When it was confirmed the Prime Minster would break her silence on the economic turmoil by appearing on regional radio, there were suggestions she was taking an easy option.
Liz Truss would appear on BBC Radio Leeds, Norfolk, Lancashire and Bristol, among others, from a studio in London.
The interviews were to be the first time she had spoken since the pound plummeted to a record low.
It's OPERATION ROLLING PARTRIDGE!!! Liz Truss is going to hit BBC •local radio• stations this morning where a bunch of sleep-deprived non-expert presenters will throw her soft questions, while she dodges the heavy hitters. (h/t @politico ) pic.twitter.com/fTmlD6FPRC
— Paul Mason (@paulmasonnews) September 29, 2022
But if she and her advisors thought this approach would give her an easier ride than facing the scrutiny of national broadcast journalists, they were in for a shock.
The Prime Minister endured a series of bruising and painful encounters with local journalists up and down the country.
Let’s start with BBC Bristol, where presenter James Hanson called out what he described as “scripted answers”.
After accusing her of making a difficult situation worse in her first few weeks as Prime Minister - and Ms Truss responding by talking about the Energy Bill Price Guarantee - the presenter said: “With respect Prime Minister, that is the same scripted answer you have given every local BBC radio station this morning.”
And the interview got worse as this exchange shows:
Hanson: You’ve got the Bank of England stepping in now to clear up a mess the Government has caused.
Truss: We have a very, very difficult global economic situation because of the war Vladimir Putin has perpetrated in Ukraine, and countries are under pressure…”
Hanson (interrupting): But this isn’t Putin. This isn’t just about Putin. Your chancellor on Friday opened up the stable door and spooked the horses so much you could almost see the economy being dragged behind them.
Truss: This is about Putin and the war in Ukraine. That is why...
Hanson interrupting: So, the Bank of England’s intervention yesterday was the fault of Vladimir Putin, was it?
Truss: What I was saying is it is very difficult and stormy times in the international markets, and, of course, the Bank of England is independent and takes the action it needs to take, and it is responsible for interest rates and financial stability.
Later on, he asked if she still believed in “sound money” or “have you changed your mind on that like you did about Brexit?” Ouch.
OH MY DAYS
— Toby Earle 🇺🇦 (@TobyonTV) September 29, 2022
James Hanson, BBC Bristol, calls out Liz Truss’s scripted answers, refuses to accept this is all down to Putin, & asks if the Bank of England had to intervene because of him pic.twitter.com/bEszmstPwx
On BBC Lancashire, it was a local issue that caused trouble as the Prime Minister floundered about fracking and local consent and was unable to use her “difficult winter”, “tough decisions”, and “Putin’s war” lines.
Graham Liver: What does local consent look like, Prime Minister?
Truss: The energy secretary will be laying out, in more detail, exactly what that looks like, but it does mean making sure there is local support before going ahead.
Liver: It sounds like you don’t know.
Truss: There are various detailed issues to work through, but I can assure Mark Menzies (a Lancashire MP), there is local consent if we are to go ahead in any particular area with fracking.
Liver: Your local MPs don’t want it - all Conservative. In the past, the county council have said they don’t want it, yet your government overturned it. The science hasn’t changed. Why can’t you tell us this morning there won’t be a return to fracking in Lancashire?
Truss (after a long pause): I don’t accept the premise of your question.
Liver: Why?
Truss: What I have said is that if there is local consent, we will go ahead. We need to explore where there is local consent and where there isn’t. And we are still doing that work.
Liver: You talked about it being a success in other countries. But in America, they do it in the middle of nowhere. Do you actually know where Preston New Road is where they have been fracking?
Truss: I don’t think I have been to that site in the past.
Liver: Shouldn’t you?
Truss: As I have said, we will only go ahead with projects where there is local consent. I am very clear on that. We will make sure that local consent is in place.
Liz Truss crumbles under questioning from @GrahamLiver on @BBCLancashire about local consent for fracking. pic.twitter.com/nDp2t5815P
— Dino Sofos (@dinosofos) September 29, 2022
Another local question, this time on BBC Norfolk – where don’t forget Ms Truss is an MP – saw the interview end on an awkward note.
Asked about a hospital roof that is held up by 1,500 props, the Prime Minister offered little reassurance beyond encouraging the Health Secretary to visit the site.
On BBC Leeds, Rima Ahmed began by asking the Prime Minister if she had “slept well”, before outlining all the problems that had arisen since the ‘mini budget’.
That's quite the opening question.
There should be an award for “best question ever”, and @BBCLeeds’ Roma Ahmed should win it for this opener. pic.twitter.com/RB3bYUVspJ
— Owen Williams 🏴 (@OwsWills) September 29, 2022
And Ms Truss was pushed on her absence during the week, with “where have you been?” asked on several occasions.
“Are you ashamed of what you have done?” was the first question on BBC Radio Kent. That, and a question about “the Bank of England putting out your fire”, were met with references to “Putin’s war” and a “challenging international situation.”
When asked about her actions making the situation worse, the "not accepting the premise of the question” response was trotted out again.
Sarah Julian began her interview slot with Ms Truss on Radio Nottingham by asking why she doesn’t just admit she “got it wrong.” A response focussing on the energy package was met with a withering “but you’ve made it worse”.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the station’s location, the politician was accused of being a “reverse Robin Hood.” Ms Truss said this “simply wasn’t true.
And there was a horribly uncomfortable silence on BBC Stoke when presenter John Acres said any energy saving would be dwarfed by mortgage rises and called out the “external forces” line so prevalent in other interviews.
