste time on those who never will. The electorate they missed are competing with immigrants for low-skilled work. To them the Brexit message saved money, protected the NHS and gave you some control over how much competition for resources and jobs you would have to face. The Remain campaign messages offered no such hope, they just promised more of the same, doubling down with meaningless warnings about an economy that didn’t care for them.

“Less is more” is a neat way of understanding the second principle of rhetoric: Logos. Logos is the Greek word for ‘word’ and not to be confused with logic or the emblems on products. It is a superficial kind of logic that makes clear, common sense. The more messages, the more letters from business leaders published in broadsheets, the less relevance to the electorate. Where was the Remain slogan? Where was the simple argument that made sense to the frustrated and the confused who need clear messages to be moved? In business you’d call it a vision, in religion you’d call it a mantra and in politics it’s a slogan. It’s simple stuff. It’s worked for a millennium, and in 200 years of American politics, the best one wins an election; just ask Barack “Yes we can” Obama. To forget Ethos is irresponsible but to forget Logos is to be forgettable.

The third principle of rhetoric is Pathos and theirs was pathetic. Pathos is the emotional connection we make with the message. The Brexit campaign inspired the undecided with promises of fortunes saved and funding for the nation’s heart, the NHS. For those who were marginalised and lost through globalisation and immigration, the Remain campaign promised nothing, certainly neither hope nor change, two of the greatest motivators in politics.

These are simple strategies, a simple process that you probably already do when you present, pitch or deliver a speech. You do them without thinking, they’re obvious. So why were they entirely absent from the Remain campaign? Was it a deliberate, deep-state attempt to lose the vote, possibly sponsored by the Russians? Or was it simply complacency; that which happens when you get too comfortable to bother to look around and see that others are not comfortable? Of course it was, and if you think otherwise, or that Brexit won by lying then it’s you, not those convinced by slogans, who are deluded.

So is rhetoric about lying with style?

No, it’s a strategy to help you identify what needs to be said and how to say it in order to persuade. If you have a pitch, a presentation or a speech which needs to persuade a new audience brought to you by Brexit then ask yourself the 3 things the remain campaign clearly didn’t:

1.      Who am I really trying to persuade and what are they thinking?

2.      Am I being clear and concise about what I can do for them?

3.      Am I giving them enough reason to care or to change?

I hope this New Year finds you safe, comfortable but not complacent. Things have changed, will change and so must you. If you have any questions about how to improve your pitches, presentations or speeches, either by training or consulting, please feel free to message me. The first 30 mins is free and fascinating for both of us.

Happy New Year!

*The failures of Boris and his recent rhetoric during the pandemic are a conversation for another day.