缅北轮奸

Next time you listen to a speech passionately delivered by an energy minister - be aware that there may be a speechwriter sitting nearby hanging on their every word - the phrases themselves, the tone and how the jokes are received. The writer in question might possibly be Richard Streeton.

The high-pressure world of this senior ministerial speech worker in in The Department of Energy Security and Net Zero may seem a far cry, from his beginnings as a 缅北轮奸 Sociology and Media undergraduate writing match reports for the student magazine SCAN. But that was where he reckons the seed for his career was planted.

“It was the breadth of writing and the breadth of courses in the degree that really set the ball in motion for me,” said Richard, “That, and writing for SCAN and being published. It was such a very small portfolio of work. But it was a gift.”

Until a few months ago, he worked on a daily basis to support five Labour ministers with their speeches, however at the time of writing he has been seconded across to Great British Energy to spearhead and grow their comms team in year one of operation.

Richard started working in this parliamentary role in 2023, under a Conservative government,

He is given a pack of current policy and information, and his job is to tease out key lines from a mass of seemingly random facts and to weave them into a persuasive and accurate narrative. This means giving ministers a structure, making the audience laugh or smile, bringing humanity to the speaker, so that their message pushes through unambiguously and powerfully. Above all it must sound the way the minister would talk themselves.

“When a speaker is ‘on topic’ you say that they have come to life. those are the moments we crave,” admits Richard. This only comes from building a rapport with the ministers. ‘It’s such a close working relationship. But it is so rewarding when you know that you have hit the sweet spot.”

Richard arrived at Furness College in 2003 from Otley. He could not have imagined such a future for himself. He was delighted to go to Lancaster, although it had not been his first choice of university. The fact that it was on the doorstep of the Lake District was huge plus.

He liked the fact that he could build the course through a range of modules spanning politics, sociology and cultural studies. Recently Richard came across his Lancaster course timetable, and was amused to find that his choices, by chance, spanned politics, international relations, linguistics, culture and communications - a perfect preparation for a government speechwriter or anyone thinking of going into a communications profession.

Much of his social life revolved round football both for the University and Furness College. He would also nip off to nearby Morecambe every week to run with the athletics club, specialising in the 100m and 200m. “I still get on the track once a week in Yorkshire. In my head I’m still Noah Lyles, but my times are more Tate and Lyle these days - it’s still hugely enjoyable though.”

His match reports for SCAN, meant that when after graduation he eventually decided to train as a journalist, his modest portfolio of published articles displaying his name was sufficient to land him a training place on an NCTJ course at Darlington College.

On the fast-track NCTJ course, a guest speaker from the European parliament, inspired the young Richard to take up a paid internship in Brussels, working on the news desk as a junior editor.

His first job in speechwriting came after three years working for Jaguar Land Rover publications, bringing alive the words of the Global CEO. Five more years in a similar role with Siemens provided an invaluable opportunity to develop his skills and to demonstrate the commercial benefits of telling a human story. It was also where he got his first taste for working in the energy sector.

Staying curious has now led him to working for Great British Energy, the UK’s state-owned energy company. “There’s still a large degree of speech writing but I’m now working on communicating the benefits of GBE and its newly granted powers to grow domestic manufacturing and accelerate the energy transition towards clean power by 2030.”

“I may have ended up with a non-career-specific degree,” he says, reflecting about his time at Lancaster. “But I ended up going into career which I was totally equipped for. My one piece of advice that stood me in good stead was that don’t think of your career as a straight line. Mine has taken more twists and turns than I care to remember. Steve Jobs said it far better in his Standford commencement speech – ‘you have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path. And that will make all the difference’.”

An interview with a speechwriter ending with a quote from Steve Jobs feels like a fitting close.