Keir Starmer’s ‘secret gestures’ show he is ‘telling fact’ on tax – knowledgeable
Keir Starmer showed unconscious signs he’s telling the truth about Labour’s tax plans as he faced Beth Rigby in Wednesday night’s Battle For Number 10, an expert revealed.
The Labour leader, 61, had a markedly different approach to this interview compared with his first leaders’ debate of the UK general election campaign, in which he’d been slow to tear down Rishi Sunak’s claims a Labour government will raise the average worker’s taxes by £2,000 – figures that were later debunked by Treasury officials.
Body language expert Darren Stanton pointed out the hidden gestures used by Mr Starmer that showed he was credible about the answers he was giving the Sky News audience in Grimsby.
“Beth was taking him to the cliff, but rather than be slippy and try to evade it he wanted to take on the questions head on,” said Darren. “Things like blink rate, breathing rate, the pursing of lips and the physical signs of fight and flight, they were not evident which means he is speaking from a position of truth and credibility.”
Noting there was a “clear change” in Mr Starmer’s more confident demeanour, Darren went on: “He wasn’t fazed by what was quite a direct and bruising line of questioning. The breathing rate from the niceties of his introduction, and then when he was being put under the questioning, remained the same. There was no internal shift, which was different from the last debate.
“Under the direct question of accepting there was a trust issue, he turned it back with a firm no and the hand gesture where he placed his thumb on top of his knuckle, that was speaking with non-verbal punctuation, gesturing in rhythm. It was a sign of confidence in what he was saying.
“They were signs that he had grounded himself, and the way he refused to be interrupted showed a more aggressive demeanour,” he added. ‘The body language signs were very positive.”
Meanwhile, the audience applauded as Mr Starmer claimed the Tories are in “no position” to lecture on tax rises.
The Labour leader accused the Government of doing “huge damage” to the economy as he distanced himself from previous leaders. “The first thing I’ll say is the Tories are in no position to lecture anyone about tax rises,” he said, to chuckles and clapping from the floor.
