Mark Carney: Leader of the Middle Powers

Canada's prime minister warns the old world order is 'not coming back'

If this were The West Wing, that would be that. Brass rising, strings lifting, that man Sorkin has done it again, sending an entire generation of liberals off to bed on a wave of hard-won optimism, reassured that our institutions still work, words still matter, and tomorrow will be better than today.

Of course, Aaron Sorkin was high on cocaine for much of the time, his characters held no consistent political views from episode to episode, and President Bartlet should never have run for re-election. The guy lied about a degenerative disease — he clearly would not have defeated the Republican candidate!

Nevertheless, the speech Canadian prime minister Mark Carney delivered at the World Economic Forum in Davos yesterday is worth any time you have spare. You can watch it above or read it here. I actually feel ill-equipped to critique a speech this carefully crafted and coldly delivered. Nevertheless, that’s never stopped me before.

Hate speech

Political speeches are rarely good listens. First of all, they are almost always too long. Keir Starmer’s 2021 party conference speech ran to 89 minutes! If they are written by someone else, they often sound like it. If drafted by the principal, no one ever feels able to tell them it requires major surgery. Then there are the structural limitations.

Political speeches are balancing acts. They must speak to multiple audiences, manage conflicting interests and generally keep the show on the road. Moreover, one sometimes gets the sense that prime ministers give speeches because that’s just what is expected of them. And the alternative would strike panic into the heart of any advisor: a prolonged question and answer session.

But Carney was the right man at the right time. Not only the leader of a G7 nation, but a former lead singer from the ‘rockstar central banker’ era of just a decade ago.

“Honesty about the world as it is”

Bluntly, speeches only work when the speaker actually has something to say. And on this metric, Carney did not disappoint. First, he offered a clear diagnosis: