Cover not available
Article published In:
Morality and language aggression
Edited by Dániel Z. Kádár and Vahid Parvaresh
[Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict 7:1] 2019
► pp. 56–78

“Let me now answer, very directly, Marie’s question”

The impact of quoting members of the public in Prime Minister’s Questions

| University of York, UK | University of Salford, UK
| University of York, UK
Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) in the UK attracts much criticism for the adversarial and occasional aggressive language on display. During his successful campaign for the leadership of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn called for a “new kind of politics” (ITV 2015). One feature of his “new” approach, apparent during his early sessions as Leader of the Opposition, was to include questions to Prime Minister David Cameron sourced from members of the public. Although, subsequently, these “public questions” became less frequent, they provided an opportunity to compare their interactional effects with standard “non-public questions”. Arguably, the aim of this salient feature of corbyn’s approach to questioning Cameron was to redress the moral order of PMQs. We test this proposal via two measures of the PM’s responses: reply rate and personalisation. Results showed that Corbyn’s public questions did not enhance Cameron’s reply rate. However, whereas Cameron used significantly more personal attacks than Corbyn in response to non-public questions, the level of such attacks by the PM for public questions was as low as Corbyn’s, with no significant difference between them. In this latter regard, such an approach showed the potential to mitigate the ritualistic and customary verbal aggression of PMQs.
Keywords: PMQs, personal attacks, personalisation, quotations, reply rate, equivocation
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1The social frame of PMQs
    • 1.2Academic research on PMQs
    • 1.3Quotations in PMQs
    • 1.4Measures of analysis
    • 1.5Hypotheses
  • 2.Data and methodology
    • 2.1Reply rate
    • 2.2Personalisation
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Reply rates
    • 3.2Personalisation
    • 3.3Illustrative examples
  • 4.Discussion and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 June 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlac.00019.bul
References (49)
References
Allen, Beccy, Ruth Fox, Isla Geis-King, Virginia Gibbons, Matt Korris, Petya Pavlova, and Michael Raftery. 2014. Tuned in or Turned Off? Public Attitudes to Prime Minister’s Questions. London: Hansard Society.Google Scholar
Bates, Stephen R., Peter Kerr, Christopher Byrne, and Liam Stanley. 2014. “Questions to the Prime Minister: A Comparative Study of PMQs from Thatcher to Cameron.” Parliamentary Affairs 67(2):253–280. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bercow, John. 2010. [Online]. Speech to the Centre for Parliamentary Studies. Available at: [URL]. [Accessed 07 May 2018].
Blair, Tony. 2010. A Journey. London: Hutchinson.Google Scholar
Brown, Penelope, and Stephen Levinson. 1978. “Universals in Language Usage: Politeness Phenomena.” In Questions and Politeness: Strategies in Social Interaction, edited by Esther N. Goody, 56–289. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Brown, Penelope, and Stephen C. Levinson. 1987. Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. New York: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bull, Peter. 1994. “On Identifying Questions, Replies, and Non-replies in Political Interviews.” Journal of Language and Social Psychology 13(2):115–131. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2003. The Microanalysis of Political Communication: Claptrap and Ambiguity. London: Psychology Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2008. “‘Slipperiness, Evasion, and Ambiguity’: Equivocation and Facework in Noncommittal Political Discourse.” Journal of Language and Social Psychology 27(4):333–344. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2009. “Techniques of Political Interview Analysis.” In Discourse and Politics, edited by Gloria Álvarez-Benito, Gabriela Fernández-Díaz, and Isabel Íñigo-Mora, 215–228. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
. 2016. [Online]. “Theresa May Has a Very Special Technique for Avoiding Questions.” The Conversation. Available at: [URL]. [Accessed 07 May 2018].
. 2017. [Online]. “Who Dodges More Questions, Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn? The Verdict is In.” The Conversation. Available at: [URL]. [Accessed 07 May 2018].
Bull, Peter, Judy Elliott, Derrol Palmer, and Libby Walker. 1996. “Why Politicians are Three-faced: The Face Model of Political Interviews.” British Journal of Social Psychology 35(2):267–284. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bull, Peter, and Kate Mayer. 1993. “How Not to Answer Questions in Political Interviews.” Political Psychology 14(4):651–666. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bull, Peter, and Pam Wells. 2012. “Adversarial Discourse in Prime Minister’s Questions.” Journal of Language and Social Psychology 31(1):30–48. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cohen, Jacob. 1960. “A Coefficient of Agreement for Nominal Scales.” Educational and Psychological Measurement 20(1):37–46. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Corbyn, Jeremy. 2016. [Online]. “Today is my 100th PMQs Question as Labour Leader – But I Still Won’t Get a Straight Answer from David Cameron.” The Independent. Available at: [URL]. [Accessed 07 May 2018].
Culpeper, Jonathan. 1996. “Towards an Anatomy of Impoliteness.” Journal of Pragmatics 25(3):349–367. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2011. Impoliteness: Using Language to Cause Offence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Domenici, Kathy, and Stephen W. Littlejohn. 2006. Facework: Bridging Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage.Google Scholar
Dunleavy, Patrick, G. W. Jones, Jane Burnham, Robert Elgie, and Peter Fysh. 1993. “Leaders, Politics and Institutional Change: The Decline of Prime Ministerial Accountability to the House of Commons, 1868–1990.” British Journal of Political Science 23(3):267–298. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dunleavy, Patrick, G. W. Jones, and Brendan O’Leary. 1990. “Prime Ministers and the Commons: Patterns of Behaviour, 1868 to 1987.” Public Administration 68(1):123–140. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fetzer, Anita and Peter Bull. (in preparation). “Quoting Ordinary People in Prime Minister’s Questions.” To be submitted to Constructing Ordinariness across Media Genres: Pragmatics & Beyond, New Series edited by Elda Weizman and Anita Fetzer. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Giddings, Philip, and Helen Irwin. 2005. “Objects and Questions.” In The Future of Parliament, edited by Philip Giddings, 67–77. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gimson, Andrew. 2012. “PMQs: That’s the Way to Do It!” British Journalism Review 23(3):11–13. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goffman, Erving. 1967. “Where the Action Is.” In Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behavior by Erving Goffman, 149–270. Chicago: Aldine.Google Scholar
Harris, Sandra. 1991. “Evasive Action: How Politicians Respond to Questions in Political Interviews.” In Broadcast Talk edited by Paddy Scannell, 76–99. London: Sage.Google Scholar
. 2001. “Being Politically Impolite: Extending Politeness Theory to Adversarial Political Discourse.” Discourse & Society 12(4):451–472. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heffer, Greg. 2016. [Online]. “Corbyn Claims Cameron is Jealous of His Style as ‘Do Up Your Tie’ Row Rumbles On.” Sunday Express. Available at: [URL]. [Accessed 30 December 2018].
House of Commons Information Office. 2010a. [Online]. Parliamentary Questions (Factsheet P1, Procedure Series). Available at: [URL]. [Accessed 08 May 2018].
. 2010b. [Online]. Some Traditions and Customs of the House (Factsheet G7, General Series). Available at: [URL]. [Accessed 09 May 2018].
Hughes, Laura. 2016. [Online]. “One Year into Jeremy Corbyn’s Leadership, Labour Suffers Worst Opinion Poll Ratings the Party Has Ever Experienced in Opposition.” The Telegraph. Available at: [URL]. [Accessed 07 May 2018].
Irwin, Helen. 1988. “Opportunities for Backbenchers.” In The Commons under Scrutiny edited by Michael Ryle and Peter G. Richards, 76–98. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Irwin, Helen, Andrew Kennon, David Natzler, and Robert Rogers. 1993. “Evolving Rules.” In Parliamentary Questions edited by Mark N. Franklin and Philip Norton, 23–72. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
ITV. 2015. [Online]. “Jeremy Corbyn Promises ‘New Kind of Politics’ as he Unveils 10-point Policy Plan.” ITV report. Available at: [URL]. [Accessed 07 May 2018].
Jucker, Andreas H. 1986. News Interviews: A Pragmalinguistic Analysis. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kádár, Dániel. 2017. Politeness, Impoliteness and Ritual: Maintaining the Moral Order in Interpersonal Interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lees, Charles. 2015. [Online]. “The Saint in the Bear Pit: Reviewing Jeremy Corbyn’s First PMQs.” The Conversation. Available at: [URL]. [Accessed 07 May 2018].
Martin, Iain. 2013. [Online]. “After a Dire PMQs, MPs Should Get a Pay Cut.” Available at: [URL]. [Accessed 07 May 2018].
Pearce, W. Barnett, and Stephen W. Littlejohn. 1997. Moral Conflict: When Social Worlds Collide. Thousand Oaks: Sage.Google Scholar
Pérez de Ayala, Soledad. 2001. “FTAs and Erskine May: Conflicting needs? Politeness in Question Time.” Journal of Pragmatics 33(2):143–169. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Quirk, Randolph, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik. 1985. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Rasiah, Parameswary. 2010. “A Framework for the Systematic Analysis of Evasion in Parliamentary Discourse.” Journal of Pragmatics 42(3):664–680. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sripada, Chandra S., and Stephen Stich. 2006. “A Framework for the Psychology of Norms.” In The Innate Mind: Volume 2, Culture and Cognition, edited by Peter Carruthers, Stephen Laurence, and Stephen Stich, 285–310. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Thomas, Graham P. 2006. “United Kingdom: The Prime Minister and Parliament.” In Executive Leadership and Legislative Assemblies edited by Nicholas D. J. Baldwin, 4–37. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Tracy, K. 2008. “‘Reasonable Hostility’: Situation-appropriate Face-attack.” Journal of Politeness Research 4(2):169–191. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Waddle, Maurice, and Peter Bull. 2016. “Playing the Man, Not the Ball: Personalisation in Political Interviews.” Journal of Language and Social Psychology 35(4):412–434. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Waddle, Maurice, Peter Bull, and Jan R. Böhnke. 2019. “‘He is Just the Nowhere Man of British Politics’: Personal Attacks in Prime Minister’s Questions.” Journal of Language and Social Psychology 38(1):61–84. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wintour, Patrick. 2015. [Online]. “Jeremy Corbyn: It’s Time for a New Kind of Politics.” The Guardian. Available at: [URL]. [Accessed 22 October 2018].
Cited by (14)

