Liz Truss's first address as Prime Minister was full of manipulative cues in a bid to get the nation on board with her new appointment, according to a performance psychology expert. The former foreign affairs secretary officially became the UK's third female PM on Tuesday after meeting the Queen at Balmoral.
Just hours after Boris Johnson used his farewell message to pledge "fervent support" to his successor, Ms Truss delivered her first speech in office outside Downing Street before entering No 10. She beat Rishi Sunak in the Conservative leadership race with 81,326 votes to 60,399, and has promised a "bold plan" to cut taxes and grow the economy.
But according to body language pro, Bruce Durham, Ms Truss's speech was bursting with buzzwords that the public wanted to hear without actually saying a lot, making it impossible to trust the leader of the Tory party just yet.
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Analysing the monumental address, he told the Mirror: "From a psychological angle, it delivered all I expected it to be - emotional coercion, cerebral manipulation and using emotional curves to make us feel what they wanted us to feel, when they wanted us to feel it, and then some more.
"Paying respects to Boris Johnson and leaning heavily on the Russian effect, she is now trying to rally the country behind her.
"It was very clever of her to mention Russia in the way she did, an under the table way of saying 'blame them, not me!'
"'Of course it won't be easy' followed by promises of 'safe streets' and acknowledging the challenges that working class and the unemployed face currently, she is doing a sterling job at pulling on our heart strings and building some slack into how we measure her actions.
"'We can rebuild our economy and become the new version of Britain that we all know it can be' - again, using words and phrases that promises that if we just believe in her, she will lead us all to a better Britain.
"One of the best ways to manipulate a crowd here is to get them feeling all patriotic and her speech writing team fully leaned into that option.
"She finishes with 'I am determined to deliver, thank you!' - again, this uses a subtle yet subservient approach that while being in charge, she is requesting permission for us to accept her and, more so, get behind her."
Bruce continues: "The worrying thing here, and something that we all need to accept, is that she said a lot without saying anything specific.
"The team behind her gave her a speech that basically outlined what we wanted to hear - a shopping list of buzzwords: economy, energy and the NHS. Who wouldn’t support that?"
The award-winning performance psychology coach also raised that the public need to acknowledge how Ms Truss obtained her position in power, which can be attributed to certain personality traits.
"Liz Truss is a politician. She did not get to this position by being a wallflower, by being passive or by giving herself up to help others progress," he argues.
"In order to get to this position, or any similar position outside of the government, she must possess the skills of being selfish, and narcissistic, having a lack of empathy for the masses and the ability to always put herself first, unless that damages her goals.
"So when we review her performance, and that is what it was, always remember that these people, at their core, are ruthlessly ambitious and imposter syndrome doesn’t really exist here - they fully believe that they are ethereal."
Bruce says that as she stepped out of the car, a repeated pull of her dress was an indication that she was nervous, which shows "she is just human".
He adds: "So while she may eventually deliver, she has a lot to prove and show her worth as the new Prime Minister.
"And that's why we eventually may be able to trust Liz Truss… but just not yet."
What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
Believingbruce delivers corporate leadership and communication training all over the world and can be contacted at www.huddleculture.com.
