Rhetoric and audience reception: An analysis of Theresa May’s vision of Britain and Britishness after Brexit
| Author | Judi Atkins |
| DOI | 10.1177/0263395721991411 |
| Published date | 01 May 2022 |
| Date | 01 May 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Special Issue Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0263395721991411
Politics
2022, Vol. 42(2) 216 –230
© The Author(s) 2021
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sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/0263395721991411
journals.sagepub.com/home/pol
Rhetoric and audience
reception: An analysis of
Theresa May’s vision of Britain
and Britishness after Brexit
Judi Atkins†
Aston University, UK
Abstract
This article demonstrates the value of rhetorical audience studies for analysing constructions
of ‘the nation’ and national identity. A key strength of this approach is its recognition of the
interplay between the rhetorical situation, the text of the speech, and the audience’s responses
to that rhetoric. Using the historical method for investigating rhetoric and its reception, the
article examines Theresa May’s efforts to bring the nation together after the 2016 referendum
and to offer an inspiring vision of post-Brexit Britain. A textual analysis shows that her rhetoric
of Britishness was constructed around an imagined audience of Leave voters, and thus excluded
Remainers from her conceptions of Britain and ‘the British people’. The audience reception study
supports this finding, as it reveals two competing myths of ‘the nation’ which in turn constituted
rival subject positions. In short, May’s epideictic failed to unite the country behind her conception
of a strong, cohesive Global Britain.
Keywords
Global Britain, national identity, reception studies, rhetoric, Theresa May
Received: 15th January 2020; Revised version received: 26th November 2020; Accepted: 19th December
2020
According to Tom Freeman (2018), ‘Brexit has necessitated attempts to remind the world
of what Britain is for, what role the nation will play, free from the shackles of any associa-
tion with the European project’. It has also demanded a renewal of the national commu-
nity, uniting the people behind a vision of what Britain will be when it leaves the European
Union. The (re)definition of community is a function of epideictic rhetoric, whereby a
speaker articulates shared values that, in turn, provide a starting point for the attribution
of praise or blame. Such renewals take place periodically – on Remembrance Sunday, for
instance – but they also occur at times of change. Here, as Celeste Michelle Condit (1985:
289) explains, ‘the epideictic speaker will be called forth by the community to help
Corresponding author:
Judi Atkins
†This article is published posthumously in memory of Judi Atkins.
991411POL0010.1177/0263395721991411PoliticsAtkins
research-article2021
Special Issue Article
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