But does he really 'understand'?

It’s a ploy to give him time to formulate an answer which will not incriminate him or his Government.

All Leaders have a similar technique, some repeat the question.

KS is currently being interviewed on GMB.

It’s like “That’s a very good question…” or “I’m glad you asked me that…” - regular ploys to allow “thinking time”.
I’m leaning towards team platitude

Dear God. Is there any tiny thing he does that isn’t pulled apart?

I guess it’s thinking time. A lot of politicians say ‘look’ before addressing any point. To me that sounds like a particular type of teacher, but again I assume it’s the same sort of thing.

Doodledog

Dear God. Is there any tiny thing he does that isn’t pulled apart?

I guess it’s thinking time. A lot of politicians say ‘look’ before addressing any point. To me that sounds like a particular type of teacher, but again I assume it’s the same sort of thing.

All MP’s do this, not just the current PM

However as the current PM he is in the spotlight and open to public scrutiny, accountability and criticism

If you watch public figures you can actually see some people processing the question without speaking at all, because they need thinking time before answering. The ones who get it wrong most often are those who don’t do that and pile straight in feet first without gathering their thoughts.

Yes. I understand that GG13. But honestly - do you not think it’s getting ridiculous? Accountability is one thing. Verbal patterns are another.

Media training teaches that there shouldn’t be silence after a question- it can make people retune radios (or did at one time) and can make the speaker sound unprepared. So they take a second to think and fill it with something.

Many people say things like ‘the thing is’, or ‘at the end of the day’ and so on for the same reason, but politicians have this trained out of them, thank goodness.

He obviously thinks about food.

When you know every single thing is being read and interpreted by others seeking to catch you out, is it any wonder there might be some 'filling' before giving your answer. Seems even a momentary silence can be damning.
Give the man a break.

Oh for goodness sake….
The guy gets asked questions over and over and has to give a word perfect response each and every time. He’s allowed a ‘thinking time’ phrase surely?
I hope he understands why the questions need to be asked and answered clearly; a platitude to allow a clear answer is preferable to huffing and puffing in my view. Yes Doodledog I do think it is getting ridiculous.

God it's especially vile on here today.

Memo to self......change morning routine.

All politicians, particularly PMs, have to cope with their every word and action being pulled apart and analysed . Part of the job for which they are handsomely rewarded. If they don’t like the heat they should get out of the kitchen. Starmer was a lawyer so he is better prepared than most.

I realise it's a platitude but it strikes me as a dangerous one.

No it is not getting ridiculous.
This man is a new Prime Minister who has come to power in part through relentless attacks on his predecessors. party and person, therefore he is being subjected to intense scrutiny,
He and his colleagues have alarmed many of the electorate by their doom-laden pronouncements, unusual so early in a new government, and by the duplicity being exposed in their acceptance of hand-outs; all right for us, not for you. Therefore he and they are being closely questioned on anything and everything, and so far, not doing terribly well.

Doodledog, it is particularly annoying to me and I haven't said anything else about KS. I presume I am allowed to mention it.

I do think this business of searching out things to attack is getting ridiculous. If it's not clothes then it's speech .
I thought he spoke very well at Conference and feel that the man is honourable. He is there to serve and yes , he does care.
I think they handled the WFA badly, but hopefully will learn by that . I am not going to start drawing comparisons because I believe we have to look forward.

If a politician prefaces questions with ‘I understand why you asked that’ it’s a kind of meaningless platitude as we would expect a politician to understand why a certain question is being asked.There are loads of these kind of things that they all say, I think there may be a book somewhere in the HOC that they all look at to get ideas.
That’s a very good question!
I can understand why you would ask that!
Let me be very clear!
I’m glad that you asked me that!
We in government feel your pain!

IMO it’s just one of those phrases they use, like ‘Let me be absolutely clear…’ 😩

I too imagine it's a thinking time strategy, mentally getting one's ducks in a row as how to address the issue in question, so as not to mislead with any porkies, given sausages are now the talk of the nation.

I wonder if he picked it up from watching old David Cameron clips, as he used to do the same? Margaret Thatcher nearly always used to use the name of the interviewer in her immediate response, along the lines of ‘Well, David in my view this is an important question, and…(whatever)’. Tony Blair used similar to her. I think they all learn a filler phrase, except the blusterers.

I watched him being interviewed on GMB by Susanna Reid this morning, hats off to Sir Starmer, in 10 minutes he managed to get in £22 million black hole 9 times, stabilising the economy 11 times.

He did refuse to apologise regarding removing the WFA.

He did say all pensioners are getting a £440 increase in their pensions next year, which is incorrect only this born after 1953 and on the new state pension will receive that amount others a lot less.

He must know the pros and cons of his own policies - as someone just said, give the man a break - so, yes, I think he does understand the questions.

Picking him up over the common practice of using a 'filler phrase' for thinking time is being overly picky.

GrannyGravy13 I didn't see the interview, but if he has said all pensioners are getting a £440 increase then he needs to issue an apology and correction pretty swiftly. I'm amazed he is unaware of the different pension levels, I'd have expected that to have arisen during talks about withdrawing WFA.

And another thing - not just Keir Starmer - why is it called 'conference' not our, the or any thing else.