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I'd Like to Thank the Returning Officer

Factual: Politics

19/05/2010

BBC Radio 4 - I'd Like to Thank the Returning Officer

Phil Collins listens back to the best - and worst - election night speeches.

Phil Collins listens back to the best, and worst, election night speeches of the last 50 years, and finds out how to win and lose graciously.

If you're a newly-elected MP, how do you contain your joy? What do you say if you've just lost?

Phil Collins reviews fifty years of election night speeches - the moving, the inspirational, and the truly terrible. He talks to the MPs and their unsuccessful rivals who have had to give them. And as a former speechwriter himself, he offers some pointers for future candidates: who should you thank, who should you praise, and who - or what - should you just ignore? And how best to win or lose graciously?

Producer: Giles Edwards.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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