He said: “This isn’t to do with external forces – this is about your mini-budget and what it has done to the economy.”
The theme of paying more in mortgage fees than would be saved on energy bills ran throughout the interview.
And each time it was met with a lingering silence before a non-answer was offered, suggesting that interest rates are rising around the world and are set by the Bank of England.
This is the most brutal silence I have heard on the radio pic.twitter.com/vgMpWM7pi7
— Rupert Myers (@RupertMyers) September 29, 2022
Sometimes silence speaks louder than words.
On BBC Radio Tees, the Prime Minister was played a clip of someone who has had to sell their house because of the cost-of-living crisis.
“First of all, everyone has been offered help with their fuel bills, and that was our priority because people were facing appalling fuel bills,” the Prime Minister said, ignoring a golden opportunity to show a little human warmth.
“That was the biggest part of the economic package we put forward on Friday.”
It was, in summary, a brutal series of media interviews. Eight short interviews where tough questions were repeatedly put to the Prime Minister.
And Ms Truss’s performance was lambasted by journalists and commentators on Conservative supporting newspapers.
So, what media training lessons can others learn from this?
Underestimate
Firstly, don’t underestimate local media.
What the thinking or strategy was behind this series of interviews is unclear.
Was it to be visible while avoiding the scrutiny from hard-hitting national journalists?
If it was, that was an ill-judged approach. Local broadcast journalists are brilliant at what they do and, arguably, on this evidence, are prepared to ask tougher questions than their national colleagues.
If the Conservative media machine thought Liz Truss would get an easy ride doing a round of BBC local radio, they obviously haven’t listened to much BBC local radio.
— David Banks (@DBanksy) September 29, 2022
This broadcast round is a car crash. If Liz Truss thought local radio would give her an easy ride, she’s been very foolish
— Rachel Wearmouth (@REWearmouth) September 29, 2022
And they don’t get to interview the Prime Minister much, so they were always going to make the most of the opportunity.
Regardless of the strategy, the Prime Minister seemed woefully unprepared for the tough questions she would face.
And she seemed equally unprepared or poorly briefed when the focus switched from the economy to local issues.
Script
Throughout the interviews, Ms Truss relied on the same lines to explain the economic turmoil and the impact of her mini-budget.
At times it sounded like she was answering different questions or dropping pre-recorded answers into the conversation.
It all felt robotic, scripted, evasive and stilted.
Thanks to BBC Sounds you can listen to Liz Truss on ‘rinse and repeat’ across local radio stations - Radio Kent punchiest so far. But the theme is the PM talks about action on energy bills whenever asked about the markets’ grim reaction to the budget tax cuts.
— Krishnan Guru-Murthy (@krishgm) September 29, 2022
Financial crisis? What financial crisis?
— Jon Sopel (@jonsopel) September 29, 2022
Cost of mortgages going up? Don’t know anything about that.
It’s global, nothing to do with us.
But let me tell you how we’re going to cap heating bills.
A dozen prime-ministerial interviews boiled down to 280 characters
On our media training courses, we stress the importance of spokespeople being prepared, avoiding regurgitating lines to take and feeling empowered to put messages into their own words.
This creates a much more natural, conversational feel to interviews.
Empathy
The Prime Minister was confronted with questions from listeners -or clips of them talking about their plight - at various stages in these interviews.
They called for a human response.
Yet there was no empathy or compassion in Ms Truss’ answers.
Listening to interviews that Truss did on local radio. The silences and the robotic delivery are bad enough. However, it's the complete lack of compassion and empathy shown for listeners who are struggling to cope & facing losing their homes that signals oblivion for the Tories
— John Ferrett (@John_Ferrett)That has to be the most brutal round of local radio interviews I've ever heard a Prime Minister face.
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) September 29, 2022
Not a single note of contrition from Liz Truss, or even the slightest indication she plans to change course in any way.
Empathy is often a missing ingredient in media interviews, particular those given when an organisation has done something wrong.
We stress to delegates on our media training courses you can show empathy without admitting blame or responsibility.
Time
Eight quick-fire interviews with barely seconds in between to gather your thoughts is a tough ask for any media spokesperson.
But media rounds are not just reserved for politicians. Many different spokespeople have to give a series of interviews in quick succession.
On our media training, we stress the importance of building some space into media round timings so spokespeople and comms professionals can reflect on what is going well and what could be improved.
Not just local
Local radio doesn’t necessarily stay local.
It used to be the case that if you appeared on local radio, it was only heard by the people listening in those areas.
My local BBC station wasn’t graced with the Prime Minister’s presence, yet I’ve listened to all eight of these regional interviews.
BBC Sounds means you can easily tune in and catch up with any programme on any BBC station regardless of where you live. The Prime Minister’s appearances have even been handily packaged together on the platform.
And, of course, people are quick to share clips of what they do and don’t like on social media.
Additionally, Ms Truss’s interviews – and the way she handled them – generated huge amounts of newspaper coverage. Arguably more than if she had appeared on a national programme.
Put off
We’ve stressed that these interviews highlight why local and regional interviews should not be underestimated.
But it is also vital to state Ms Truss’s encounters should not put other spokespeople off.
The media are not out to get you or trick you into saying something you don’t want to say.
They will ask tough questions – it's their job to ask the question their audience wants answered.
But good preparation, briefing and media training will ensure you not only emerge unscathed but get your message across to those listening and watching.
On this evidence, it will be some time before the Prime Minister and her team opts for local radio interviews again.
Media First are media and communications training specialists with more than 35 years of experience. We have a team of trainers, each with decades of experience working as journalists, presenters, communications coaches and media trainers.
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