Dan Hannan MEP has delivered a blow to Prime Minister Gordon Brown in a terse but sharp address in the European Parliament which has been picked up on YouTube and seen by hundreds of thousands of people: 

Dan is well on the libertarian end of the political spectrum in the UK, so it is good to see him getting e-impact on such a scale that the Guardian has to loudly sneer at him – read this silly, sour piece for the torrent of critical comments it has prompted.

Some speech-writing purists might say that His European Parliament salvo is maybe a bit over-scripted – not quite enough spontaneity and brio? So what? It shows an educated and efficient mind doing a vigorous job, which is no doubt why it has proved so popular. See likewise this entry on Dan’s blog, ticking off Gordon Brown for his clunky words on the death of Jade Goody – not often one sees the word threnody deployed accurately these days.

Contrast too Dan H with the scruffy, snide Labour spin-doctor Derek Draper in this clip posted by Iain Dale to see the contrast in public political styles – and indeed levels of civilisation – they each represent.

All of which is a roundabout way of leading you to this well-turned posting by communications consultant Max Atkinson which looks in depth at what makes a speech memorable:

So the first thing that struck me about Daniel Hannan’s speech was that almost every sentence conveyed an insult or attack – not just directed at Labour in general, but highly personalised ones aimed at the leader of the Labour Party in particular.

Add to this the fact that it was in front of MEPs in Strasbourg and in the presence of Mr Brown, a distinguished guest who had just made a speech, and the context becomes comparable with that of a cheeky schoolboy standing up at speech day and telling the headmaster exactly what he and others thought of him in full view of all the other pupils, teachers and parents.

Max argues that delivering a truly memorable speech is all about the right person hitting the right spot on the right day – not easy to contrive. I have added a comment which is now up.

On the other hand, it is easy to hit lots of wrong notes through sloppy drafting which normally derives from sloppy thinking. See Matthew Parris enjoying mauling Gordon Brown’s European Parliament speech mixed metaphors:

I’ve just read one of the worst speeches by a British prime minister it’s been my misfortune to encounter in 40 years following politics. Wilson had folksy evasiveness; Heath, wooden principle; Thatcher, tin-eared persistence; Blair, slimy charm. In every case you could tell why they’d got the job, even when you hated what they were doing with it.

But this? This hole in the air encased in a suit of clunking verbal armour? This truck-load of clichéd grandiloquence in hopeless pursuit of anything that might count as the faintest apology for an idea? Words fail me.

“So I stand here today proud to be British and proud to be European: representing a country that does not see itself as an island beside Europe but as a country at the centre of Europe, not in Europe’s slipstream but firmly in its mainstream.”

Not an island? Airborne in a slipstream? In a river in a mainstream? So much for geography, aeronautics and hydraulics.

Let’s tip-toe away from this calamity and listen to some good advice from Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan:

So hold the lettuce.

Your style should never be taller than you are …