On 3 April in the European Parliament, there was a short speech delivered by Patrick O’Flynn MEP.

Only a couple of weeks ago I received an email from a trainee, a well-known accountant, who did a course with me more than a decade ago. He was telling me with satisfaction that feedback after his speeches nearly always marvelled at how he spoke without notes.

All my trainees can speak without notes.

Readers of this blog will know that I do not consider anyone a proper speaker unless they speak without notes, whether for five minutes or sixty.

You do not even need to see Patrick O’Flynn here to know that – worse than notes – he is actually reading a script. You can hear it clearly in his intonation. Two and a half lousy minutes, and he has to read a script!

It’s a hugely important speech, with a hugely important message that I hope dearly all listeners will heed, yet he robbed it of a frightening amount of its impact by not having learnt how properly to speak in public.