Now that we have two former MPs working with us at Scottish Media Training, I thought it would be a good opportunity to touch on that most ethereal of subjects -The Politicians’ Answer.
Now, I’m not suggesting for one minute that our two erstwhile and former Westminster colleagues – Hannah Bardell and Martin Docherty-Hughes – have been guilty of giving that ‘body swerve’ of a response to an interviewer’s questions, but a Politicians’ Answer has a habit of creeping up on you until the penny eventually drops, that the response given isn’t the one we wanted to hear.
The rule of thumb appears to be that if an answer is polished, long and leaves you wondering ‘did they actually say yes or no’? … well done… you’ve uncovered the Politician’s Answer.
Now, on the one hand, one of the golden rules in media training is to always answer a question no matter how ‘testing’ that might be. Our ‘mantra’ is to use the ABC mnemonic – answer the question and bridge across to the response you need to give….but as we know, Politicians take this to another level!
Here’s our guide to understanding how it works…. And how a skilled politician ensures ‘tricky’ questions are dealt with.
■ How to Recognise It
• The Bridge: “What really matters here is…” — swerves away from the question.
• The Reframe: Restates the question in safer terms.
• The Partial: Only answers one part of the question.
• The Blur: Uses vague, feel-good words (fairness, options, commitment).
• The Loop: Repeats the same phrase until the questioner drops it.
• The Attack: Dismisses the question: “I don’t accept the premise.”
• The Data Dump: Overloads with detail to bury the real issue.
As we know, any good interviewer will attempt to get the questions answered and see through the deflection. It’s a core part of a good interviewer’s tool kit.
They will
• Repeat the question — calmly, word-for-word.
• Narrow it down — ‘Yes or no?’
• Highlight the dodge — ‘That’s the third time I’ve asked without a clear answer.’
Remember, it can be a game of cat and mouse, and so very often the viewer (or listener) is left frustrated by the inability to hear a straight response to a straight question. It’s been part and parcel of political interviews for many decades.
The real skill lies with the interviewer’s ability to cut a swathe through the bluster and leave the politician with no wriggle room to move off topic or obfuscate.