Cited by 14 other publications

Kirner-Ludwig, Monika
2023. Book review. Journal of Pragmatics 204 ► pp. 71 ff. DOI logo
Walter, Annemarie & Željko Poljak
2023. Incivility from the UK Prime Minister’s Dispatch Box: A Comparative Study of PM Question Time Attacks, 2010–2020. In Political Debasement, ► pp. 69 ff. DOI logo
Bull, Peter & Maurice Waddle
2022. Under the Microscope:. In Psychology of Democracy, ► pp. 84 ff. DOI logo
Bull, Peter & Maurice Waddle
2023. Adversarial interaction in Prime Minister’s Questions in the UK. Journal of Social and Political Psychology 11:2 ► pp. 623 ff. DOI logo
Convery, Alan, Pavielle Haines, James Mitchell & David C. W. Parker
2021. Questioning scrutiny: the effect of Prime Minister’s Questions on citizen efficacy and trust in parliament. The Journal of Legislative Studies 27:2 ► pp. 207 ff. DOI logo
Culpeper, Jonathan & Vittorio Tantucci
2021. The Principle of (Im)politeness Reciprocity. Journal of Pragmatics 175 ► pp. 146 ff. DOI logo
Bull, Peter
2020. Meeting the media as a political psychologist. History & Philosophy of Psychology 21:1 ► pp. 11 ff. DOI logo
Kádár, Dániel Z. & Juliane House
2020. The pragmatics of ritual. Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) 30:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Reber, Elisabeth
2020. Visuo-material performances. AILA Review 33 ► pp. 176 ff. DOI logo
Reber, Elisabeth
2023. On the ritualization of commemorative practices: Paying tribute in British Prime Minister's Questions. Journal of Pragmatics 214 ► pp. 92 ff. DOI logo
Shaw, Sylvia
2020. Women, Language and Politics, DOI logo
Shephard, Mark & Daniel Braby
2020. Questions to the PM versus questions by the PM: an examination of the state and nature of ‘Punch and Judy’ politics during PMQs at Westminster. The Journal of Legislative Studies 26:1 ► pp. 27 ff. DOI logo
Kádár, Dániel Z., Vahid Parvaresh & Puyu Ning
2019. Morality, moral order, and language conflict and aggression. Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict 7:1 ► pp. 6 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2022. Of the People. In Psychology of Democracy, ► pp. 23 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.