The worst political speeches of the decade

In thinking about the worst political speeches delivered in Britain, I reached for lectures that weren’t just technically poor but epoch defining in their badness. Each one had to have said something larger about the inherent problems of the political class in our beleaguered age.

With that in mind, in descending order, here are five that fell flat:

Jeremy Corbyn’s 2015 Labour conference speech

In his first conference speech as party leader, the reasons for Corbyn’s eventual defeat are all here, on full display. The speech itself is relentlessly boring and substance is remarkably absent throughout. For a guy who was supposed to shake up the established way of doing things, it is notable how free of any original ideas he seemed to be in his first big set piece.

If you want to understand why Corbyn eventually got politically crushed, it was all there in 2015.

Most memorable line: ‘We need to be investing in skills, investing in young people, and…strong message here…not cutting student numbers.’