Quoting ordinary people in Prime Minister’s Questions1
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Anita Fetzer
Abstract
Prime Minister’s Questions is the central British parliamentary institution. Every week Members of Parliament have the opportunity to pose questions to the Prime Minister, frequently utilising quotations from various sources, e.g. allies from the quoter’s political party, political opponents, experts, or ordinary people. The focus of this contribution is on the strategic use of quotations from ordinary people in the interchanges between the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. The data comprise 240 question-response sequences. In the sequences analysed, quotations make up 9% of the total word count for Cameron-Miliband and 10% for Cameron-Corbyn: 2% of the quotations are sourced by ordinary people in the Cameron-Miliband data, and 31% in the Cameron-Corbyn data. Corbyn’s systematic use of quotations from ordinary people was novel, foregrounding their political issues and assigning them the status of an object of discourse in the media thus making the government accountable to them.
Abstract
Prime Minister’s Questions is the central British parliamentary institution. Every week Members of Parliament have the opportunity to pose questions to the Prime Minister, frequently utilising quotations from various sources, e.g. allies from the quoter’s political party, political opponents, experts, or ordinary people. The focus of this contribution is on the strategic use of quotations from ordinary people in the interchanges between the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. The data comprise 240 question-response sequences. In the sequences analysed, quotations make up 9% of the total word count for Cameron-Miliband and 10% for Cameron-Corbyn: 2% of the quotations are sourced by ordinary people in the Cameron-Miliband data, and 31% in the Cameron-Corbyn data. Corbyn’s systematic use of quotations from ordinary people was novel, foregrounding their political issues and assigning them the status of an object of discourse in the media thus making the government accountable to them.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
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Part I. Constructing ordinariness in politicians’ discourse
- Are Austrian presidential candidates ordinary people? 21
- “You bring the steaks, I’ll bring the salad” 51
- Quoting ordinary people in Prime Minister’s Questions1 73
- “Well, Yair? When will you be prime minister?” 103
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Part II. Constructing ordinariness in experts’ discourse
- “I can do math, but I’m not that smart. I’m not brilliant” 133
- Ordinary science 157
- Constructing ‘ordinariness’ 179
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Part III. Constructing ordinariness in ordinary media
- Constructing ordinariness in online commenting in Hebrew1 and Finnish 209
- Ordinary people’s political discourse in old and new French media 237
- When being quotidian meets being ordinary 269
- Index 295
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Constructing ordinariness in politicians’ discourse
- Are Austrian presidential candidates ordinary people? 21
- “You bring the steaks, I’ll bring the salad” 51
- Quoting ordinary people in Prime Minister’s Questions1 73
- “Well, Yair? When will you be prime minister?” 103
-
Part II. Constructing ordinariness in experts’ discourse
- “I can do math, but I’m not that smart. I’m not brilliant” 133
- Ordinary science 157
- Constructing ‘ordinariness’ 179
-
Part III. Constructing ordinariness in ordinary media
- Constructing ordinariness in online commenting in Hebrew1 and Finnish 209
- Ordinary people’s political discourse in old and new French media 237
- When being quotidian meets being ordinary 269
- Index 295
