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2017 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

6. Conclusion: Narrative, Rhetoric, and the ‘Personalized Political’

Author : John Gaffney

Published in: Leadership and the Labour Party

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan UK

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Abstract

This chapter is a discussion of, first, the aftermath of the 2015 General Election from the point of view of all the elements of leadership performance and, second, the theoretical implications of the research. I shall comment here upon the rhetorical, strategic, organizational, and leadership development of the party from 2010 to 2015. I shall also comment on and appraise the ‘performance’ of both the party generally and Ed Miliband in particular during the 2015 election campaign itself. I shall also critically appraise (a) persona construction by the team (and leader); (b) persona co-construction by the media; and (c) persona reconstruction by the recipients of the image and persona (audience/public). My analysis will relate the constructed persona back to my overarching research questions: how does persona-construction and performance take place and what is its role in the political process?

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previous chapter Narrative Collapse and the Teller Without a Tale

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Title: Conclusion: Narrative, Rhetoric, and the ‘Personalized Political’
Author: John Gaffney
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan UK
Book: Leadership and the Labour Party
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-50497-5

Electronic ISBN: 978-1-137-50498-2

Copyright Year: 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50498-2_6