Cambridge Speechwriter

This Boxing Day, I came across an odd little speech which involved man on a horse mocking a knight of the realm. 

Yes, just when I thought that 2025 had surrendered all its rhetorical delights, I came across this dramatic video of what I can only call a riling battle speech against the UK government’s reform on trail hunting. Parts of the speech sounded like it could have just been pulled straight out of Lord of the Rings. 

Will Bryer, joint master of the Duke of Beaufort Hunt, congratulated his audience for attending in such great numbers and said ‘but there is one person missing. Sir Keir? Are you here?’ at which point members of his audience could be heard roaring with laughter. Cicero would have applauded the erotema ad hominem attack. 

And yes, Keir Starmer is a Knight Commander of the Order of Bath. So it was, in fact, a man on a horse mocking a knight of the realm.

Bryer’s speech took a more serious tone when he later declared, ‘We’re under assault. We’re under siege. And like all fights, it’s gonna get messy. But we must… we must stand united. Hunting has a future. Hunting will endure!’ [cue rapturous applause from audience]. 

Bryer may not have realised it, but in deploying the rhetoric of war while on horseback he joined a longstanding tradition of equestrian battle speeches. The most famous example I can think of would be Queen Elizabeth I’s Battle Of Tilbury Speech which she delivered to her troops before facing the dreaded Spanish Armada in 1588 (a speech I happen to cover in my latest book The Language of Evil). Another historical figured explored in my book who was also said to speak on horseback was Napoleon Bonaparte. Apparently so too did Henry V, Joan of Arc and a long list of historical VIPs.  

To be clear, this musing of mine is not about the complex moral tightrope of vulpine-related legislative reform: it is about how awesome it is when people give battle speeches astride a horse, and that I can’t believe that someone did it in 2025. 

To all the CEOs out there, at your next AGM, when you’re rallying your shareholders to unite under the vision of your North Star, perhaps consider doing so on horseback. Just an idea…