A Rhetorical Political Analysis of Invective at Prime Ministers Question Time 1989 - 2024.

Chris’s talk will present a case study of Prime Minister’s Question Time, examining its development from the point of its televising until the end of the Rishi Sunak premiership. Using rhetorical political analysis, he will explore how politicians utilise the methods of persuasion—ethos, pathos, and logos—in their speech acts at PMQs. The talk will consider continuities and changes in how politicians use invective to undermine their opponents and will assess what evidence there is to support claims that politicians are more personally insulting than in the past.