THERE’S a theory that when it comes to public speaking it doesn’t really matter what you’re saying, so long as you look good while doing it, or at least say it with confidence.

To me, the theory has always sounded like a decent enough plan for speeches at a wedding or a party, but I’ve always hoped it didn’t work for people in positions of power. I don’t know that I want our political races being won by the whoever’s wearing the most expensive suit and delivering fictions and half-truths with a straight face.

The most famous example of this was the televised debate for the presidency between Richard Nixon and John F Kennedy, where some say Tricky Dicky only lost due to overactive sweat glands on his upper lip, while JFK romped into the White House because he appeared calm and confident.

If you’re looking for more recent proof, check out how many gullible northerners voted for Call Me Dave and his cronies after he dangled the fictional carrot of heavy investment in the railways up here, before pulling the old bait and switch and investing instead in yet more subterranean germ farms for the capital’s commuters to complain about.

But our election was months ago, and we’ve got years before the next one so I should just get over it, I suppose. By 2020, there might even be some sort of opposition party to take the fight to the Bullingdon boys, though judging by the reds’ recent and much-hyped leadership struggle, it seems unlikely.

The strange thing about the Labour leadership race (in itself a competition by a bunch of half-hearted masochists to see who is keenest to be ridiculed on a daily basis by the national press), is that the one most likely to win seems to be the least popular.

Jeremy Corbyn looks like a geography teacher at his wits’ end with an unruly class, but it’s not just the lack of tie or suit jacket that seems to be annoying his party. Rather, they appear to despise the fact that he genuinely seems to be up for taking the fight to the Tories, with opposing ideals to the Conservatives.

Can you imagine? A leader of a political party that doesn’t look like his opponent, doesn’t agree with his opponent, tries to distance himself from New Labour and illegal wars, and won’t rush out and change everything about himself for the promise of a little power?

(Naturally, I expect to be proven wrong by the time this prints by Corbyn having a shave and stepping out in a dapper new suit and tie. If that happens, I’ll ask for a page of satirical cartoons to replace the column and you’ll have my heartfelt apologies.)

As it stands, there’s still a decent chance he’ll withdraw from the race late in the day for the oft-used ‘personal reasons’ (such as the wacky bills he backed in the past, calling for Arsenal to be recognised as the best team in the world, and calling the human race “the most obscene, perverted, cruel, uncivilised and lethal species ever to inhabit the planet”), and the Blair/Cameron chimera Andy Burnham will then be a shoe-in, but for now, most seem sold on Corbyn, and that’s probably due to his determination to play the game his way.

Across the Atlantic though, there’s a terrifying flipside to this, as bizarrely barneted billionaire Donald Trump proves that anyone with enough money and misguided confidence can buy his way into the race to lead the most powerful country in the free world.

Even the Republicans don’t seem to like him, with even Fox News giving him a bumpy ride on a live debate this week, and the latest in the Bush Dynasty getting the best odds as he lines up for his go in the big chair. But like the surprisingly strong showing UKIP got at the last few elections, there’s a real danger he could gain a foothold through his incredible lack of self-awareness and megalomaniacal determination to get whatever he wants.

Regardless of whether or not he’s actually got any political experience beyond donations to the party, there’s a good chance voters will look at him and say “there’s a guy who tells it like it is”, rather than “there’s a businessman with strange hair who’s clearly a danger to the Western world”, and that’s down to his bloody-minded confidence.

Or maybe I’m wrong, and maybe I’ll be back here in another month or so, still wearing a cheap suit but rooting for another team.

If that happens though, I like to think I’ll do so with enough misguided confidence to keep you reading.