“He is just the nowhere man of British politics” : Personal attacks in Prime Minister’s Questions

Views from the media, the public, and from inside Parliament have expressed discontent with, reportedly, a recent increase in personally antagonistic behaviour in PMQs. Conversely, some are more approving of the mudslinging on display during the weekly showdown between the party leaders. Previous research has highlighted the endorsement of verbal aggression and the increased rowdiness. The focus of this study is a fine-grained analysis of language classified as a personal attack. A model of such personalisation in PMQs was devised and, from this, significant increases across the research period (1979-2016) and individual premierships are reported. Of the five Prime Ministers, David Cameron was the most personally aggressive, though a significant decrease followed Jeremy Corbyn’s appointment as Leader of the Opposition. Proposals for said increases include heightened TV and social media attention coupled with sports-like reporting and party expectation. Suggestions for the functions of personal attacks include highlighting differences, disarming or deconstructing adversaries, and equivocation. Furthermore, four proposals are made for the relative politeness of Cameron vs Corbyn.