What a Difference a Voice Makes: Andy Burnham and Paul Cartledge's Pericles

 

A few weeks into his premiership, and Andy Burnham is already pleasing some and annoying others. But as someone with acoustic hyper-phonosensitivity, I must say that the medium—in addition to the content—of what he says has me turning on the radio in the morning with far more enthusiasm that during Keir Starmer’s leadership.

Starmer, who I believe to be a good and principled man, unfortunately sounds like a terminally depressed dalek (so does Rachel Reeves, as it happens, which may explain their close bond). Ed Miliband, another principled and highly intelligent Labour politician, failed as leader of the Labour Party, as I suggested in a blog in 2012 and remain convinced, mainly on the ground of his laboured, anxious, adenoidal locution. Any theatre professional could have trained this out of him in a week.

Burnham, on the other hand, sounds genial, warmly baritone, authentic and sunny. And he has that resonant northwest-English accent that makes words sing. I checked out recordings of every previous premier since audio-recording began, and, with the exception of the Scotsman Gordon Brown, none has had a regional accent. I hoped for a Welsh accent from David Lloyd George, but it is scarcely perceptible. My husband suggested Harold Wilson, but his vowels were cut-glass Received Pronunciation.

Burnham  is not the first statesman in history whose vocal delivery has been a winning card. Paul Cartledge’s excellent new book Pericles: Statesman, Demagogue, Eccentric, on the Athenian aristocrat committed to democracy who was re-elected annually in most years for more than three decades, does full justice to his skills and impact as an orator. This highly accessible account also humanises Pericles, making it the go-to introduction to the great man (and to the Athenian democracy at its height) that I will henceforth be recommending to my students.

Pericles was said by contemporaries to leave all other speakers standing at the metaphorical starting line of the race. His speaking was crafted but sounded natural, and had grandeur and seriousness. His voice could impact you like Zeus’ thunder and lightning, so he was nicknamed ‘the Olympian’ (Zeus was also a Cosmic King of the North, because Mount Olympus is in northern mainland Greece). Pericles was so persuasive that he won over even his enemies.

I’m not sure even Burnham would want to stay around the top echelons of government for three decades. He likes football, Indie music and the poetry of Tony Harrison too much. I know about the last because he spoke—movingly and resonantly—about the socialist poet of radical classicism at the memorial event that Tony's partner Sian Thomas and I also addressed on 26 April. I have no idea whether there are real grounds for the hope that Burnham is encouraging us to embrace. But at least my ears don’t hurt any more when I listen to our leader on the news.