Death Stares

Philip Green objected to the way an MP looked at him. This is because they receive training to do this. Its all based on the work of Oxford social psycologist Michael Argyle.

There was a great example this morning with Liz Truss, Remain and Gisela Stuart, Leave. Gisela Stuart is a lovely polite woman and Liz Truss has been to Tory death stare school. When Gisela spoke to the camera Truss stared not at the camera but contemptously at Gisela.

The prime exponent of this technique is my old BoE colleague Matthew Hancock. He never did this when we worked at the BoE. He behaved normally but watch him now, he is a master of the contemptuous stare at the opponent.