1. Rhetoric and the Left: Theoretical Considerations

This chapter analyses rhetoric within both the political process and the British left. It considers the relationship between rhetoric and performance: how the left and the Labour Party ‘imagine’ or ‘construct’ themselves and the world, and make claims to their national leadership vocation; and how left political leaders use these ‘imaginings’ and ‘constructions’ to assert their status, influence debate, fashion and communicate policy proposals, and widen their support. Rhetoric’s political effects raise the question of its use and practice and—crucially—its potential. If political rhetoric does not simply move us but moves us to act, or persuades us to shift from one rational or emotional position to another, then this raises questions regarding rhetoric’s relation to ideas and to agency.